Tag: legal advice

Tips for successful home buying in a seller’s market
The property market is exceptionally strong at present, with continuing price rises and reported tussles for properties in some locations. We take a look at how to give yourself the best chance of success as a buyer in a seller’s market. House prices have risen almost 9 per cent during the year ending April 2021,...

House prices in UK rising at fastest rate for five years
With the chancellor’s extended Stamp Duty holiday continuing to buoy the property market, the country’s biggest mortgage lender has reported that house prices are rising at their fastest pace in five years. Halifax says that there was a 1.4 per cent increase in the cost of an average home in April 2021, meaning a new...

What could you do with Boris Johnson’s make over budget?
With an investigation into the source of £58,000 said to have been paid towards the refurbishment of the prime minister’s flat at 11 Downing Street, estate and lettings agency Ascend Properties took a look at what the average UK homeowner could do with this sum. After a year spent largely at home, most people have...

Landlords selling private rental properties
Recent figures have revealed an increase in landlords selling their properties in the private home rental sector. Online property company Zoopla’s House Price Index report shows that the number of homes for sale that were previously rented has steadily increased throughout the past year. The south east and London show the biggest increase, with 13...

Mortgage approvals are up and low deposit mortgages are back
Mortgage approvals hit a 13-year high in the last months of 2020, while the return of low deposit mortgages means that first-time buyers will have a better chance of stepping onto the property ladder. Despite economic turmoil, the house market has been buoyant as buyers look to take advantage of the Stamp Duty holiday, set...

It’s not all doom and gloom: property predictions for 2021
The end of 2020 saw house prices at a record high, helped by the chancellor’s Stamp Duty holiday, but what is likely to happen in 2021 as financial disruption continues? The property market slumped during the first lockdown of 2020, with prices down 0.5 per cent halfway through the year. However, following relaxing of restrictions...

Public support for enhancement of green spaces
The pandemic and subsequent restrictions have highlighted to many the importance of green spaces for mental and physical health and wellbeing. Research commissioned by the Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) together with the HomeOwners Alliance and carried out by YouGov in the summer of 2020, found that 71 per cent of those...

Price transparency in conveyancing shows solicitors are affordable
When consumers were unaware of how much a solicitor might charge, half assumed that they were an unaffordable option. A new survey has shown that now that prices are easily available to view, only 10 per cent think they are unaffordable. At the end of 2018, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) introduced new Transparency Rules...