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Home is where the heart is
Friday, February 12, 2016
If you are mid-property search for your ideal home and not finding your perfect property, its worth looking at things afresh and remembering that home is where the heart is, and with a little love and inspiration you may just find it’s closer than you think. Look again at the properties you’ve viewed. What did you love or hate about them? Could you keep the part you love and change the bits you hated? Is your best option not to move but to stay and improve? Here’s some great ways to rediscover the heart in your home
The Crossrail effect
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
House prices in the capital have increased to the point where homeowners are finding themselves priced out of the property market and looking to surrounding areas for affordable options. Living outside London can easily save commuters around £400,000 on the price of a 4 bed semi so it makes financial sense even when you factor in the cost of a rail season ticket.
2016 – The property year ahead
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
January figures released by the Office for National Statistics showed that UK house prices increased by 7.7% in the year to November 2015 with a figure of 9.8% in the South East where prices benefit from proximity to London, prime commuter catchments and educational options. Average monthly rentals (excluding London) also rose by almost 5% in 2015 accompanied by a raft of changes in legislation for landlords and lettings agents. So what is 2016 likely to hold for the property market, for residential sales and lettings? Without consulting the crystal ball, here are a few predictions for the year ahead.
Are you ready for “Right to Rent”?
Monday, February 1, 2016
In 2015 The Home Office announced that from 1 st February, the government’s “Right to Rent” policy would come into effect across England. So, from today, all landlords letting property in England are required by law to check the immigration status of prospective tenants (and take a copy of evidence of their “right to rent”) in a bid to make it harder for people to live in the UK illegally. Landlords will need to see original documents (and take copies) proving that the tenant has the right to be in the UK. Acceptable documents include UK or EEA passport, Home Office immigration status document or certificate of naturalisation as a British citizen. Landlords who don’t make the checks could be fined up to £3,000 per tenant or even face a prison sentence. So are you ready for “Right to Rent”?
Top tips for landlords for 2016
Thursday, January 28, 2016
With an ever increasing burden of legislation for landlords letting residential property and with new regulations coming in on a regular basis, we look ahead at the coming year with five top tips for every landlord in 2016.
Happy new home
Friday, January 8, 2016
When four sets of tenants looking for a rental property contacted us in the last couple of weeks before Christmas, they fully expected a “no room at the inn” response as they had from other agents. And in an ideal world you would expect a bit more time to arrange viewings, referencing and get all the paperwork in order to ensure a smooth transition. But life doesn’t always go to plan and whether it’s an emergency move caused by burst pipes or relocation for a new job starting in 2 weeks’ time, our lettings teams always go the extra mile to achieve the seemingly impossible.
