Breaking News
Monitoring of Buy-to-Let mortgages
It appears that buy-to-let lending is on the increase with January approvals up 6 per cent on the previous month and up 12 per cent on the same period in 2014, these figures are not consistent with those for the overall mortgage market with both first time buyer and house mover mortgages having declined. The…
Allen Walkey
Countrywide continues to grow
Countrywide plc has increased further its regional presence by aquiring a further four lettings businesses in the first quarter of 2015, these aquisitions have been completed in the last three months, Property Links a well established business in Plymouth, Anderson Residential a full service lettings agency in Sutton Coldfield, the portfolio of HE Lettings in…
Allen Walkey
Mandatory electrical safety checks excluded.
Mandatory electrical safety checks in the private rented sector have been left out of the Department for Communities and Local Government’s Housing standards review: technical consultation. This comes somewhat as a surprise as the DCLG have taken positive action on Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarms, making them mandatory for all properties in this sector. It…
Allen Walkey
New tax year new start
The new tax year heralds a new start for many, no more so than this year when a certain group of people will for the first time have lump sums to invest and who are expected to be a new generation of Buy-to-Let purchasers. From monday 6th April pensioners from all over the country will…
Allen Walkey
Supermarkets influence property prices.
It appears that the proximaty of a supermarket to where people live can increase the value of their property. According to research from Loyds Bank, on average being in easy reach of a supermarket can add around 7% to a property value. Lloyds compared the average house prices in postcodes that have a nationwide supermarket…
Allen Walkey
Car crashed into Estate Agent’s office.
Colchester town center Estate Agent haart had a car smash through it’s front door in Head Street on Easter Sunday afternoon at around 4pm, it was reported that a spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Service said it assisted a man at the scene but he was not seriously hurt and did not require…
Allen Walkey
No outright winner.
The day after the night before and the seven way debate never really gave us an outright winner, various snap polls following the debate gave us an overall top four who appeared to do well, David Cameron (Cons), David Milliband (Lab), Nigel Farage (UKIP) and Nicola Sturgeon (SNP). The debate was an orderly affair with…
Allen Walkey
Seven way leaders debate
Leaders from Britains 7 major political parties will be battling it out tonight in an historic live television debate, the debate is being held at the ITV Manchester studios and will be for 2 hours commencing at 8pm. The Party Leaders will face a studio audience who will be able to question them on various…
Allen Walkey
Crowdfund acheived for EstatesDirect.com
EstatesDirect.com has now acheived its Crowdfund target of £1.25m, infact as of this morning the figure stands at £1,266,390 with 253 investors and just 11 more days to go. Both Steve Smith, the founder of Poundland and Darren Richards (Datingdirect.com now Match.com) who head the team must both be extremely pleased to see the target…
Allen Walkey
Section 21: Make sure yours gets served?
Yesterday at the national ARLA conference, ARLA highlighted a major change in the property industry which will (in a few months) dramatically change how section 21 notices and the repair management process will work. Rajeev Nayyar, Managing Director of repairs software specialist Fixflo noted that this change ‘’marks a fundamental shift in the repair management…
Alex Evans
New Scottish property transaction tax.
As from today a new Scottish tax will be introduced that will replace the UK property stamp duty tax, it is named the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT), this comes about following the introduction of new devolved powers contained in the Scotland Act 2012. This will be the first tax to be introduced by…
Allen Walkey
London luxury homes – rental up front.
Such is the attraction of living in London that wealthy tenants are paying up to £250,000 rent and deposit upfront to secure some of London’s most luxurious homes, as rich as they may be in their own countries overseas renters need to prove their finances, documents from abroad have no validity to UK landlords or…
Allen Walkey
First time buyer numbers rise
It would appear that figures used from February 2015 show that first time buyers now account for a third of all house sales, that is according to a report by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) These figures confirm that the tide is beggining to turn for first time buyers, it would appear that…
Allen Walkey
Housing affordability
After a number of years of the housing market favouring buyers rather than sellers, there are now clear indications this spring that sellers are gaining the upper hand. Recent research is showing that Housing affordability has deteriorated to 2009 levels on the back of strong property price growth, according to Loyds Bank the average home…
Allen Walkey
NHS land and property sell off.
It has been reported that the NHS will be selling off land and property as a longstanding strategy to help resolve the health service’s dire financial situation. Health minister Norman Lamb has according to reports told officials to look at what revenue can be raised from selling off “hospitals standing empty” and “vacant land”. The Department…
Allen Walkey