Weekly Property Newsletter - Week Ending 31/01/16

Our weekly newsletter on the property market will keep you up to date with all the latest news and legislations!

Our newsletter is published every week reporting on the most important news over the past week.

New ‘border control’ responsibilities kick in today for agents and landlords

Monday 1st February, 2016

As the new obligatory Right to Rent regime is enforced across England today, opposition to the scheme continues.

According to one landlord body, over 90% of landlords have not been given any official information about the scheme, with people questioning how familiar a landlord might be with a passport from a less well-known country and whether that will impact on people’s ability to spot a forgery.

Meanwhile, the Residential Landlords Association said that more than nine in ten landlords have had no information from the Government on their new legal duty. Their survey of over 1,500 landlords found that 72% do not understand their obligations.

While the scheme has already gone live, the RLA said it should not have been rolled out and called for a re-think, saying “Landlords are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Fearful of a fine they face two difficult ways forward.

David Gascoyne, Sales and Lettings Manager of Residential Estates explained that “Landlords can play it safe, and take a restrictive view with prospective tenants, which could cause problems for the 12million UK citizens without a passport. Alternatively, they may target certain individuals to conduct the checks, which could leave themselves open to racism. Checks must be carried out in a sensitive, diplomatic way.”

Location, location, location.

Sunday 30th January, 2016

The most well-known phrase in the property industry – however, are people now having to compromise with the housing shortage?

David Gascoyne, Sales and Lettings Manager of Residential Estates has warned people that due to demand shadowing supply, buyers need to be more flexible.

A poll by conveyancer My Home Move found 58% of Brits make an offer on a property due to its location.

Transport, green space and local amenities were also highlighted as crucial to buying decisions. When choosing the location of their property, 40% of buyers favoured good transport links as the most important factor, followed by 35% favouring a nearby green area and 32% wanting to be close to shops, cafes and restaurants.

Gascoyne said: “In Britain, location has always been the foundation of finding a property. For many people, it is the be all and end all in their property search.”

Leading property figure slams Government’s ‘catastrophic’ hammering of landlords

Saturday, 29th January 2016

A key figure in the property industry has hit out at the Government’s “hammering of buy-to-let landlords”, saying the policy will hit tenants.

Auctioneer Clive Emson said that changes to tax relief and extra Stamp Duty could have a “catastrophic” effect. He said there is no point in penalising small landlords when demand for homes is far outstripping supply.

Emson said: “To alienate the private landlords is so short-sighted.

“The public sector clearly does not have the funds or expertise to develop sufficient social housing – so where do the tenants live if the privately owned stock is removed?

“The notion that tenants will turn into first-time-buyers instead of tenants is a folly. They will buy if they can, but new rules imposed on mortgage lenders last year have made it even more difficult to get that vital loan.”

Half of all home movers go just nine miles or less

Saturday, 29th January 2016

Despite adventure and travelling appealing to many, home movers move on average only nine miles away from their previous residence.

Figures from home removals websites Reallymoving.com, based on analysis of 200,000 quotes, found that half of all moves were nine miles or less from a previous address.

According to the website’s data, more than two-fifths of all buyers were first-timers, up from 37% in 2014.

Rob Houghton, chief executive of Reallymoving.com, said: “It’s good to see the increase in first-time buyers, although large areas of the country remain prohibitively expensive for many.

“Until planning regulations are changed to allow more properties to be built we don’t see much prospect of a significant change in this.

“We’re also encouraged to see the average distance of home movers continue to drop. Our belief is that as the jobs market improves people do not have to move as far to find work.

Supply of homes for sale has almost halved in last ten years, says NAEA

Tuesday 2nd February 2016

The NAEA said that the supply of homes for sale has almost halved in the last decade.

It said that the average agency branch last month had 37 properties, compared with 72 per branch in December 2005.

The figure is also down from the average of 45 properties in December 2014.

There were 360 applicants registered per branch last month, compared with 302 in December 2005.

The NAEA also reported that 44% of its members are seeing an increase in buy-to-let and second home purchasers trying to beat the April 1 deadline for when the 3% Stamp Duty surcharge comes in.

Worry among agents as April 1 Stamp Duty deadline provokes ‘storm’ of buyers

Tuesday 26th January 2016

The Stamp Duty surcharge on the purchase of buy-to-let properties is causing concern among ARLA letting agents.

The organisation reports that two in three (62%) agents predict the changes from April 1 will push up rents, while 65% predict they will push landlords out of the market.

ARLA also reports that 24% of agents have seen a rise in buyers looking to complete on buy-to-let properties by the April 1 deadline.

Steve Povall, Managing Director of Residential Estates said, “Buy to let landlords are storming the UK property market as the clock is ticking before April. However due to this, we’re very likely to see the number of buy-to-let properties on the market begin to decrease, and this will most certainly have a damaging effect on renters across the country.”