Archive

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) has long been the bugbear of many property transactions. Even the very wealthy will lose interest...

By the time I next write this column, we’ll be just days before the next Budget and Autumn Statement. So I’ll...

A plea has been made to the government to help small companies and stop letting online firms off the hook. The Federation...

I’m sorry to break this to you but in 10 days’ time it will be autumn - and we will have...

Speculation is mounting that Capital Gains Tax could for the first time be applied to gains made when owners sell first...

Boris Johnson is considering introducing a mansion tax for high value homes according to a Sunday newspaper. The Telegraph - citing two...

Yes, believe it or not, we’ve nearly reached the end of a whole decade. And what an eventful decade it’s been. We’ve...

It has been a long time coming, but the tenant fees ban, which forbids landlords and letting agents in England from...

The housing industry has set out a list of demands in advance of the government’s hotly anticipated Autumn Budget on Wednesday.  Despite...

Whenever any research is released, part of me can’t help thinking of that old adage, ‘lies, damn lies and statistics’ especially...

The Queen’s speech to the British parliament this week was a scaled-back affair, which was unsurprising given the Grenfell Tower fire,...

In November 2016 when the Autumn Statement was delivered by Chancellor Philip Hammond, the announcement was made to ban letting agent...

In this Natter we have an exclusive interview with David Cox, CEO of ARLA Propertymark and one of the best-known figures...

Estate agents are angry that Chancellor Phillip Hammond made no attempt in his first Spring Budget to reform stamp duty -...

Looking ahead to the Spring Budget this week, the Chancellor Philip Hammond will be obliged to face up to the implications...

Welcome to February! It means that 2017 is well under way and we’re edging closer to Spring – a time when...

The government appears to have slipped back on two deadlines concerning measures key to the property industry. Firstly the consultation on the...

2016 was quite a year – eventful, dramatic, shocking and impossible to predict. In no particular order, we saw Leicester winning...

The rental market has had to face a raft of changes over the past year, including the introduction of the 3% stamp...

Confusion surrounds the timing of the government’s eagerly-anticipated White Paper on housing. Respected property industry weekly magazine Estates Gazette has tweeted that...

The government has announced that its next Budget will be on March 8 next year. Until recently, Budgets and their ‘mini-me’ Autumn...

New data revealed by investment consultancy Central London Portfolio claims that transactions in prime central areas of the capital have dropped 24...

Following a strong start to 2016, particularly in the lower to middle range of the UK housing market, that lasted up...

Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, Jeremy Corbyn, Phillip Hammond, Tony Blair and Bob Geldof, all in one image...is this truly the nightmare...

Next year is likely to be a challenging time for letting agents, following a raft of changes introduced by the government...

Carpe diem, seize the day – whatever you call it, it’s something all of us in the property industry should be looking...

Just a couple of weeks ago, we waited with anticipation to see what the new Chancellor, Philip Hammond, would say in...

One of the key factors associated with an active private rental market in the UK, as detailed in the Dataloft PRS...

Let me set out my stall from the beginning. Firstly with two buy to lets managed by an agency, I understand and...

Listening to all the coverage of the tenant fee ban, all I hear is consumer groups talking about how some agents...

Chancellor Philip Hammond caught the lettings industry unaware with an incredulous Autumn Statement.  The buy-to-let sector took a bashing earlier in 2015...

The industry has reacted angrily to the Chancellor declining to change stamp duty despite pleas from agents and suppliers ahead of the Autumn...

Share prices for both Foxtons and Countrywide took a significant tumble yesterday as news of the ban on letting agents’ fees...

In case you missed it yesterday, here’s a summary of everything relating to property that was in Chancellor Phillip Hammond’s Autumn...

Phillip Hammond has delivered his first Autumn Statement, tackling amongst other things, what he called “the housing challenge.” The speech made no...

Recent stamp duty changes have resulted in a substantial decline in transaction numbers and HM Revenue & Customs missing its revenue...

Estate agents have spent the weekend finalising their wish-list and lobbying MPs and government ahead of Wednesday’s Autumn Statement. Top of the...

