BREAKING NEWS – top 5 stories 16/03/2021
ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING COMPLIANCE NOT JUST A PROPERTY PROFESSIONALS OBLIGATION
NatWest bank has had criminal proceeding brought against it by the FCA, over the receipt of just one amount totalling £264M. The actual alleged offence dates back four years, but now NatWest may find itself in the dock.
Given that the real estate sector in the UK if fixated with checking the financials of clients doing property business, it is amazing that major banking institutions appear to have a flagrant disregard for the legislation that covers all in the UK.
WILL RoPA EVER HAPPEN?
RoPA has been at committee stage for two and a half years, and there is no certainty it will ever form regulations that become statutes that property professionals have to adhere to.
Propertymark and other bodies has been presenting RoPA as a definite fact, but it would be prudent to see when if ever the present government seeks to further regulate real estate in the UK.
DESPITE LOCKDOWN OF ESTATE AGENTS – COMPLETIONS ROUGHLY THE SAME IN 2020
Owner occupied exchanges in 2020, the year of the lockdown were only down by 5%, to 893,000, against the same class in 2019. This being the case, given that many estate agency branches had their doors closed and had staff on Furlough for three months or more – have we now entered a point where physical branches are a thing of the past?
SELLERS MARKET
A slow start to the listing of new housing stock for residential agents, skewed by the wait and see approach of many vendors, trying to second guess what the SDLT roadmap was going to be, has now turned property into a very strong Sellers’ market.
Many agents are reporting that vendors sensing that they have assets that are very sought after are now wanting the very highest listening values.
Last year HMRC stated that from completion prices – nationwide there was an uptick of 8%, well if 2021 continues this trend, by Q4, first time buyer might be paying 15% more than those who bought early in 2020.
LANDLORDS AT BREAK POINT
An increasing number of Landlords are reporting that defaulting tenants are pushing them to the financial brink, and that the government needs to step in with some form of financial assistance.
The recent budget did zero in this sector, and it will be interesting to see if the Chancellor responds.
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