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 fee.

The HMRC are now pursuing a number of people and law firms who have exploited the loop hole and have issued a series of warnings.

When an individual purchases a home worth over £125,000, they are required by law to pay a stamp duty of between 1% and 5% of the value of the home.

For homes worth between £125,000 and £250,000, the stamp duty for the purchase is 1% of the property value, although first time buyers are exempt from this charge. If the property is worth between £250,000 and £500,000, the duty increases to 2% of the property value. It increases further to 4% for properties between £500,000 and £1 million and then 5% for properties over £1 million.

A number of websites are offering a service called ‘stamp duty tax planning’ to help prevent or minimize the stamp duty that people have to pay, for a fee, usually around half of the amount that has been saved. Some sites even provide an online calculator to help show how much money people can save using the schemes offered.

There are two popular methods which the site use to reduce the amount of stamp duty that has to be paid on the purchase of a property.

One involves separating the cost of the property and the costs of the fixtures and fittings in the property before paying. This allows the cost of the property to be reduced and therefore reducing or negating the stamp-duty.

Another method involves setting up a limited liability company. The company buys the property and takes advantage of the corporation tax laws to avoid the stamp duty and the property is then sold back to the individual.

Experts suggest that the exploitation of the loopholes is legal and the HMRC is aware of the schemes that are offered, but have not yet closed the loopholes in the law.

Mr Stuart Cam, who runs several websites which offer the services, believes that they are working within the law. He said: “This is an aggressive tax planning move. You are essentially taking tens of thousands of pounds out of the Revenue’s pocket. It is not for everyone. We tell our clients there is a 10% chance that they will receive a letter from HMRC challenging their tax return”.

A spokesperson from the HMRC indicated that they were planning to challenge the schemes through the courts. He pointed out that they rely on an interpretation of the law that was not intended when it was enacted.

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 more people to set up their own renewable energy source.

People looking to take advantage of the scheme are still able to claim a generous payment for the electricity they produce, but there has been recent speculation suggesting that the government will cut the tariff for this electricity by 75% from April next year.

The tariffs have previously been criticised for not helping poorer communities. The initial costs of installing solar panels can be high and as such, it is mainly wealthy households who are able to fund the installation. The funding for the tariffs is generated from the electricity bills which everyone else pays, and only those who can afford the set up costs can take advantage of this scheme.

Empower point out that their scheme would help to redress the balance between those who could afford to take advantage of the feed in tariff and those who couldn’t.

It is estimated that the solar panels that were planned to be installed by the Empower Communities project can save £120 from the electricity bills of many people in social housing.

Often, these are low income families and many of them already pay the highest price for electricity through pre-payment meters.

It is estimated that 1 million housing association and council properties could be suitable for a solar panel installation. If funding was adequate, this could be of benefit many vulnerable people in the UK.

A spokesperson from Empower Communities suggested that the feed in tariff was being ‘cut off at the knees.’ It is estimated that the cut to the tariff could cause a £175 million shortfall in funding for the project.

The project planned to install between 8 and 10 solar panels on the roofs of council homes across Wales, Yorkshire, East Anglia and Lincolnshire. These would be expected to generate between £100 and £250 of electricity for tenants to take advantage of. Any left over power would then be sold on the grid and the profits would be shared between the social landlord and the financial backers.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change have confirmed that the feed in tariff is under review, but also advised that it was unlikely to change before April 2012.

Any changes to the tariff could also impact on many thousands of other planned renewable energy installations by a variety of organisations.

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 and how to claim it.

Others who automatically qualify are people on a means tested benefit such as income support or job seekers allowance and those who have a child under the age of 5 or a disabled household member. It is expected that this could mean a further 900,000 people could qualify for the scheme. However, many people could miss out.

The government guidelines for the scheme indicate that energy companies should help a ‘broader group’ of people struggling with with their energy bills. However, they also allow for a degree of discretion for them to decide who qualifies for the discount.

The majority of the six major energy suppliers for the UK have indicated that they would cap the number of people they could offer the discount to. The money available to fund the scheme is limited and many have suggested the discounts would be allocated on a first come first serve basis.

