The two most common forms of property ownership in the UK are freehold and leasehold but what do these terms mean in practice? Leasehold With leasehold you are buying for a fixed period, usually 99 years if the home is new though leases can be much shorter. However, you do not own the land the property […]
The post Leasehold or freehold: What’s the difference? appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.
Not all fruit and veg are best eaten as soon as they are picked…
One of the mantras of popular food culture today is “eating seasonally”, a practice universally held to be the key to better flavour, better nutrition, better ethics, better everything. However, as a scientist who is fascinated by how what goes on inside the cells of plants dictates the flavour and nutritional benefits of harvests, I have just one problem with this: it’s simply untrue.
For while the sweetness of crops like asparagus and sweetcorn can indeed decline precipitously in the days (even hours) after harvest, for many crops the exact opposite occurs. This is particularly true of the winter squash, which despite being ready to harvest right now, will measurably increase in flavour and nutrition if you hold off eating it for a few months. For squashes, fresher is definitely not better. Here’s how it works…
Continue reading...Not all fruit and veg are best eaten as soon as they are picked…
One of the mantras of popular food culture today is “eating seasonally”, a practice universally held to be the key to better flavour, better nutrition, better ethics, better everything. However, as a scientist who is fascinated by how what goes on inside the cells of plants dictates the flavour and nutritional benefits of harvests, I have just one problem with this: it’s simply untrue.
For while the sweetness of crops like asparagus and sweetcorn can indeed decline precipitously in the days (even hours) after harvest, for many crops the exact opposite occurs. This is particularly true of the winter squash, which despite being ready to harvest right now, will measurably increase in flavour and nutrition if you hold off eating it for a few months. For squashes, fresher is definitely not better. Here’s how it works…
Continue reading...So much to see – and best of all win – at my local auction house
It seems I have… a hobby? When I wasn’t looking a new trapdoor opened in the panelling of my personality and now I am an auction person. Every Monday I waddle to the auction house at the end of my road, and calmly finger the tchotchkes and platters and tables and prints, choosing which item I don’t need that I need that week. I know it’s a hobby because my boyfriend alternates between disapproval and patronisation, sometimes both, depending on the size of the teapot.
eBay has been my main shopping mall since 2007, because I both love old clothes and enjoy the chase. But the differences between a website and a real auction are vast and grounded largely in touch and smell, and the sense that a real person has curated this weekly museum of loss and memory.
Continue reading...So much to see – and best of all win – at my local auction house
It seems I have… a hobby? When I wasn’t looking a new trapdoor opened in the panelling of my personality and now I am an auction person. Every Monday I waddle to the auction house at the end of my road, and calmly finger the tchotchkes and platters and tables and prints, choosing which item I don’t need that I need that week. I know it’s a hobby because my boyfriend alternates between disapproval and patronisation, sometimes both, depending on the size of the teapot.
eBay has been my main shopping mall since 2007, because I both love old clothes and enjoy the chase. But the differences between a website and a real auction are vast and grounded largely in touch and smell, and the sense that a real person has curated this weekly museum of loss and memory.
Continue reading...Tom and Lisa Aldiss* had just bought their first home when the demand arrived. A housing association they had never heard of claimed the developer had breached a restrictive covenant by building their house and demanded they pay £45,000 or face legal action.
Restrictive covenants appear on the majority of title deeds for properties in the UK and can prohibit certain uses, alterations or developments. Although solicitors are supposed to flag them up, most homeowners remain unaware of them. And those who inadvertently breach a covenant – or buy from a seller who has already breached it – can find themselves liable for life-changing sums.
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