Connecting you to Verified Independent Chartered Surveyors
In this month’s Property Surveying Newsletter … we look at new homes and snagging, look at the UK’s first UWO and discover the Chelsea Flower Show’s reaction to smaller properties
Property Surveying Question of the Month:
Why do local authority planners and government planning inspectors allow building on flood plains? Stop it. Period. Legislate against it.
The Property Market Monthly Fact File
The property market fact file is a collection of data compiled each month by our Chartered Surveyors and the propertysurveying.co.uk team, reflecting survey data, statistics, trends and information from the property market. This provides a single place where anyone with an interest in UK property can find the information they need.
Court of Appeal rejects appeal against first Unexplained Wealth Order
The Court of Appeal has rejected Zamira Hajiyeva’s appeal against the UK’s first Unexplained Wealth Order, meaning she must now reveal the source of her wealth. She has been forbidden from taking the case to the Supreme Court and must pay legal costs to the National Crime Agency (NCO). The NCO has the right to seize her London home if she is unable to provide evidence of her income.
Report damns 75% of new housing development
A national report for the Place Alliance and countryside charity, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, has been published by UCL, in response to an audit of the design elements of new housing developments.
Homes England demands couple buy property they already own
Conveyancing errors, government blackmail or what? Homes England has demanded £750 from a couple living in the town of Redditch in Worcestershire, to formally procure their garden hedge and part of their home’s driveway.
A surveyor’s guide to home insulation – how to insulate your home
The heating bills resulting from another cold winter are a stark reminder of just how much it costs to keep your home warm. Check our list of home insulation tips to ensure you don’t waste money heating the great outdoors instead of your home.
Household survey on attitudes towards carbon emissions
A new survey of over 2,000 households has been published on behalf of the Home Builders Federation, in preparation for a summit to plot a route towards reducing net carbon emissions  in housing to zero by 2050.
Energy companies overcharging household customers
The energy regulator Ofgem has forced the UK’s largest independent energy supplier, Ovo Energy, to pay £8.9 million to a voluntary redress scheme to help vulnerable domestic costumers. In addition, the amounts owed by household customers who had been overcharged at the wrong rates have been written off.
Kelburn Castle grafitti used to tackle rendering problems
Conservation and heritage bodies are not generally known for encouraging, or even allowing, dramatic exterior paint-jobs on listed buildings. However, in 2007, the owner of Kelburn Castle decided to commission four Brazilian street artists to paint a mural featuring a psychedelic series of interwoven cartoons on the 13th century old building.
Surveyor’s guide to the Snagging Survey
You’d have a building survey carried out when buying older property, wouldn’t you? You would then have a survey report detailing the defects within the building that you could use to help you negotiate the price so that any problems can be sorted out before you move in. But if you’re buying a new build home, why should you want a survey? After all, the building, fixtures and fittings are all brand new so surely everything will be perfect and you can live trouble-free? Sadly, that simply isn’t the case with many new build properties.
The attractive Georgian market town of Melbourne in Derbyshire lies close to the National Forest. It was recorded in the Domesday Survey and boasts a parish church once described as a miniature cathedral, as well as a 20-acre lake overlooked by the historic family house and gardens of Melbourne Hall. In short, a lovely place to live – but residents have now been accused of artificially buoying the town’s house prices.
Optimism returning to UK property market?
There is some reported evidence that the anticipated ‘Boris Bounce’ is beginning to be bear fruit, with the London property market in particular showing increased optimism from a year ago.
And finally …
New RHS categories to reflect houses with smaller gardens
With space for housing at a premium, gardens are getting smaller and many modern homes have limited access to a private garden space or balcony. In response, the RHS has introduced two new categories to its annual Chelsea Flower Show that will appeal to the younger generation of green fingered home owners: Urban Gardens and Houseplants.
Written by Independent Chartered Surveyors
of the UK wide network of Property Professionals
The Property Surveying Newsletter is a free service by PropertySurveying.co.uk for those with an interest in the UK Property Market. As well as being posted online here, it is emailed direct to our subscribers all across the country.
Subscribe to receive the Property Surveying Newsletter by email every month (we promise never to share your details with a third party). The next newsletter will be published in March 2020.
Email us at:Â office@propertysurveying.co.uk
© PropertySurveying.co.uk