Statements from E.on and nPower indicated that whilst they would help as many people as possible, they could not commit to helping all who qualify for the scheme. EDF have set a cap of between 40,000 and 45,000 customers who they would assist, although they also indicated that they didn’t expect to reach this limit. Scottish Power are still negotiating with Ofgem over how many people they would help.

Scottish and Southern Energy have indicated that they will not be placing a cap on the number of customers who will be eligible for the scheme. They have also been proactive in their steps to encourage people to claim, making efforts to contact customers through groups such as the Citizens Advice Bureau.

British Gas have also guaranteed that any customer who qualifies for a discount will receive it if they apply before the end of January this year. They also have a broader qualification criteria.

Customers whose household income is below £16,190 and who spend over 10% of their income on heating their home will be invited to apply for a discount.

Greg Barker, the Energy Minister for the coalition government, is encouraging the other energy suppliers to follow the standards set by British Gas.

Jonathan Stearn from Consumer Focus has called for a clear strategy to address the problems of energy efficiency and fuel poverty. He said: “If energy firms are able to offer help to more people, as British Gas has said it will be doing, this would clearly be good news. It is welcome that the Minister has said he will be putting pressure on other firms to follow suit, as consumers need all the help they can get to make ends meet.”

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”. In Oxford, prices reached as much as 55% of salary.

Only 12% of the country’s rental property is currently priced at a level which Shelter say is affordable.

The average rent for a two bedroom property in London is now £1,360, while in the rest of the UK, it is around £570. The most expensive place to live is the London borough of Chelsea, with the monthly rent for a two bedroom house currently averaging out at more than £2,700. The most expensive area in the North of England is Blackpool, with the most affordable being Burnley in Lancashire.

Shelter say that prices have considered at 1.5 times the rate of salary increase between 1997 and 2007, and rural areas are particularly expensive. The lack of affordable housing is driving more and more families into urban areas, forcing some to move their children from school to school. Campbell Robb, the chief executive of Shelter, said that people were cutting back on essential spending such as grocery shopping in order to cover their rent.

Costs have been driven up by a lack of properties and an increase in repossessions. Many people who would potentially be interesting in buying a house are renting; first time buyers cannot afford the deposit for a mortgage as lenders impose increasingly strict lending criteria.

Experts believe the government now needs to step in to regulate prices before the cost of renting spirals out of control. Schemes to encourage development of new homes are already in place, with the potential for 100,000 new properties being built in the next three to four years.

More than 1,400 private landlords in the UK create problems for local councils, with a 25% increase in complaints in the last year alone.

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 0.1% in September this year and that the average cost of a house was only 0.3% lower than last year.

Some experts have pointed out that the average house cost tends to fluctuate every month of the year. However, over the past year, these fluctuations have been small.

The information that was released by Nationwide appears to reflect similar information from the Halifax. Housing prices appeared to bottom out in March 2009 and April 2009. There was a steady recovery up to April 2010, after which they started to fall again. However, since December 2010, the prices have not changed significantly.

The Nationwide report suggests that the eurozone debt crisis has had a continued impact on buyer confidence. Robert Gardiner from Nationwide said: “Sentiment towards major purchases is depressed, as a result of weak labour market conditions and ongoing pressure on household budgets from above-target inflation.”

Nationwide went on to predict that the over the next few months, house prices will continue to hold steady. They have suggested that the global economic situation continues to look poor, more people are finding it difficult to find work and a gradual rise in available properties will all contribute to prevent house prices from rising.

Another report from the Bank of England points to the difficulties that mortgage lenders face in raising funds from the financial market in order to then lend money to customers, as having an impact on the costs of housing. They suggest that mortgage lending has been rationed since 2008, making it difficult for many people to purchase properties.

Although the average price of housing has remained steady for the whole of the UK, there are bigger fluctuations across the regions. London continues to see an increase in the cost of housing, whilst Wales and the North East continues to see falls.

House prices in London are now 2.1% higher than they were last year. The unique London housing market has a wide appeal, particularly to foreign investors who are attracted by the currently cheap pound. This, combined with a shortage of property in the capital has seen the price of housing continue to steadily rise.

