LSL withdraws from Countrywide merger talks

Tie-up would have created company with 14,000 staff and 1,000 estate agency outlets

LSL Property Services has abandoned a proposed merger with its rival Countrywide that would have brought together well-known brands such as Hamptons International and Your Move.

In a brief statement to the stock exchange, LSL said it “does not intend to make an offer for Countrywide”, less than a month after the companies confirmed they were in talks about a deal, which at the time would have been a £470m all-share merger.

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How to research an agent to sell your property

Read up on our top tips.

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What does the coronavirus mean for your finances?

From mortgage payments to pension funds, here’s the key information you need to know

• Coronavirus – latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

There have been more hefty falls, particularly in the domestic, UK-focused companies that will be badly hit by a sudden seizing up in activity. The FTSE 100 fell 7% on opening to 4950. Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 index, which covers the next tier of big companies, opened down 10%. Big fallers include FirstGroup, Britain’s biggest bus company, as well as an operator of train franchises. Its shares plummeted 58% on Monday morning. Restaurant Group, which operates 650 outlets, including Wagamama, was down 41%. But there are risers; Sainsbury’s was up– just – in trading this morning, as is household detergent maker Reckitt Benckiser.

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Average asking prices surge to all-time record high

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My wife and I still work – what mortgage should we get?

I already receive two pensions and am due a third and we’re thinking of going for a lifetime mortgage

Q I’m a 64-year-old man in full-time employment earning around £55,000 a year. My wife is 59 years old and a self-employed beauty therapist, earning around £7,000 a year. I already receive two pensions from previous employment which gives me about £7,500 a year before tax and, if I retire in July next year, I am due a further pre-tax pension of about £5,000 a year. I do, however, have the option to carry on working. We have a £190,000 deposit to buy a house but require another £90,000 to complete the purchase. Is it possible to get a lifetime mortgage to cover the extra we need, or is this type of mortgage just for existing homeowners? If it is, are there any alternative lending schemes on the market?
GR

A Yes, it is possible to take out a lifetime mortgage – a form of equity release – to cover the extra £90,000 you need. And you don’t have to be an existing homeowner to be eligible for a lifetime mortgage (where the mortgage carries on until your death or the point at which you move into a care home). However, a lifetime mortgage may not be the best option. According to independent mortgage brokers, Clifton Private Finance, you’re a bit young to be considering a lifetime mortgage. And you could save money by opting for a retirement interest-only (RIO) mortgage instead. Designed “to keep repayment costs down for older borrowers on pension income”, says Clifton Private Finance, RIO mortgages mean that your monthly mortgage payments are repayments of interest only with no repayment of capital. If you went with “one building society which is offering a RIO mortgage at 2.79% interest per month, your monthly payments [on a £90,000 loan] would be an affordable £209 a month”. You would also have the option to repay up to 5% of the amount you borrowed each year should you find that you have cash to spare. Compared to equity release borrowing – in the form of a lifetime mortgage – the building society’s RIO mortgage deal “would be roughly half the cost”.

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Starlings no friend to the gardener: country diary, 17 March 1920

17 March 1920 These birds will set to work and peck a hole in one after another pear, till practically your crop is worthless

The weather during the past week has been quite what we look for in March – stormy, uncertain, and with bitterly cold winds at times. We hear of damsons and a Victorian plum tree in bloom already in a Westmorland valley, but it is in a sheltered spot within a short distance of the coast; no doubt affected, like all that country is said to be, by the influence of the sea breezes passing over the “Gulf stream,” which strikes that part of the coast. On the fells only a few miles away, however, the snow is lying, and wintry weather is checking the too rapid advance of nature. And it is well so, for many fruit trees were getting too forward for safety.

Related: The sad decline of the swirling starling | Stephen Moss

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Starlings no friend to the gardener: country diary, 17 March 1920

17 March 1920 These birds will set to work and peck a hole in one after another pear, till practically your crop is worthless

The weather during the past week has been quite what we look for in March – stormy, uncertain, and with bitterly cold winds at times. We hear of damsons and a Victorian plum tree in bloom already in a Westmorland valley, but it is in a sheltered spot within a short distance of the coast; no doubt affected, like all that country is said to be, by the influence of the sea breezes passing over the “Gulf stream,” which strikes that part of the coast. On the fells only a few miles away, however, the snow is lying, and wintry weather is checking the too rapid advance of nature. And it is well so, for many fruit trees were getting too forward for safety.

Related: The sad decline of the swirling starling | Stephen Moss

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