Connecting
you to Verified Independent Chartered Surveyors
In
this month's property surveying newsletter ... we look at the
CMA's investigation into leaseholds, discuss the building of new homes
on flood plains and
look at why money launderers are so attracted to the property market
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.
The Competition and Markets Authority has opened
an investigation into the potentially unfair practices of the leasehold
property market. It is essential that home buyers are fully aware of
the consequences of entering into a leasehold contract before they sign
what is likely to be a complex legal agreement. Conveyancers have a
responsibility to their clients to ensure they fully comprehend their
actions in terms they understand.
Over 110,000 extensions have been completed since
2014 after rules were temporarily changed to allow homeowners in
England to extend their properties without full planning permisson. The
relaxation has been made permanent, but the Local Government
Association has warned that the planning process is in existence for a
reason and has called for an independent review on the impacts of
changes that don't go through the full planning process.
A Welsh village that is home to 850 people could
soon need to be relocated due to the threat of climate change. Local
planning authorities have a need to build homes, and flood plain land
is typically level and uncomplicated. Britain has a substantial housing
shortage but why don’t council planning authorities have sufficient
power to just say NO BUILDING ON ANY FLOOD PLAINS
WITHOUT EXCEPTION and if they already have those
powers, why don’t they use them?
Young people are less likely to move to the UK’s
larger cities where they can get higher paying jobs, according to a new
report. The prospect of paying a large proportion of their income on
high city rents meant that, despite the prospect of higher wages,
younger people were unwilling to make use of any financial incentives
for a move into the city.
UK pensioners have once again been warned to take
care before investing their hard-earned life and pension savings in
property, after an investigation discovered an estimated £600 million
had been ‘invested’ in a German building firm.
Laundering money through property is an
international problem that has driven up property prices and enabled
investors to ‘flip’ properties as criminals scramble to buy them. We
aren’t talking just high price property here; criminals can invest in
property by paying for construction in cash, loaning themselves a
mortgage through a shell corporation, renting out rooms for cash or
even declaring higher rental profits.
We all know that buying a property is one of the
biggest and most important purchases you will ever make, but property
in some areas of the UK is disproportionately more expensive than
others. The north/south divide means there are cheaper properties to be
found in the north of England and there are towns and cities where you
can buy a 3-bedroom family house for less than £100,000 .
Every new generation may understandably feel
jealous of the last, perhaps never more so as now, as younger people
struggle to get on the housing ladder while older generations pay off
the mortgage on their home and enjoy the benefits of early retirement.
But are millennials over-estimating what they might inherit?
A family living completely off-grid in Cumbria
claims that their only outgoing is council tax. Their home is just
outside the small village of Gamblesby, where a couple share gypsy
wagons and cabin with their two children.
A survey by the Local Government Association has
revealed that the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act has
led to more people being placed in temporary and emergency
accommodation, and councils are struggling to cope with the demand for
homes.
No-one can have missed the media reports and stark
messages about global warming. There is a general consensus
that we must sit up and take notice that the effects of global warming
are much more imminent than previously thought. We look at how we can
adapt our homes and lifestyle to reduce our impact on global warming.
And finally
...
(With thanks to 'Eats Shoots &
Leaves') - home owner suspects break-in as he returns home
to the smell of cleaning fluids, while his son notices a normally open
door has been closed.
Written
by Independent Chartered Surveyors
of the UK wide network of Property Professionals
Th 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 this newsletter by email every month (we
promise never to share your details with a third party). The next
newsletter will be published in July.
Email us
at: office@propertysurveying.co.uk
|
