London was closely followed by Birmingham and Bristol in the top 20 areas where buy-to-let properties have been bought in the last year, according to data from Barclays Mortgages. Nottingham, Manchester and Leeds also saw a big jump in demand.

New tax rules were meant to cool the buy-to-let boom but that hasn't stopped this fast-talking saleswoman giving her get rich quick tips to investors. Maria's website describes her as a sales presenter, public speaker and accredited coach, who was trained in the U.S. by a famous sales school. She was an Avon lady, presented on children's TV and is now, she will say, a highly successful property investor.

The number of properties available to rent decreased sharply in May to reach the lowest level recorded this year, data from Association of Residential Letting Agents shows. It comes as a separate report from the National Housing Federation found Britain is the most expensive country to rent a home in the whole of Europe.

For many buy-to-let looks an attractive income investment in a time of low rates and stock market volatility. Climbing house prices, rising rents and improving mortgage deals are tempting investors - although they will need a big deposit. Read This is Money's top ten buy-to-let tips

The ability to offset mortgage interest against taxable rental income has long been a very handy weapon in the buy-to-let arsenal. It's also something of a bugbear. Having dished out all kinds of promises in the run-up to the election, a cut to this juicy tax break may be one way out of the austerity corner George Osborne is in.

Laura Hamilton is best known for her role as presenter of Channel 4's overseas property series A Place In The Sun. In 2011, she was a runner-up on Dancing On Ice and this year she has joined the presenting team of Cowboy Builders on Channel 5. Now 33, she lives in Purley, Surrey, and is married to Alex, 34, an insurance broker. The couple have a son Rocco, one, and a baby girl, Tahlia. Here she explains how she buys, renovates and sell properties.

Bricks and mortar have provided stellar returns for many people over the past couple of decades, prompting many to rely on property as their pension. We set the stock market against the property market.

Most new landlords look to buy their first property in a town they know, but there may be better locations for returns out there.We reveal the towns and cities that generally produce the best income for landlords.

The essential dos and don'ts of buying and renting out a home, how you could build a buy-to-let empire and how to keep good tenants - and avoid the bad ones.

Data from the property peer-to-peer lending platform LendInvest shows the highest yield rental postcodes can now be found in Birmingham, Ipswich, Liverpool and Glasgow. But postcodes around North and Central London are still delivering the best overall returns on investment. Our maps reveal how returns stack up.

Astonishing claims of a 1,400% return over the past two decades are built on borrowed money but there's another important point to consider - property was unloved and cheap in 1996. That made buy-to-let a turbocharged value investment. Investors could still do well today, but they shouldn't expect a repeat of the past.

Halifax forecast that prices would continue to rise in the coming months as the imbalance between supply and demand hangs over the property market. However looking further ahead, it predicted house price growth would be dampened by the increasing level of house prices in relation to average earnings.