Tag Archives: guides
Not all estate agents ask about neighbours when selling a house
Only 40% of estate agents ask people selling their home if they have issues with their neighbours at a time when issues from next door can knock thousands off the price of a property, new research shows. It is clear that not all estate agents want to ask the question when it comes to neighbourly problems and 10% rely solely on the purchasers’ solicitor or conveyancer to investigate existing issues with neighbours. The research from Churchill Home Insurance also found that according to estate agents the most contentious disputes are over communal space. Over half, 56%, of the estate agents surveyed identified this as the major issue while 10% said it was noise and 8% boundaries. Dogs and anti-social behaviour were also cited. Some 14% of estate agents highlighted cases where the seller had to drop the price of a property because of issues with neighbours. The average price drop was 3.8%, around £7,000 in England and Wales and £6,400 in Scotland. Churchill’s research also reveals that 20% of estate agents ask sellers if they have had issues with their council and 15% of these would pass this information on to the prospective buyer. As such, it is vital that prospective buyers ask the right questions to ensure they get all of the information they require to make an informed purchase, the firm said. Buyers are relying on their solicitors or conveyancers to investigate issues with potential new neighbours. The conveyancing process can unravel any open disputes or circumstances that could lead to disagreements, but the subjectivity of loud music or an aggressive neighbourhood dog means these checks may not capture potential day to day problems. ‘Buying a property is one of the most expensive decisions many of us will ever make. As such, we are well within our rights to be informed about issues that may affect our buying decision,’ said Martin Scott, head of Churchill Home Insurance. ‘Buyers should ask their estate agent to disclose as much as information as they can about the property, seller and neighbours to help the buyer make the right decision,’ he added. He also pointed out that since the demise of the Property Misdirection Act in 2013, estate agents are required under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading regulations to reveal any negative issues about a property, if known to them, which may affect the buying decision. If an estate agent has been made aware of a nightmare neighbour or previous council disputes, they are obliged to inform the buyer. Withholding information that could affect the buying decision could land estate agents in hot water. They may be subject to legal action and fines of up to £5,000 and/or two years in prison. Churchill says that buyers should not be afraid to ask questions and when they meet the estate agent or seller they should specifically about issues such as past/ongoing disputes and the… Continue reading
Auckland and surrounding area sees most new home building
Auckland and its surrounding regions have driven most of the recent growth in building consents for new dwellings in New Zealand, according to the latest official figures to be published. In September 2015, some 2,242 new dwellings were given in permission in the country as whole, up 13% from the same month last year, the data from Statistics New Zealand shows. The regions with the largest increases were Waikato, Auckland, Bay of Plenty and Northland while the regions with the largest decreases were Wellington and Canterbury. However, Canterbury still accounts for almost one quarter of the national total. However, in seasonally adjusted terms, the number of new dwellings consented fell 5.7% in September after a 5.3% fall in August but this is following on from a 20% surge in July, and the trend is increasing. ‘In the regions surrounding Auckland, growth is being driven by new houses, while in Auckland itself, apartments are also a big part of the picture,’ said Statistics New Zealand business indicators manager Clara Eatherley. ‘While we see a bit of volatility from month to month, the overall picture recently has been growth in building consents, both on the residential side and the non-residential,’ she added. Continue reading
Survey reveals shocking lack of knowledge over residential property leases
Property owners in the UK who are leaseholders do not know enough about how the system works and much of this is down to poor advice from conveyancing solicitors, it is claimed. They have a ‘shocking’ lack of understanding on how leases work, how they can be extended and the consequences of failing to extend a short lease, says research from law firm Bolt Burdon Kemp. The survey found that over half of leaseholders are unaware of the crucial 80 year rule that once the time left on a lease falls below 80 years, the extension will immediately cost thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of pounds more. Almost all flats and apartments in England and Wales are leasehold property yet a fifth of leaseholders are aware that they have leases with less than 80 years left to run and therefore face hefty bills to extend but 36% do not know the length of their lease at all. The majority of leaseholders are unaware they can extend their lease after two years of ownership and overall the situation is a time bomb, according to the firm. The firm points out that a lease with less than 80 years left steadily becomes less valuable, leaving the property owner with a diminishing asset that they may be unable to sell or mortgage. The survey also reveals that many respondents were not given basic information about the importance of lease length and renewing the lease at a time when the number of leasehold owners has increased. Indeed, it points out that buying a leasehold can be fraught with issues and the lack of knowledge can create an avoidable and very expensive problem for home owners further down the line. ‘It is clear from these results that leaseholders are simply not being given enough information by their professional advisors before buying flats and apartments. This is creating a ticking time bomb for many leaseholders,’ said Stephen Hill, partner at Bolt Burdon Kemp. ‘Not knowing the length of your lease or the impact if it falls below 80 years is very serious, it could mean you struggle to sell the property or renew your mortgage. Solicitors and conveyancers advising leaseholders must do more to ensure property owners are fully aware of what they are getting themselves into when they buy a lease,’ he added. The current law states that after an unexpired term of a lease drops below 80 years, the way that the cost of a lease extension is calculated changes. When a lease is extended, the freehold becomes less valuable. It is only if the lease has less than 80 years to run when you extend it that the law requires you to pay the owner of the freehold compensation for the lost value. If there are more than 80 years left to run on the lease, no compensation is payable and the cost will usually be minimal. With each year that passes below 80 years, the lease becomes increasingly… Continue reading
