I first got into property over ten years ago. I was 18 and saw an opportunity to create an extra income for my future, family and pension.
This was particularly important to me as I did not come from a wealthy family. Building an additional income would be a way to provide security.
I spotted my first opportunity at the start of the recession. From there I was able to expand and purchase more properties at a cheaper market value.
These properties were dilapidated and I made it part of my growing business to bring unused and unloved properties back into use.
I started off young and was saving pretty much every penny I was making from my part-time jobs to invest and make that money work harder than in the banks.
I did make some short-term sacrifices, which was tough at times, but I knew this would help secure my income.
The recent tax relief changes introduced by George Osborne were a bit of a shock, and have made me reassess my business structures.
Before, I was content to purchase properties in my own name, as this was the easiest thing to do. I had my accountant audit my portfolio, and was happy to hear that the changes were not going to affect me dramatically due to my portfolio not being highly geared.
Although I pride myself on my risk mitigating strategies and how I have limited my exposure, I will be purchasing new properties through a limited company as they are unaffected by the changes.
I do in part understand why the government has wanted to implement these changes, but for me this is a life's work and one that I have built up over many years and became very good at.
So it is hard to take when your legitimate business expenses are taxed, after you have invested so much time and money into this business, and have built up a great reputation with your customers.
I have observed that the immediate outcome has been that many landlords have increased their rents, which has had a direct negative impact on their tenants.
I have consistently tried to keep my rents lower than the market highs, but I too will unfortunately have to increase eventually.
Many of my tenants have been with me for at least five years, and they too worry about the changes. Most of them are migrant workers, who are good, honest and hardworking people.
They worry about increasing rent prices, as they know these will be the eventual consequences of the tax changes. They are thus not just hurting landlords, but their tenants and customers too.
One of the main reasons for me to keep investing in property, besides the income it creates, is the belief that I can help others turn houses into their homes.
Many of the properties I invest in are empty and not habitable, and families often are only interested after I have invested to transform them into a desirable home.
I believe that there is a positive social impact to the buy-to-let strategy in this sense, and I fear that the restrictions that are making this less profitable will result in many more empty homes, although we do need all of them to accommodate our growing population.
With the introduction of the tax changes, I will continue to invest in property, mainly because of this social implication, but I have also started to look to invest more in HMOs, that on average have an return on investment of 25pc or more, and in purchasing land to build on.
To me, there is still plenty of opportunity to invest in property although I would like to stress that you should seek professional advice and increase the amount of due diligence you do.
Too many people do not think about tax and business structures enough and therefore do a poor job of purchasing a property and running it.
This can have a ripple effect and ultimately hurt the industry and professionals.
Keeping this in mind, I am also spending an increasing amount of time helping newcomers to start in the buy-to-let industry in a professional, informed and ethical way