If you had to dream up a perfect farmhouse it would probably look something like this. Claybottom Farm is a magnificent whitewashed Lakeland residence with equestrian facilities, 12 acres of land, outbuildings, beautiful grounds and superb fellside views. It is for sale at £1.1 million and is marketed by Fine & Country, North Lakes and […]
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Opening a shared account when you’re renting can take away the stress of splitting the monthly outgoings. ‘Providing all parties have good credit history, a joint account for paying bills is the easiest way to neatly manage finances in a rented property,’ says Mustard estate agents, which covers Milton Keynes, Towcester and beyond. But there […]
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Suzanne Moore got everything else right about the housing crisis but left out land (I’m on the housing ladder but I can’t cheer the rising prices, Journal, 22 February). Throughout the UK, truly affordable council housing was built on public land. The price of borrowing to build and maintain council estates and their communities was recovered over, say, 50 years by low earners paying low rents, which did not include the ever-increasing value of land. Councils are now using the high value of public land to finance developers to demolish council estates and build private housing, which council tenants cannot afford. Hence the 79% increase in homeless families in England to 86,000, including 127,000 children since 2010, some for up to and over 10 years, 1.1 million households on council waiting lists and 4,700 single adults sleeping rough each night.
The New Economics Foundation recently reported that the government sold enough public land for developers to build 131,000 homes, but only 2.6% will be for social rent. There is an urgent need for legislation that forbids the sale of public land and requires it to be used for affordable social housing.
Rev Paul Nicolson
Taxpayers Against Poverty
There can’t be many former school buildings as pretty as this one. Originally known as The School Room, Ravenlee is a mid-terrace Victorian Grade II-listed cottage which has been fully modernised throughout. View Ravenlee which is for sale at £225,000 and is marketed by Chancellors, Kington at OnTheMarket. In the little Welsh village of Norton […]
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Pressure growing on ministers to launch £2bn bailout ahead of rally by debt-stricken leaseholders
More than half a million people are living in unsafe private apartments wrapped in combustible cladding, according to a survey by property agents, as pressure grows on ministers to launch a bailout that could cost over £2bn.
The estimated scale of the post-Grenfell cladding crisis is far higher than previous government figures have suggested and comes ahead of a rally in Westminster on Tuesday, when leaseholders from Manchester, London, Birmingham, Southampton and Ipswich facing unaffordable bills of up to £100,000 each will demand action from ministers.
Continue reading...I’ve never owned a property, but we’re living in a house my wife bought several years ago
Q My wife and I live in a house my wife bought several years ago before we were married. I have never owned a property. If I were to secure a mortgage solely in my name to buy a new property would I get any stamp duty reduction for being a first-time buyer? The plan would be to sell the house we are currently living in as soon as we’ve moved in to a new property.
RK
A Contrary to what some solicitors and conveyancers have told other readers asking similar questions to yours, being married does not stop you from being defined as a first-time buyer and so qualifying for stamp duty land tax (SDLT) relief. Provided your spouse doesn’t already own property and you are buying in your name only, you can get relief on the first £300,000 of the purchase price of a property costing up to £500,000 (there’s no relief if it’s more than that).
Continue reading...Tie-up between owners of Hamptons International and Your Move could result in job losses
Two of Britain’s biggest estate agency groups are in talks over a possible £470m merger that will bring together well-known brands such as Hamptons International and Your Move and could also mean job losses.
In a brief statement to the stock market, Countrywide said that “it is in discussions with LSL Property Services regarding a possible all-share combination”. LSL issued a similar statement, and added: “LSL reserves the right to introduce other forms of consideration and/or vary the mix or composition of consideration of any offer.”
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