It may still be too early to start compiling a Christmas wish list, but it is the right time to provide...

Forecasts are a tricky business. And as I wrote in a recent Industry Views opinion piece, any prediction in the current...

We are now only days away from one of the most-anticipated events in UK politics; one which has a considerable impact...

Agents selling homes at the high end of the market have generally welcomed the Daily Telegraph campaign to persuade the Chancellor...

The Daily Telegraph has this morning launched a campaign calling on Chancellor Phillip Hammond to slash stamp duty. The newspaper - a...

Media reports over the weekend suggest that the government is to introduce a 'buy as you go' system in the Autumn...

We are now less than a month away from Philip Hammond’s first Autumn Statement to the nation, depending of course on...

The huge consequences of the EU referendum, and the impending Brexit negotiations, have drawn into sharp light the consequences for a...

The almost non-stop series of tax changes affecting all aspects of the housing market in recent years looks set to continue...

It is a tedious fact, but the housing market is underpinned by economic fundamentals. This won’t be a surprise.  However, at a...

Estate agents are already setting out their stalls ahead of Chancellor Phillip Hammond’s November 23 Autumn Statement with one simple message...

The Conveyancing Association says new Chancellor Phillip Hammond should use next month’s Autumn Statement as the opportunity to reverse controversial buy...

A mortgage lender has called on the government to reform stamp duty so that it is paid by property sellers instead...

With the number of new homes being built across the UK still significantly below the level needed to meet demand, housebuilders...

The industry publication Property Week says it has exclusively discovered that the government is preparing a housing market stimulus package to...

MP Bernard Jenkin, the chairman of the public administration committee, is the latest to raise concerns at the possible privatisation of...

The National Association of Estate Agents has quantified what the industry has known for some weeks - there has been a...

The government - which controversially launched consultation on its stamp duty surcharge between Christmas and New Year - has now used...

George Osborne has been busy over the last year. First came the General Election which had everyone on tenterhooks until the...

Yesterday George Osborne delivered his eighth budget as chancellor, announcing an extra £3.5 billion in spending cuts by 2019-20. The Office for...

When it comes to Budgets and Property, you have to hope that the old adage that ‘things happen in threes’ turns...

I want to take this opportunity to share some findings from the National Landlord Association’s latest Quarterly Landlord Panel. The first is...

There has been a £620m decline in stamp duty income for the government in the first nine months of 2015 according...

A consumer group which supports the principle of a stamp duty surcharge on second homes and buy to let properties has...

With a little over two months to go until changes to Stamp Duty are introduced that will impact purchasers of second...

The prospect of quarterly tax returns being imposed on some businesses - including small estate agencies and other small firms servicing...

There are fears that a little-publicised proposal could mean some of the country's smallest estate agencies would have to file tax returns...

The government chose Christmas Bank Holiday Monday to launch its formal consultation on the ‘additional properties’ stamp duty surcharge, first announced...

The Scottish finance minister John Swinney is to introduce a three per cent surcharge on the full purchase price above £40,000...

A survey of over 1,000 adults by respected polling company Survation shows little public appetite for the privatisation of the Land...

You might recall a collective sigh of relief emitted by stakeholders in the housing market and private rental sector back in...

The Treasury has admitted that stamp duty ‘take’ is expected to soar from £11.2 billion this year to £17.8 billion in...

Once you go beyond the industry’s anger about the Chancellor’s three per cent stamp duty surcharge – and that’s an anger...

The possibility of the Land Registry being amongst £4.6 billion of public assets earmarked for privatisation has provoked protests across the...

We may all be reeling from the surprise Autumn Statement stamp duty shocker but estate agents still find time to do...

There’s been shock and anger from agents - especially those in London - at the surprise news of an additional three...

- From April 2016 buy to let landlords and people buying second or holiday homes will have to pay an additional...

George Osborne has announced a shock additional 3.0 per cent stamp duty on second homes and buy to let properties. Details are...

It is anticipated that the government will reveal more details of how it proposes to simplify mortgage fees and make mortgage...

Chancellor George Osborne remains convinced that his stamp duty reforms of a year ago benefit over 95 per cent of home...