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Consultation launched on speeding up UK planning change
UK planning and housing minister Brandon Lewis has proposed new measures to speed up the planning system and provide new homes more quickly. He explained that so-called section 106 agreements, which attach conditions on a planning permission being granted, can often lead to extended negotiations that delay the planning application process. Now Lewis is seeking views on plans to speed up the process, getting planning permission agreed and workers on site more quickly. He said they can add months to the planning process and stalling work on the homes communities want. ‘Section 106 planning agreements can bring great benefits to local communities but too often they drag out planning applications for months. I’m proposing measures that will speed up the process, get planning permissions granted quicker and workers on site earlier, all the while keeping the community benefits that these agreements can bring,’ he explained. Section 106 agreements put requirements on planning applicants to make the proposals suitable for the area. These include mitigating a scheme’s impact such as through requiring improved transport to service it, providing an affordable housing element or requiring contributions from the applicant to be spent on other local schemes. The proposals are now open for consultation and include setting clear time limits so section 106 negotiations are completed in line with the existing eight to 13 week target for planning applications to be processed rather than letting them slow the whole planning process down. They also include requiring parties to start discussions at the beginning of the planning application process, rather than the current system where negotiations can often start towards the end. There are plans for a dispute resolution process where negotiations stall preventing development, using standardised documents to avoid agreements being drafted from scratch for each and every application and potential legislation in the next Parliament to give the new measures teeth. Lewis pointed out that this is the latest in a range of measures the government has taken to improve the planning system. Others include introducing the National Planning Policy Framework to cut more than 1,000 pages of planning guidance to around 50 and making it easier to convert existing commercial and retail buildings for residential use. Also on the agenda is removing the requirement for affordable housing and other contributions from small developers, saving up to £140,000 per home and at the same time maintaining strong protections for the green belt, which continues to prevent urban sprawl. The consultation on these proposals runs until 19 March 2015 and also seeks views on removing the need to contribute to affordable housing where a developer is building student accommodation. Continue reading
UK property sales down 1.4% in January, latest data shows
UK property sales fell in January, with the seasonally adjusted estimate for the month down by 1.4% compared to December 2014. The latest data from HMRC shows that there were 97,320 residential transactions and confirms that in recent months the trend in seasonally adjusted transactions has been on a slight downward trend. In January 2015 the number of non-adjusted residential transactions fell compared with December 2014, and was also lower compared with January 2014. ‘This is usual during this month of the year, although the number of non-adjusted residential transactions was also lower compared with January 2014. Please note that the figures for the two most recent months are provisional and therefore subject to revision,’ an HMRC spokesman said. The figures are based on HMRC's Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) database, which records the information submitted by property purchasers on the Land Transaction Return. The data also shows that there has been an increase in the number of non-residential transactions. The seasonally adjusted estimate for January 2015 is 2.1% higher than in December 2014, and 8% higher compared with January 2014. ‘Seasonally adjusted transactions of non-residential property have increased slightly over the year. Non adjusted transactions have seen some monthly peaks and falls during the last financial year, this can be expected due to the seasonal nature of purchases,’ the spokesman added. Peter Rollings, chief executive officer of Marsh & Parsons, explained that while property sales may have faded slightly in January, buyer demand is still strong. 'New shades of regulation in the mortgage market have slowed the process, but they’ve made it more robust too and borrowers and lenders are benefiting from more thorough and effective affordability checks,' he said. 'As a result, the buyers who have their finances in place are eager to move quickly. January has seen a boost in agreed sales, which has firmly set the ball rolling for 2015, and this will only gather faster momentum during the spring, typically one of the most popular times to move house when these completions come to fruition,' he pointed out. 'Generous mortgage rates are giving borrowers more room for manoeuvre than ever before, and reduced stamp duty costs are another incentive greasing the wheels of activity at the lower end of the housing market, helping consumer confidence speed up. After the market re-adjustment we’ve witnessed recently, price growth will soon start ploughing forward again, although likely at a slower stride than last year,' he added. According to Adrian Gill, director of Your Move and Reeds Rains estate agents, the UK housing market is temporarily treading water at the higher end, but fast moving in areas where price growth has been more modest, and where cheaper properties are within reach of new buyers and borrowers who can access Help to Buy. ‘London has long been the propeller driving forward growth, but after cruising ahead at full speed in 2014, the London property market has run aground momentarily. This… Continue reading
Two thirds of buyers in England and Wales to benefit from stamp duty tax change
More than two thirds of buyers in England and Wales will benefit from the stamp duty changes announced last year and it is set to stimulate housing market activity. According to a new analysis of land registry prices by the Nationwide Building Society some 86% of housing transactions in London and the South East should benefit and 85% of transactions in Cardiff North will see a reduction in stamp duty payable. This comes as the slab structure of the tax was completely abolished, with purchasers paying the marginal tax rate on the relevant elements of the purchase price. Overall some 98% of buyers will pay the same or less tax and only those purchasing homes costing between £937,500 and £1 million or more than £1,125,000 are set to pay more. The Nationwide report says that the new marginal SDLT should help to remove the distortions caused by the slab structure, which led to a clustering of transactions. The greatest impact is likely to be for homeowners looking to buy property just above £250,000, who could save around £5,000 in tax or around 2% of the purchase price. Based on 2013/2014 transactions data from the Land Registry, nearly 590,000 purchasers in England and Wales would benefit under the new regime, with an average benefit of around £1,600. The benefits tend to be greater in areas where average house prices are higher and thus a higher proportion of transactions are liable for stamp duty. The report estimates that 86% of transactions in London and the South East regions would benefit from the changes, compared with around 50% across the North East, North West, and Yorkshire and the Humber. A further breakdown of the figures show that only a small number of sales would see people paying more while a large number would see no change. In England and Wales as a whole 71% would benefit, 28% see no difference and 2% would pay more. So, in London 86% would benefit, 7% would see no change and 7% would pay more. In the South East 86% would benefit, 13% would see no change and just 2% would pay more while in the East of England 81% would benefit, 18% see no change and 1% pay more. Elsewhere no one would pay more. In the South West 81% would benefit and 18% would see no difference. In the West Midlands it is 61% and 39%, in the East Midlands 58% and 42%, in Yorkshire and the Humber 53% and 43%, in the North West 51% and 49% and in the North East 45% and 54%. While in Wales it is 53% and 47%. Continue reading
