Tag Archives: middle-east
Stamp duty levels to continue to affect prime central London property market
The prime central London property market has seen a year of two halves but uncertainty over stamp duty levels is set to continue to affect the upper part of the sector in 2016, new research suggests. Just over a year the prime market was hit by increased stamp duty on properties worth more than £1.1 million and now this year extra duty of 3% is to be levied on buy to let investors and second home owners. The latest report from real estate firm Knight Frank explains that while the new measure is an attempt to address concerns surrounding affordability and house price inflation, it raises fresh questions over the dampening effect on tax revenues just as buyers and sellers in prime London were showing tentative signs of absorbing the previous increase. ‘Transactions and revenue have declined across London in the period following the December 2014 increase. It highlights concerns over the financially viability of the stamp duty reform, which had the welcome aim of increasing liquidity and affordability below £1 million but runs the risk of becoming a counterproductive deterrent above that level,’ said Tom Bill, head of London residential research. Meanwhile, the sub-£2 million market outperformed the rest of prime London in the second half of 2015, continuing a trend of recent years. In particular, properties worth less than £1 million have grown by more than any other price bracket. Bill explained that the highest growth has largely been outside the higher price brackets of prime areas of central London over the last 20 years. The Knight Frank analysis report highlights the markets where price growth was strongest during each year since the first quarter of 1995 and on a journey that began in Lambeth Walk and ends in Turnpike Lane, £50,000 would have become £1.18 million after stamp duty and moving fees are taken into account, representing a rise of 2,264%. The theoretical journey began in south London before moving further east to areas like Barking and Dagenham in the early 2000s as east London matured as a residential market. It then moved to prime central London in the run-up to and immediate aftermath of the financial crisis, including Marylebone, Belgravia and Fulham. Finally, as price growth pushed outwards from central London as the UK economic recovery consolidated after 2013 the strongest growth was found in the north London markets of Walthamstow and Turnpike Lane. Continue reading
New £1 million scheme launched to train housing industry staff in UK
A big increase in the number of homes being built in the UK over the past two years and a raft of new home being promised by the Government means that more training is needed in the property construction industry. As a result the Home Builders Federation (HBF) and the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) have launched a new £1 million scheme to train non-construction staff such as marketing, sales and business development employees. This new fund, which will run throughout 2016, is aimed at ensuring the thousands of staff working in these areas are, like their construction counterparts, getting the required level of training to ensure the industry can deliver more, high quality homes. The fund will help HBF members to target training to employees, graduate scheme trainees and those on undergraduate placements to ensure that best practice is applied and high standards upheld. A portion of the fund has also been set aside to fund further training for sales and marketing staff. Driving up levels of customer service is a particular area of focus for the industry as more potential customers visit sales offices and more homes are sold. ‘The past two years have seen tens of thousands of new people recruited into house building and a significant increase in the number of homes being built. As we look to increase output still further it is imperative we continue to increase industry capacity and develop the skilled workforce required to build the high quality homes the country needs,’ said Stewart Baseley, HBF executive chairman. ‘The house building process is an extremely complex one requiring a great number of people with very different skills. If we are to provide the high quality homes and the level of customer service today's new build customer demands we need to ensure every member of staff in every part of the process is trained to the best possible standard,’ he added. ‘Industry told us that more needed to be done to address the range of skills challenges in the housebuilding sector. Working with HBF, this new pilot fund is a first step in addressing that important issue and testing how this approach could be employed in other parts of construction,’ said Steve Radley, director of policy at the CITB. ‘This £1 million pot of money will boost technical skills in the sector to ensure that we can build the homes the country needs,’ he added. Continue reading
Unauthorised residential sub-letting costing UK landlords thousands
The practice of unauthorised sub-letting is still rife in the UK's private rented sector (PRS) and subsequently damaged properties are costing landlords thousands of pounds, it is claimed. The warning from the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC) comes after the National Landlords Association (NLA) recently reported that almost half of tenants who sub-let their property do so without their landlord’s consent. The NLA's findings come in response to government proposals to introduce minimum room sizes in order to crack down on problems such as unauthorised sub-letting. The study also found that of those tenants who approached their landlord about sub-letting, a fifth had their request permitted. The AIIC says that any tenants who are interested in sub-letting must speak to their landlord as if approached officially and properly, there is a chance the landlord will be willing to hear any requests. ‘Unfortunately, the practice of unauthorised sub-letting remains rife within the PRS and can cost landlords thousands of pounds in damages,’ said Pat Barber, chair of the AIIC. ‘There are countless horror stories related to sub-letting. For example, I know of a new two bed flat in which a total of 12 adults lived, although it was only rented to two male tenants. Another case concerned a three bed furnished flat, let to a restaurant and a total of 27 people were sleeping there, on shifts, all workers for the restaurant business,’ she explained. ‘These were both properties that I personally checked-out and needless to say both were wrecked, leaving the landlords thousands of pounds out of pocket,’ she added. It is hoped that the government's new proposals will limit the scope of unauthorised sub-letting but Barber pointed out that it also remains vitally important for landlords, agents and service providers like independent inventory clerks to remain vigilant for the signs of unauthorised sub-letting. She also explained that in the case of unauthorised sub-letting, an inventory carried out by an independent inventory clerk could provide the landlord with the opportunity to recoup some of the costs incurred by property damage. An independently compiled inventory will comprehensively detail the condition of the property at the beginning of the tenancy and it is very difficult for a tenant to argue against such firm evidence of check-in condition. Continue reading
