October 13, 2016
The body of chartered surveyors has warned that, if no measures are taken, the 1.8m extra households looking for rent will be left in the dark by 2025. To help solve the issue, the institution has called on the Government to offer tax breaks to encourage building and investment in the sector. Stamp duty change – the underlying factor According to Rics data, the number of households renting rose from 2.3m in 2001 to 5.4m in 2014. Any further investment from landlords in property had then been hit by changes to stamp duty made earlier this year. Anyone buying a home now has to pay an additional 3% stamp duty surcharge, which led to a spike…
October 11, 2016
The number of privately rented homes in the UK is on a constant rise whether you like it or not. With that in mind, the focus should maybe become how to make private renting the first choice rather than unsuccessfully try to eliminate it entirely. For most, when you talk about the Private Rental Sector (PRS), images of young professional in slick outfits and with busy lifestyles come to mind. And that’s fair enough. Those summarised as “The Millennials” are a very big part of the private rented sector. There is more As some research by YourMove recently revealed, Generation Rent is ageing. And it’s ageing quite drastically. Over recent years, thousands of people have turned…
October 10, 2016
We ask the estate agents what is happening in Manchester and the results are alarming for those who want to live here City centre living is fast becoming the norm, with Manchester’s population growing year on year. New bars, restaurants, gyms and shops are seemingly opening on a daily basis, drawing thousands more people into the city centre than ever before. But rising prices, competition for rooms and limited supply, finding a place to rent is becoming a nightmare for Manchester residents who want to live in the city centre. During a look at the Manchester rental market, some estate agents claimed there are over 2,000 potential tenants to just 130 properties – a ratio of…
October 7, 2016
The High Court in London has rejected a legal application on behalf of residential landlords for a review of Section 24 of the Finance Act 2015 which will change the way their income is taxed from next year. The changes, which are due to come into force in 2017, would stop landlords being able to claim buy to let costs, including mortgage interest payments, as a business expense. Lawyers had argued that Section 24 is unlawful on the basis that it restricts the ability of a landlord to deduct finance costs as a business expense and may also breach the European Convention on Human Rights. Action group disappointed An action group, Axe the Tenant Tax, and…
October 7, 2016
The UK is facing a “critical rental shortage” which requires a building programme to focus on providing for tenants, a surveyors’ body has said. At least 1.8 million more households will be looking to rent rather than buy a home by 2025, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) claims. It has called on the government to offer tax breaks to encourage building and investment in the sector.
October 7, 2016
According to the latest report from mortgage industy tech supplier, IRESS, the buy to let sector continues to go from strength to strength, seeing a 49% increase in buy to let compared with it’s 2015 Survey. The survey provides insight across many aspects of the mortgage market and application processing. Now in its fifth year, the 2016 survey analysed the responses of 18 lenders, with a combined share of gross mortgage lending of 68% in 2015, equating to £152bn of loans. Among the survey participants, the buy to let sector saw by far the largest year-on-year growth at 49%, while mortgages to first time buyers saw just a 0.7% increase and residential loans to home movers…
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