Here's an idea that could earn the government £400bn in 25 years | Nils Pratley

A capital gains tax on primary residence – it may be politically toxic but has the virtue of fairness

The UK’s public finances are “on an unsustainable path”, the Office for Budget Responsibility said last week. Since it has been saying as much for years, even before Covid-19 provoked a surge in borrowing, the analysis was hardly a surprise. The difference now, however, is that the debt numbers are so large that the government is obliged to consider big, radical, long-term solutions.

Here’s one such idea, from Michael Johnson, a former banker and actuary, in a paper for the Social Market Foundation thinktank: introduce a capital gains tax on primary residences.

Continue reading...

from Property | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2OTWvuO
via IFTTT

England’s leasehold system is crumbling. Freeholders' fightback will be nasty | Patrick Collinson

There was good news this week for millions of homeowners. But it’s not time to celebrate yet

A report by the Law Commission published this week should have made uplifting reading for the 4.3 million homeowners in England and Wales trapped in our feudal leasehold system. It appeared to (finally) spell the end to many of the gruesome practices that have left people in despair, such as ludicrously expensive lease extensions, spiralling ground rents and absurd service charges. But there are billions of pounds at stake here – money that flows to rich freeholders, many of them aristocratic families or companies in the British Virgin Islands, for doing virtually nothing. And they will find one loophole after the next to hold on to their unearned wealth.

First, let’s look at the good news. The Law Commission was asked last year by the government to find solutions to the leasehold crisis. Its initial report, in January, set out reforms to the “enfranchisement” process. That’s where you either want to buy the freehold, or extend the, say, 75-year lease on your flat back up to 99 years.

Continue reading...

from Property | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3eSVAWd
via IFTTT

Deposit return: A guide for tenants and landlords Nottingham Estate Agents

Many a tenancy has ended in tears because of a lack of clarity about the all-important deposit, which can run to thousands of pounds. The introduction of Government-backed deposit protection schemes in 2007 was supposed to reduce the scope for such misunderstandings and, to an extent, has achieved that by introducing greater clarity into the […]

The post Deposit return: A guide for tenants and landlords appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.

from OnTheMarket.com blog https://ift.tt/2FBDQCj
via IFTTT

How to deal with noisy neighbours Nottingham Estate Agents

It might be a yapping dog, loud music or an all-night party. Whatever the origin of the noise, the decibel level can be both disturbing and distressing. But what can you do about it? OnTheMarket offers tips for dealing with noisy neighbours. Most homeowners and tenants are confronted with the dilemma of noisy neighbours at […]

The post How to deal with noisy neighbours appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.

from OnTheMarket.com blog https://ift.tt/2eT5eL3
via IFTTT

Specieswatch: hedgehogs are well-loved but mysterious garden visitors

We know so little about the lives of these endearing animals, whose numbers are in decline in Britain

The European hedgehog, Erinaceus europaeus, is said to be the gardener’s best friend; eating slugs, beetles and other unwelcome visitors to the vegetable patch. Whether this is true or not, the garden is the most likely place to find what is considered to be Britain’s favourite mammal, the species having fled from industrialised farmland to survive.

Related: Country diary: preparing the garden for a much-loved mammal

Continue reading...

from Property | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2ZNr9fz
via IFTTT

Specieswatch: hedgehogs are well-loved but mysterious garden visitors

We know so little about the lives of these endearing animals, whose numbers are in decline in Britain

The European hedgehog, Erinaceus europaeus, is said to be the gardener’s best friend; eating slugs, beetles and other unwelcome visitors to the vegetable patch. Whether this is true or not, the garden is the most likely place to find what is considered to be Britain’s favourite mammal, the species having fled from industrialised farmland to survive.

Related: Country diary: preparing the garden for a much-loved mammal

Continue reading...

from Home And Garden | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2ZNr9fz
via IFTTT

Blooms with a view: Derek Jarman's magical garden gets a transplant

Surrounded by poppies, sea kale and a nuclear power station, the late director’s otherworldly cottage and garden in Kent have been saved for the nation. And now there’s good news for anyone who can’t wait to see inside

When the director and artist Derek Jarman began making his garden on the great shingle expanse outside his cottage in Dungeness, local fishermen feared something occult was afoot. “People thought I was building a garden for magical purposes,” Jarman said at the time, “a white witch out to get the nuclear power station.”

It’s not hard to see why. Approaching the black-tarred silhouette of Prospect Cottage, as you crunch your way across the otherworldly shingle desert on the tip of the Kent coast, you encounter a series of enigmatic stone circles bursting with red and yellow poppies. Driftwood totems rise above shaggy tufts of sea kale, while talismanic strings of pebbles dangle from rusting iron posts, above the metal balls of fishing floats emerging from clumps of gorse. The boxy hulk of a nuclear power station looms in the background, emitting a distant hum. It is one of the strangest, most magical garden scenes in the world – made no less so, back in the 90s, by the sight of Jarman in a hooded djellaba, pottering about among the blooms.

Continue reading...

from Property | The Guardian https://ift.tt/30AIffR
via IFTTT