Stamp Duty reforms beginning to bite at top of market say builders Berkeley
Reforms to stamp duty have hit the high end luxury housing market as hard as the uncertainty ahead of last year’s election, according to developers London and South-east based developers Berkeley. The FTSE 100 listed company published it’s interim management report for the period 1st November to 29th February today and says since the middle […]
Government to call for evidence on making the house buying process “more consumer friendly”
As part of George Osborne’s budget announcements, the UK Government has said it intends to ask for evidence on how to make the house buying process better value for money. Citing as yet unpublished guidance from he Department for Business, Skills and Innovation, the detailed budget announcement read: “Consumers spend £270 million each year on […]
Industry reacts to George Osborne’s Eighth budget.
Chancellor George Osborne’s 2016/17 announced downwardly revised growth figures for the UK economy as well as announcing he had missed his targets for deficit reduction as a proportion of GDP. The Chancellor also announced a raft of measures aimed at helping small businesses, safeguarding homes hit by the winter’s floods from more damage and detail […]
Budget 2016: What’s in it for conveyancers?
Chancellor George Osborne delivered his eighth budget today with several measures cutting taxes for businesses, tweaks to the previous residential stamp duty reforms and wholesale reforms for commercial stamp duty. Corporation tax will be reduced to 17% by April 2020, and the Treasury has confirmed that movers who buy a home before selling will have […]
InfoTrack and Groundsure announce new CPD webinar series
InfoTrack and Groundsure have announced a series of free educational CPD webinars designed to educate conveyancers on the risks associated with flood, energy and utilities allowing solicitors make better informed decisions in property transactions. This free CPD series will run three webinar topics on the following dates, are available to all legal professionals and are […]
Right-to-Buy to be suspended by fourth Welsh local authority
Right-to-Buy is disappearing from Wales with a fourth council set to suspend the policy, citing diminishing stocks and large waiting lists. Anglesey, or Ynys Môn voted on a decision to ask the Welsh Government for a five year suspension today after it was previously granted to Swansea, Carmarthenshire and Flintshire. Anglesey will make the application […]
SDLT increase won’t put off new landlords in the slightest says study
George Osborne’s flagship stamp duty surcharge for second homes will do nothing to put off prospective landlords, according to information from the Association of Residential Letting Agents. The report states that had the surcharge been introduced on 1st January 2015, the 3% charge would have been overcome by the growth in house value inside of […]
Construction output dropped slightly in January
Output from the construction industry fell 0.2% in January according to the office for National Statistics. Private new housing work rose by 0.6% and private commercial 4.7%, however construction on public housing fell by 10.6% from December 2015. Andrew Bridges, Managing Director of Stirling Ackroyd said: “Small movements in the wrong direction won’t help escape […]
Government trumpets 150,000 Help to Buy completions.
Government trumpets 150,000 Help to Buy completions. 150,000 completions have been made under the Department for Communities and Local Government’s Help to Buy equity loan and mortgage guarantee programme since it’s inception two years ago, although 32,000 of such purchases are not first time buyers. Half of those 150,000 homes purchased have been new build homes, […]
Nearly half of firms have experienced an IT data breach
Nearly half of UK companies have experienced a data breach according to the 2016 security pressures report from Trustwave. The survey of 1,414 IT professionals globally, including 204 from the UK, also found that unauthorised file transfers were the biggest worry of IT decision makes when it came to security threats inside an organisation, with […]
Getting the conveyancing resource conundrum right
For any business the issue of developing sufficient quality resource within the organisation is always a priority, however perhaps for conveyancing firms it is even more of a challenge, especially when you are coping with a marketplace where activity levels can swing high and low within a short timescale. Looking at the media ‘noise’ around […]
Estate agents taking home more than twice that of Conveyancers
The average estate agent is taking home twice as much as the average conveyancer, according to Property Week. The magazine reports the average residential agent working in both sales and lettings can expect average pay of £49,023 plus a bonus of £35,868. The average licensed conveyancer can expect to start on £16,000 to £20,000 rising […]
One in five conveyancers and estate agents define the house moving process as an “absolute nightmare”
The Conveyancing Association has launched a course aimed at getting Estate Agents and Mortgage Brokers to understand the conveyancing process after it emerged one in every five conveyancers and estate agents collectively view the process as an “absolute nightmare” The £59 course includes three modules all designed to help agents and brokers understand what’s going […]
Estate Agent says a shortage of conveyancers is holding up property transactions
Paul Smith, CEO of estate agents haart says a shortage of conveyancers is holding up transactions with a long backlog starting to develop. haart’s market monitor for February recently revealed an estimated 35% surge in the number of buyers entering the marketplace in the last year with housing supply up 7.9%, with the report putting […]
Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
The HMRC have confirmed that VAT will be added to CON29, coinciding with the launch of the new forms.
A hole lotta trouble in London
Following another incident involving development works and the London Underground, Groundsure has created the Groundsure Underground report designed specifically for conveyancers to ensure identification of the location and depth of existing and proposed London Underground lines.
Delays on VAT charges for Council (Official) Local Authority Searches
After much to-ing and fro-ing in relation to the implementation of VAT to be added to Council (Official) Local Authority Searches, HMRC has now confirmed that the proposed changes are due to be implemented on the 4th July 2016. The reasons for the delay are as a result of practical difficulties in implementing the change […]
The pitfalls of oversimplifying the stamp duty changes
Sarah Hoad explains why you need to consider what is currently known about the stamp duty changes and how they could affect your clients.
Pace of consolidation in conveyancing market trebles in 2015
Total number of conveyancing firms operating in the market declined at the fastest rate in three years during 2015, according to Search Acumen.
New work for construction industry creeps up 0.2%
New work for the construction industry increased 0.2% in the last quarter of 2015 according to the Office for National Statistics. Despite the increase in new work, overall output decreased by 0.4% compared with Q3 in 2015, which is mostly due to a 1.4% downturn in repair and maintenance work. Of that 1.4% in new […]
