The Chancellor, George Osborne, announced in the autumn statement that buy-to-let investors and second home buyers will pay an additional 3% of the purchase price of properties in respect of Stamp Duty Land Tax from 1st April 2016. This means on a £250,000 property they will pay £10,000 of SDLT, rather than £2,500. The tax
A further 1.3 million tenants are to be given the right to buy their homes following an agreement between the government, housing associations and the National Housing Federation. The first sales should begin next year. The agreement means that housing association tenants will be able to buy their homes at the same discounted rates currently
Nearly one quarter of UK properties are now privately rented from landlords and the number of households in the private rented sector has more than doubled since 2001. As the rise in house prices continues to out-pace average wage increases, particularly in London and the South East, renting for many people has become the only
How much can you rely on a property information form provided by the seller when you are buying a home? A recent case before the High Court shows the need for caution when interpreting the responses given on some questionnaires. The case involved a couple buying a property surrounded by woodland and farmland. Question 3.1
House prices in the UK rose by an average of 5.7% in the 12 months up to May. That was a slight increase on the 5.5% figure for the year up to April. The figures varied from increases of 5.8% in England to 2.5% in Wales, 2.9% in Scotland and 10.5% in Northern Ireland. The
The government is setting up a £26m fund to help developers speed up the process of providing starter homes for first-time buyers. The homes will be offered exclusively to buyers aged under 40 with a discount of 20% on market values. The £26m will be used to identify and purchase sites and prepare them over
The government is introducing a series of measures to boost housebuilding so more young people can own their own home. The key measures include building discounted homes for first time buyers on all “reasonable-sized” developments, unlocking public land for hundreds of thousands of new homes and supporting small building firms with planning changes. Prime Minister
More than 100,000 homes throughout the UK have now been bought through the Help to Buy schemes, according to the latest government figures. Eight out of ten of these homes went to first time buyers at an average cost of £184,000. More than 90% of the purchases were outside London, and more than 50% of
The Right to Buy scheme is being extended to 1.3 million housing association tenants across England. The scheme was previously only available to council house tenants. The change was announced in the Queen’s Speech and will be part of a new Housing Bill that will enable housing association tenants to buy their homes at substantial
Thousands of people under the age of 40 have been signing up to buy starter homes at a 20% discount. The homes are being made available as part of a government scheme to get Britain building and help young people get on the housing ladder. It’s hoped that 100,000 new homes will be made available.