OUR INDUSTRY BLOG
New Planning Rules: Adding Extra Floors To Your House
New Planning Rules - Is The Freedom to Add 2 Extra Floors To Your House A Good Idea? The BBC have announced that the government are intending to relax 'Permitted Development' planning rules so that homeowners in England will be 'permitted to add two extra...
What Does The Stamp Duty Holiday Mean For House Prices?
How Will The Stamp Duty Cut Affect House Prices? The big question is whether cutting stamp duty (aka 'Stamp Duty Land Tax' or SDLT) for people buying homes will get the UK economy moving, as the government desperately hopes. Either way, there are big savings...
Moving Home On Completion Day – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Completion Day - The Potential Perils of Moving Home The day you've been waiting for has finally arrived. To get things moving be sure to get up early so you can spring into action before the pressure really starts to build. Moving home can be a logistical...
Why are houses prices so high compared to incomes?
Why Are House Prices So High? As of March 2020 the average house price in the UK was £231,855 according to the Land Registry. Figures for average UK individual earnings (salaries / wages) are harder to pin down. Much depends on things like the geographical area...
Getting Everything Ready For Completion Day
Things You Need Get Sorted Before Moving The period between Exchange of Contracts and finally moving in to your new home on Completion Day can feel rather weird. Legally you don't actually own the new place yet, but effectively you are already the new owner...
Post-Exchange: Your Conveyancers Complete The Legal Work
Conveyancing - the Final Stages In the short period of time between Exchange and Completion (typically 2 weeks) your legal people doing the conveyancing still have a number of key tasks to carry out. The remaining legal stages up to completion are as...
Post-Exchange: Move It Yourself – DIY Removals
Saving Money with DIY Moving By now your bank account may be looking rather anaemic from lack of funds. As a buyer you will already have had to set money aside to pay for things like stamp duty 'land tax', mortgage arrangement fees, valuation fees, surveys and of...
Are we heading for a property crash?
Only one key ingredient isn't in place for a property crash Larry Elliot is the Economics Editor of The Guardian and his assessment of the likelihood of a property crash doesn't make happy reading for anyone who's already on the 'property ladder'. Essentially...
Post-Exchange: Getting Ready For The Big Move
Getting Ready to Move What a relief! Finally you've exchanged contracts and your house/flat purchase is in the bag. There will now be a short interlude between Exchange and Completion, typically lasting a couple of weeks (this will have been agreed in...
What If There’s A Right Of Way Over Your Property?
Ramblers Welcome? It’s Day One in your new home. Suddenly you spy a party of ramblers hiking across your garden. Turns out they have a perfect legal right to cross your land (land is legally referred to as ‘property’). So how can you tell if there’s a hidden right...