By comparison, the North East of England has seen the average cost of houses fall by 7.8% over the last year and house prices in Wales has fallen by 5.5%.

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 tenants to their landlords also rose for the first time since April. However, experts point out that there is often a rise in arrears at this time of year, as holiday spending usually has an impact on family finances at the end of the summer.

David Newnes, the managing direct for LSL Property services, pointed out that this is the busiest time of year for estate agents and the rental market. He indicated that there is currently a high demand for rental properties and this is driving rent charges up.

Mr Newnes indicated that over the last two years, average rent charges have risen by over £50 per month and that he also expects there to further rises over the next few months. He also suggested that the demand for new homes has been impacted by the number of potential first time home buyers who cannot get a mortgage and also the number of recent graduates who are moving house in order to find work.

Many people are currently finding it difficult to get onto the property ladder. Some have suggested that there are mixed messages about whether it is a good time to buy or not. Even those who have raised the money for a deposit are facing a tough choice about whether to buy or wait. There are still a great many concerns about whether or not property value will fall again.

However, whilst rent may currently be affordable, many people feel it is not an economical choice.

The figures from the LSL Property Services survey showed that over the last year, people in London have faced the biggest rises in rent charges for the whole of England and Wales. In total the average rent charge in London has increased by 6.6% since 2010. The West Midlands area saw the second highest increase in rent charges, which went up by 6% and the North East of England was third, where average rents increased by 4.3%.

The only area in England which saw a fall in the average rent charge was the region of Yorkshire and Humber where rents fell by an average of 0.5%.

In July, the total amount of arrears was at 9% of UK rent unpaid or overdue. This figure rose to 10.7% by the end of August – the first month it has risen since April.

If you decide you need to finance a new home at your age, then you can do it, but as you get older the mortgages will be for shorter periods. For instance, a 51 year old will probably be able to get a 25 to 30 year plan for mortgaging his or her new house. However a 60 year old will almost certainly not be able to get one for longer than 25 years, most likely 20. A 65 year old will most likely be limited to a 15-20 year mortgage, and a 70 year old probably won’t be able to get one for more than 10 years. The older you get the less likely it will be that a mortgager will want to give you a longer loan.

For those over 50 there are different types of mortgages that you will be able to choose from. For instance, there is the fixed rate mortgage which will allow you to pay a certain amount per year, and there is the variable rate mortgage, in which the amount you pay changes. You can also work out a repayment or interest only mortgage, or one of certain other options some people will offer you. However it works out, you will want to choose one that fits your budget well and doesn’t fall outside of your means. You will need to consider the fact that you will soon be retiring and that your budget may decrease or change in the future.

Finding a mortgaging plan when you are over 50 doesn’t have to be a hard or stressful task. Thousands of people do it every year, and you just have to be very wise and consider all your options carefully. There are other options besides mortgaging if you really want that new house, but by this method you can get great results and have a steady way of paying for it. Investing in your new house is worth it even at an older age, because a good house will last you and your children for years.

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 may in turn, lead to an increase in the number of house sales over the next few months.

Adrian Coles from the British Societies Association (BSA) has also confirmed that the figures for approved mortgages in the first seven months of 2011 are now 16% higher than they were at the same time last year.

However, although the number of mortgage approvals were higher, the HM Revenues and Customers (HMRC) have also recently released figures which indicate that the number of house sale completions are still lower than they were in 2010.

There is some suggestion that the number of completed house sales is rising. In July 2011, 79,000 houses were sold. Although this number was lower than in July 2010, it is the highest monthly figure for the year so far.

Howard Archer from IHS Global Insight indicated that when compared to normal long term level of activity in the housing market, the figures were still very low. He added: “With consumer confidence weak and the economic outlook currently looking pretty grim, we see little reason to change our view that modest falls in house prices are more likely than not over the coming months.”

The information from the Bank of England also indicated that many people have also reduced their borrowing in the years after 2008. In total, £209.4 billion is currently owed in consumer credit, including loans, overdrafts, credit cards and hire-purchase deals. This figure has fallen from the previous month and was 12% lower than the peak level of £236.8 billion in 2008.

