A French agency offers Love Actually house for sale – Colin Firth not included! 17/08/2010 If you loved the movie “Love Actually” with Colin Firth and Hugh Grant, you’d probably love to buy the property where some of the movie was shot. The ‘salon’ where Colin Firth sat writing his book, overlooking a beautiful lake, is in a decidedly French house with four bedrooms and two bathrooms, a long terrace perfect for those summer barbecues and a swimming pool. After the barbeque and a swim, it’s just an easy stroll back to one of the boudoirs as three of them are on the ground floor, no wonder it made such a great film location! Within the 4.59 hectares of grounds there is also a guest house, which is in need of renovation. All this gorgeousness and, love maybe, can be yours for just €899,999.

Emergency Budget Report 23/06/2010 FROM: PropertyDrum It's been a twitchy few weeks in the property business as pundits listened to Coalition mutterings and consulted crystal balls, but in the event, today's Emergency Budget wasn't all that frightening after all. (Download the full text at bottom of story). Capital Gains Tax (CGT) The main fear for the Private Rented Sector – and also for those involved with selling homes to investors – was a mass exodus from Buy to Let investors when they were hit with a rise in Capital Gains Tax (CGT) which would take the rate from 18 per cent to 40 per cent. In fact George Osborne was more modest in his actions to put the country back on its feet and increased CGT to 28 per cent, and then only for higher rate taxpayers. He also left the taper relief system alone. The increase is live from tonight so there is no escape for those thinking of selling to avoid the increase, which is good for the market as a whole as it avoids the possibility of a flood of rented homes coming up for sale. Liz Peace, CEO of the British Property Federation, said, “Simplifying the CGT rise to 28 per cent by not tinkering with taper or indexation relief shows a welcome desire to keep things simple. Thankfully, the rate of CGT has not been brought into line with higher rate tax levels but this is something that many will not be happy about. Particularly, buy-to-let investors who have propped up the housing market over the last 20 years will suffer and this could hit the future supply of rented housing. However, on the whole there are positive signs here about the new government's tax philosophy.” Many will feel that the increase is still going to cause significant pain. Rightmove told PROPERTYdrum that Capital Gains Tax increases could “permanently dampen the enthusiasm of the all-important investor market and lead to an increase in rental prices”. Landlords have historically looked to capital appreciation to supplement rental returns. Lettings agents have already reported chronic shortages in property to let and new landlords recently, which will feed through into upwards rental pressure for tenants. Miles Shipside, Commercial Director of Rightmove said that prices look set to drop back again this year. “Tenants at present have few other alternatives to satisfy their housing needs due to the mortgage famine. The prospect of rising rents will be a blow to them but a welcome boost to landlord’s overall returns, helping to offset the increase in CGT. Investor buyers have helped replace deposit-strapped first-time buyers and this rise in CGT removes an element of support for the all-important bottom end of the housing market. However a drop in prices could help rekindle their interest following this CGT setback.” Jennet Siebrits, Head of Residential Research at CB Richard Ellis said: “We are pleased that the increase in Capital Gains Tax will take effect immediately, as it will ensure that there is not a sudden rush to sell off assets to avoid the higher rate. Second homes and buy-to-let properties only make up a small proportion of the UK housing market so we were not talking about vast quantities of homes flooding the market, but there was some concern that this could cause further price falls and undo the progress we have made so far.” VAT As predicted the rate of VAT will increase to 20 per cent but not until January 4 2011. This will help housebuilders but will put further pressure on the retail sector. Furnished Holiday Lets - tax break reinstated George Osborne also announced that the previous Government’s plans to abolish tax benefits given to owners of holiday homes will bring a direct benefit to this sector which will be well received by people in that market. Housing Benefit Housing Benefit is set for major reform under the new Government and, as expected, the spending cuts in this area have started with the imposition of a maximum rate of benefit for each type of property. A measure that the Chancellor says will save £1.8 billion a year. Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said, “Cutting the housing benefits bill is long overdue and we have long said that housing payments need to again be made directly to landlords to avoid the money being taken by tenants and spent on other things. In introducing a cap on housing expenditure, it is vital that claimants in more expensive areas of the country are not sidelined and forced out of homes they have lived in for years. This would create more problems than it would solve, as it is vital that we do not end up creating more ghettos or forcing people to travel miles to work.” Business And there’s good news for business as well, with From April 2011, the threshold at which employers start to pay National Insurance will rise by £21 per week, above indexation. Corporation Tax will be cut next year to 27 per cent, and by one per cent annually for the next three years, until it reaches 24 per cent. The small companies' tax rate will be cut to 20 per cent.

