Our industry blog
The New ‘Green Homes’ Insulation Scheme – Why Surveyors Are Worried
How Risky Is The New 'Green Homes Grant Scheme' ? Last time the government subsidised a national home insulation programme the quality of workmanship in many cases left a lot to be desired. In fact a whole new industry has since been spawned to repair damp...
Post-Completion Conveyancing
You've Moved In To Your Home... ...But There's Still Post-Completion Legal Work To Do At long last you can start enjoying your new home, and perhaps start arranging that house warming party! Or you might want to swing into action and fix some of the...
Completion Day – Arriving At Your New Home – Things To Check
Completion Day - Arriving At Your New Home Assuming the completion money has been successfully transferred, upon arrival you should now be proudly grasping the keys to your new home. With a bit of luck the removal van’s satnav will have directed them to the...
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...
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...