In an attempt to combat mortgage fraud and improve responsible borrowing, mortgage lenders now have a formal arrangement with the tax authorities which allows them to submit any borrowing applications that they find suspicious for checks.

The HMRC have a special unit which check the income details which are submitted by the applicant against their tax returns. This helps the mortgage lender to confirm a borrower’s income details and also helps identify any inaccurate tax returns.

Mortgage fraud was estimated at £1 billion for 2010. Paul Smee, from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) confirmed that the new arrangements were useful to mortgage lenders. It has proved beneficial in identifying and avoiding lending to some people whilst increasing their confidence when lending to other people who they might previously have turned down.

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 of housing may help to make emigrating to Spain more financially attractive for many people.

Many estate agents in Spain are suggesting that house prices are now at bargain rates. The desirability of beach side property usually means that it comes with a premium rate, however, some estate agents are revealing that even these properties can now cost less than €100,000.

For example, in the Murcia region of Spain, along the South East coast and on the Mediterranean sea, a two bed property with a 5 minute walk from a blue flag beach can cost as little as €99,000. Chris Mercer, the founder of the Mercers estate agents, believes that this is an excellent investment opportunity.

Mr Mercer cites an example of a two bed property that Mercers are currently trying to sell: “In 2008 this property would have sold for around €150,000. Today we’ve got it for sale at €99,500, that’s a 34% discount in three years. A bargain in anyone’s book. As an added bonus, these properties fetch a premium on the rental market due to their beach side location.”

The VAT discount will be in place until 31st December of this year and could potentially save €4,000 (approximately £3520) for anyone who purchases a new Spanish property for €100,000 (£88,040).

Recent figures from the General Spanish Real Estate Market Index have also revealed that the average price of housing in Spain has been falling in recent years.

In July 2011, the average price of housing for the whole of Spain was 6.4% lower than it was for the previous year. This drop in average housing prices varied around the country, with property on the Mediterranean coast falling by 9.5% and property in the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands falling by just 2.5%.

There are approximately 700,000 new properties in Spain which are currently unsold. The Spanish Development Minister, Jose Blanco, has announced the VAT cut in an attempt to boost the property market. The cut has been welcomed by the property industry in Spain who hope that it will help to sell the surplus of new homes.

The current global economic crisis has contributed to falling price of housing in Spain. These cuts are a part of a number of austerity measures introduced by the Spanish government to help boost their economy.

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, a 7.1% increase from 2010. The Citylets rental website also confirmed that average rental charges in Scotland had reached £663 per month, the highest level since 2008.

David Newnes from LSL Property Services, confirmed that the average rent charge is ‘on an upward trajectory’ with little sign of levelling off. He suggested that there is high competition for rental property, driven by people who are unable to buy a property due to the frustrating and difficult financial situation many are facing. This has allowed landlords to increase their rental prices to take advantage of the situation.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) have predicted that price rises will continue over the next few years. They have suggested that 2012 will see the average rent charge go up by 2.4%. A 3.4% is predicted in 2013, 3.6% in 2014 and 4% in 2015.

The CEBR forecast suggests that the difficulties that first time buyers face when trying to get on to the property ladder are going to continue. They had at first predicted that rental charges would fall in 2011, but the shortage of available homes would force prices to rise from 2012.

Shehan Mohamed, a spokesperson for CEBR, said: “We forecast an average of 110,000 new homes to be built every year over the medium term. This is significantly lower than the 225,000 homes that need to be created every year to keep pace with current housing needs, population growth and the trend towards reduced household sizes.”

Jonathan Moore from the Easyroomrate property lettings company believes that many people who are renting homes are stuck in a vicious circle. He added that many potential first time buyers are unable to buy homes, leading to an increase in demand for rental accommodation, causing rent charges to rise and increasing the difficulty people face in finding a deposit for a house purchase.

Mr Newnes from LSL Property Services has indicated that many young people are now having to borrow the deposit required to in order to rent a property, and this often comes from their parents. He suggested that as the price of rent increases, so does the price of the deposit which landlords are asking for. Mr Newnes added that whilst the phenomenon of borrowing a deposit was common for first time buyers when purchasing a new home, it is now becoming more commonplace for people looking to rent for the first time