The May Market Held It's Breath!! 02/06/2010 From : PROPERTYdrum: Hometrack’s latest monthly national housing survey reports that the property market in May was even flatter market than that of the last three months. Richard Donnell Director of Research at Hometrack (the property analytics business) said, “The May survey of 1,500 agents and surveyors across the country shows how uncertainty generated by the election had a clear impact on housing market activity with fewer buyers coming to the market, a marked slowdown in sales agreed and a drop off in the number of new homes for sale.” After two very difficult years agents had been hoping for a Spring uplift, but it hasn’t yet happened – and that is very bad news for many agencies. Hometrack’s report continues, “A continued trend over recent months has been the relatively low volumes of new demand coming to the market. In the last three months there has been just a 4.6 per cent increase in new buyer registrations - well down on the 21 per cent increase seen this time last year when we saw something of a mini recovery in the housing market”. But despite weaker demand and rising supply house prices are still rising, almost certainly due to the continued scarcity of property for sale. The growth in sales agreed outstripped the number of homes coming to the market in the last three months, highlighting agents’ ability to quickly shift all new stock as it comes to the market. This combination of scarcity and continued growth in sales volumes is providing them with the confidence to mark prices ever higher. Hometrack reports that while there has been much focus on the plight of first time buyers and access to mortgage finance, the reality is that today’s housing market is transacting on sales supported by buyers with either no mortgage or a relatively small mortgage. “We estimate that together these two groups account for almost 75 per cent of all owner occupiers or 14 million households. Against a backdrop of continued low transaction volumes this group has the capacity to keep the housing market ticking over for the rest of the year. First time buyers and mortgage constrained households face continued problems accessing or climbing the property ladder”, says Richard Donnell. “Headline price increases are being sustained by prices rising in less than a fifth of postcodes across the country - with most of these areas located in the ‘equity driven’ markets of southern England. Across the remaining 75 per cent of the market, activity levels remain low with prices neither rising nor falling as homeowners sit tight. “Looking ahead we expect housing market activity to remain subdued over the summer and into the autumn as households shift their focus from the election to the forthcoming emergency Budget and the implications for take-home pay and the economy overall. While the contents of the Budget, together with recent turmoil in the equity markets, may have some short term impact on market sentiment, the recent balance between supply and demand is unlikely to change radically in the near term. Low turnover looks set to remain the dominant feature of the market - a trend that will sustain the scarcity of housing for sale and continue to act as a support to prices, particularly in southern England”.

Hips scrapped by coalition government 20/05/2010 From BBC News: The coalition government has suspended the use of Home Information Packs (Hips) by home sellers. Hips were introduced in 2007 in England and Wales. The aim was to speed up the house selling process by obliging sellers to provide much of the required conveyancing information when properties are first put up for sale. The packs are paid for by sellers and contain property information, title deeds, and local searches. "Today the new government is ensuring that home information packs are history," said Housing Minister Grant Shapps. "By suspending home information packs today, it means that home sellers will be able to get on with marketing their home without having to shell out hundreds of pounds upfront. "We are committed to greener housing so from now on all that will be required will be a simple energy performance certificate," he added. Jobs impact The announcement was made by the government in its coalition document, but the Conservatives especially have long been opposed to the information packs. The requirement for packs will be suspended for anyone selling their home from 21 May, with the government needing legislation to outlaw them completely. The energy performance certificate, which ranks the energy efficiency of a home with A to G ratings, will be retained and must be produced by the seller within 28 days of putting a home on the market. It costs about £60. The burden of paying about £200 for searches from local authorities and search companies will now fall on house buyers, which could add to costs for first-time buyers. The dramatic reduction in the Hips requirements could spell a round of redundancies among home inspectors - some of whom are self-employed. The Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP) estimates that there are between 3,000 and 10,000 people whose livelihoods are either directly or indirectly dependent on Hips. "We want to work with the government and we still want the consultation we have been promised. We are not suggesting that Hips should be retained. AHIPP has accepted that they will be scrapped," said Mike Ockenden, director general of AHIPP. "We have been proposing for months that a legal or exchange ready pack be instructed at the start of the sales process. We think it would be crazy to throw the baby out with the bathwater and remove at a stroke all the good things that have come about with Hips, and the lessons we have learnt." The association said it was now considering its options in the light of the decision. Estate agents Those working in the house sales industry have welcomed the move. Estate agents claimed the packs, which typically cost between £299 and £350, were stunting the housing market recovery, as they deterred people from putting their home on the market just to test the water. "It will be greeted enthusiastically by both the housing market and house buyers, few of whom have paid much attention to these pointless packs," the National Association of Estate Agents said. "It is also good news for sellers. They no longer need to shell out hundreds of pounds for a piece of pointless regulation that benefits no one." Gillian Charlesworth, of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), said: "Hips have failed to address the significant problems in the home buying process they were originally supposed to tackle and Rics is pleased that one of the first acts of the new government has been to clearly show their intention to abolish them.

