Landlord & Buy-to-Let Magazine | Page 12

For latest show news visit www.landlordshow.info industry news Leeds agent plans to reinvent student living Naveen Ahmed, Managing Director of Parklane Group Parklane Properties, one of Leeds’ premier letting agents, is embarking on an exciting new business venture with the launch of IconInc, a new luxury student accommodation brand, which plans to reinvent student living and offer the most superior student letting service in Leeds. The development, which is worth an estimated £15m, offers stylish and luxurious student living with highspec studio apartments at ‘The Edge’ in Leeds city centre, available from September 2015. IconInc’s lavish studio and one-bed apartments at The Edge, 131 bedrooms in total, offer the luxury, modern design and cutting-edge technology of a boutique hotel – 365 days of the year. Parklane Properties, overall winner of 2013/14 UK Landlord and Lettings Awards agency category, currently operates one of the largest student rental agencies in Leeds and plans on launching IconInc as a national brand, aiming to bring IconInc to all key university cities. The beautifully furnished apartments include an en-suite bathroom, a plush double or king-size bed, flat-screen TV, high-speed Wi-Fi and utility bills. The “all-inclusive” facilities at The Edge include an on-site gym with available personal trainers, a cinema room, games zone, complimentary daily breakfast, study rooms, self-service pantry and 24-hour concierge. Tenants can choose from a range of optional extras, including professional cleaning, daily fresh fruit delivery, kitchen equipment, luxury Egyptian cotton towels and bedding hand-picked by IconInc’s interior designer. Naveen Ahmed, Managing Director of Parklane Group, explains; “The IconInc brand will take our proposition to another level, allowing us to cater for the changing needs and requirements of the student market. The modern-day student demands more from their living space and IconInc will give them exactly that – the very best in luxury student living in Leeds. “IconInc changes student accommodation for the foreseeable and we’re proud to offer students this opportunity to live and study in such a luxurious environment – so much so, we’ll shortly be announcing a very special opportunity for Leeds’ students, current and prospective – so watch this space!” IconInc is letting apartments for the 2015/2016 academic year. Apartments at The Edge start from £140 per week. To appeal to the growing number of international students choosing Leeds as their place of study, IconInc will offer tailored bathroom, bedroom and kitchen packages, as well as airport/ train station pick-up, to make relocating all the more simple. Mortgage offer extended to Scotland Mortgage Trust, by specialist buy-tolet lender Paragon, has made a range of products available for investors in the Private Rented Sector (PRS) in Scotland for the first time since the financial crisis. Available exclusively via intermediaries, the new Mortgage Trust product range includes 14 highly competitive fixed-rate products, with a variety of terms and Loan to Value options (LTVs). The new product range includes a two-year fix at 2.99%, with a £495 product fee and up to 65% LTV, and a three-year fix at 3.85% with no product fee and up to 75% LTV. There is also a two-year fix at 4.45%, with no product fee and up to 80% LTV. For those landlords looking to fix for a longer period, there is also a five-year fix at an initial rate of 3.95%, with a £1,995 product fee and available up to 75% LTV. All of the new products benefit from a free valuation, and a £150 application fee applies. John Heron, Managing Director of Mortgages, said: “Paragon has a long association with mortgage lending in Scotland and we have had this launch on our agenda for some time now. The diversification of funding that the Group has achieved as a result of the launch of Paragon Bank has facilitated this development and illustrates 10 Landlord & Buy-to-Let Issue 57 • March 2015 well the benefits that this strategy of diversification can bring. “This new competitive product range has been tailored specifically for landlords with properties in Scotland and is available only through intermediaries who are registered with Paragon and Mortgage Trust. “This is our initial product range for Scotland, and we will be looking to further expand the range in the coming months. The num