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Recent Posts
- HMRC to investigate 1,200 people over stamp duty avoidance
- Solar panel project for social housing at risk
- Warm home discount could be hampered by funding limits
- Shelter: UK rental property costing up to 55% of salary
- House prices continue to hold steady
- LSL Property services report fastest rent rise this year
- Mortgages for Over 50’s
- Mortgage approvals up for third month running
- Spain announce VAT reduction on new property
- Private rents continue to rise
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HMRC to investigate 1,200 people over stamp duty avoidance
The HM Revenues and Customs are to begin investigating 1,200 people who may have exploited a loophole in the law to avoid paying stamp duty on the purchase of a home.
It is estimated that this loophole may have cost the government over £35 million in tax revenue.
There has been a growing number of internet sites who are offering guidance on avoiding tax duty. Some are also claiming that there is a loophole in the law which enables people to avoid paying stamp duty and are offering tax planning and mitigation schemes for a…
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Solar panel project for social housing at risk
A project to install solar panels onto the roofs of approximately 22,000 social housing and council homes may be put on hold due to funding problems.
The project, which has been pioneered by Empower Communities, relies on the feed in tariff from the government. This allows people who generate their own electricity from a renewable energy installation to claim a payment for the electricity they generate, even if they use it.
The feed in tariff was first introduced in April 2010 and the government have since received a large number of applications for the help. It was designed to encourage…
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Warm home discount could be hampered by funding limits
Households with a low income could potentially miss out on a £120 discount from their home energy bills due to funding limits imposed by energy companies.
The Warm Home Discount was introduced earlier this year as a replacement for some existing social tariffs to help people facing fuel poverty. It is expected that approximately 600,000 pensioners will benefit from the discount this year.
Pensioners automatically qualify for the Warm Home Discount if they receive the Guaranteed element of their Pension Credit entitlement. The government will issue a letter to those who qualify to explain their entitlement…
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Shelter: UK rental property costing up to 55% of salary
Shelter, the British charity for homeless people, is warning that the price of renting a house in certain parts of the UK is now beyond the reach of many people.
Their Rent Watch survey, which pooled figures from the Valuation Office Agency and Office for National Statistics, suggests that as many 55% of local authority areas now cost too much for working families to rent in. They consider any rental price above one third of a person’s income to be unaffordable: in 8% of areas, the cost of renting was more than 50% of salary, making the price “extremely unaffordable”.…
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House prices continue to hold steady
Two reports have been released this week which suggest that there is currently very little fluctuation in the price of homes. They also suggest that the average house prices have been holding steady for most of the year so far.
Some figures from the Land Registry have indicated that when compared to August 2010, average house prices are now 2.6% lower. In August this year, they had fallen again for the fourth month in a row, 0.3% down from July, to an average price of £162,347.
A similar report from the Nationwide Building Society suggested that house prices rose by…
Posted in House Prices
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LSL Property services report fastest rent rise this year
LSL Property Services have reported that for the month of August, the average rent charge in England and Wales went up by 1.2%, the fastest rate of increase for the year so far.
The average rent for the UK is now £713 per calendar month, according to LSL Property Services, who also own Your Move and Reeds Rains. Their recent survey has also reported that the average rent charges for the regions of Wales and the South East of England featured the biggest rises for the whole of England and Wales.
Furthermore, the total amount of outstanding rent owed by…
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Mortgages for Over 50’s
As you get older the idea of having your own home may become more appealing to you. Perhaps you have rented and leased rooms and houses your whole life, and have now come to prefer something different. Or perhaps you have a house, but want to upgrade to something bigger and better for your retirement. There are a variety of reasons a 50 year old person or someone older may want to get a mortgage on a house, and it is possible to get one. Unfortunately it gets harder after you reach a certain age to get a mortgage, but…
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Mortgage approvals up for third month running
Information that has been released by the Bank of England indicates that the number of mortgage applications that are being approved by lenders are on the rise.
In July of this year, 49,239 new mortgage applications were approved by the various mortgage lenders. This figure was 3% higher than in June 2010 and the figures have now been rising for three consecutive months.
These figures represent approvals and not actual lending – many of the successful applications have not yet received the money or completed that purchase of a property.
Some experts are suggesting that the increase in mortgage approvals…
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Spain announce VAT reduction on new property
The Spanish government have announced that they are reducing the VAT on new properties from 8% to 4% in an attempt to stimulate the property market.
In a recent survey by Aon, Spain has been identified as the most popular location for people who are considering retiring abroad. With an estimated 57% of British people who would like to retire abroad, the halving of VAT for new Spanish properties may help to make the country a more desirable location for potential emigrants.
With its European Economic Area (EEA) status and the pension rights that come with it, the low cost…
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Private rents continue to rise
Figures released by letting agents LSL Property Services have indicated that the price of renting a property is rising. In the month of July 2011, the average rent charge in England and Wales had risen to £705 per month according to LSL, an increase of £29 from the figures for the same time last year.
LSL also confirmed that this is the sixth consecutive month to see a price rise and the figure is 0.6% higher than the average rent charge for June 2011.
The average rent charge for London remains the highest and fastest growing at £1,009 per month,…
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