Election Time 06/05/2010 Just how important is housing to the political parties? It’s high on the electorate list, among issues such as immigration (only discussed by bigots apparently), employment (not enough of it) and identity cards (an attack on privacy in some people’s view); but exactly how important is it to those who seek to govern us? The Labour Government has dedicated the services of nine different ministers to ‘housing’ in their 13 year tenure, so consistency and subject knowledge are clearly unimportant to them. House prices soared under their governance; which seemed like good news at the time, but we all now know that boom is, inevitably followed by bust – and the Labour government has blamed everyone bar themselves for this latest ‘bust’ which has decimated the property industry at almost every level. However, they know that nearly 70 per cent of UK homes are owner occupied so they have to make a bit of an effort to win their votes. The big carrot, announced in the Budget, was the Stamp Duty exemption for first time buyers on properties under £250k. If this doesn’t strike you as a market changing initiative, how about “Insulation – free loft and cavity wall insulation for homes where practical by 2015”? Whether ‘where practical’ means ‘only in social housing, not free for anyone who owns a home’ remains to be seen. The only other crumb is that all homes will have smart meters by 2020, saving homeowners money and helping them see what costs what. On the rental front, Labour’s manifesto says that it would “like to see more larger and professional organisations providing rented accommodation, alongside the many individual landlords” adding that it especially wants to “encourage more investment in new build rented accommodation”. Other good news is a crack down on housing benefit levels (ie, massive sums paid to large families living on benefits in Kensington and Chelsea), a national landlords register and a free advice line for tenants. Excited? Perhaps not. In the Conservative camp they are more interested, it has to be said. It’s not difficult to say. Grant Shapps has been Shadow Housing Minster for well over four years. He knows about housing issues and will talk about them. He gave PROPERTYdrum an interview, where Mr Healey, (the Labour Housing Minister in case you hadn’t ever seen him) refused. Their manifesto gives a high level of importance to housing, number one vote catcher being scrapping HIPs. This may not be as beneficial as you may first think – it rather depends what they replace it with. It seems more likely that the HIP will be modified as the EPC has to remain and there are elements of the HIP that could usefully be taken forward. We’ll see. The Tories also want to simplify and speed up the planning process, create new Local Housing Trusts (meaning that your community will be able to grant planning permission for small local housing schemes) and improve the system for council tax receipts on new homes to allow councils to retain more of these monies, thus ‘encouraging sensitive local development’. Another powerful bullet is their pledge to make permanent the Stamp Duty exemption for first time buyers up to £250,000. (against Labour’s two year promise). The Liberal Democrats say they will bring 250,000 empty homes back into use by giving owners cheap loans to renovate them. They will also give energy improvement packages of up to £10,000 per home, to be paid for by the savings from lower energy bills; and promise that all new homes will be fully energy efficient.  Woolly? Yes. Courtesy of Propertydrum Magazine www.propertydrum.com

A Stimulating Budget – but with Complications 26/03/2010 The budget's pledge on stamp duty could not have come at a better time, at least for the beleaguered bottom end of the market, with the announcement of an immediate two year suspension of stamp duty on properties up to £250,000 for first time buyers (FTBs). In practice, the definition of an FTB is surprisingly unclear. For example HM Land Registry and the Office for National Statistics define an FTB as someone who is purchasing a property who has effectively been off the ladder for more than three months. Indeed, they claim that some 20%-30% of the FTB market is made up of previous owners. John Whiting, Tax Policy Director at the Chartered Institute of Taxation suggests further examples of questionable FTBs: “A newly-married couple where one of them has previously owned a flat; a divorcing couple who owned a property jointly but now want to own in their own names; someone moving to the UK for the first time who has property abroad; someone who once owned a property but who has been renting for many years and decides to buy again”. So professional advice should be sought if you are unclear as to your status as a FTB. The good news is that this saving, combined with today’s historically low interest rates, means that the bottom of the market will undoubtedly start to move on apace, generating associated transactions right across the market. Indeed, we were noticing positive signs locally some time before the budget. So if you are thinking of selling a property valued in the region of £250,000, you would be well advised to market it at a figure just below this new stamp duty threshold in order to attract significantly more buyers, although the knock-on effect for properties currently being marketed at or just below this level is that they could begin to look a little expensive. Please do ask us for advice in this sensitive area, especially if you are considering excluding fixtures and fittings. As for the 1% increase to 5% on purchases over £1 million, this does not come into effect until April 2011, by which time our prediction is that the market will be buoyant enough for buyers to be able to absorb this amount without too much difficulty, although £10,000 to the Chancellor is seldom welcome!

Lighter 10/03/2010 I have just come back from a week winter climbing in Scotland when 70cm of snow fell in one day! Here in Dorset, the evenings are starting to get brighter and it won't be too much longer before the clocks change and it will be "summer" (here's hoping!). There has been a similar brightening in the property market and the early promise of the New Year has continued to develop with more and more buyers are contacting us looking for homes. If you are looking for a home, whether for purchase or rental then please make sure we have your email address and mobile number so that we are able to contact you quickly when a new property comes onto the market. It helps us improve your opportunity to find the right home for you quickly. And if your requirements alter then if you are registered with us you can amend your details via the weekly email or the website.

Shaping Up 03/02/2010 The ice and snow of the early part of this year has given way to gray skies and rain. It has meant we have been shooting out of the office to take photos of new instructions at even the merest rumour of sunshine! We've been getting there though and I continue to be pleased at the promising signs of a better year in 2010. We do what we do and take the rough with the smooth, but when you have made the decision to move and then can't because the market is so poor it can be really frustrating and it stops you getting on with your life. A great example of how much things have improved is the sale we agreed on a property that we had on the market around 18 months ago. It is a gorgeous property in a rural position and in fantastic order. When it was last on the market there were no buyers for it. We have just placed it back on the market and in the first few days on the market we had a 3 viewings and found a buyer. It might just be shaping up to be a good year!!!!

Inclement Weather 13/01/2010 I mentioned last week that we had been speaking to a number of clients who had indicated that they are going to be putting their properties onto the market in the New Year. With the continued inclement weather it has been a slower start to the New Year, but nevertheless there are now 9 new instructions which are in the process of being put onto the market. Once HIPS are completed (and in some cases photos!!!) they will be appearing on both the website and in your weekly email update. In addition to this we are continuing to meet further prospective clients and presenting our marketing proposals to them so the New Year is shaping up to be brighter than the gray skies overhead may suggest!

Happy New Year 04/01/2010 Hello and Happy New Year to you. It has been an icy white start to the year and we seem to have been one of the few areas where there hasn't been a great deal of snow (only just enough to fling the odd snowball and build vertically challenged snowmen). There have been an encouraging number of enquiries both by telephone and via the web, but viewings have been lower as people have been less inclined to travel from further afield. We were pleasantly surprised by the number of valuations we were carrying out in December and the indications from clients we have spoken to are that they are intending to put their properties on the market which, if they do, will be welcome news to anyone searching for a home. Keep your eye on the website over the coming weeks and on your weekly email update. If you don't receive an email update, then contact us and we can make sure you receive yours. Happy toboganning!!!