Smaller businesses can make substantial savings as a result of sweeping changes to the tax relief system for investment in assets such as plant and machinery. From April 2008, spending on capital items will qualify for a 100 per cent tax break, up to an annual limit of £50,000. This will create opportunities for smaller [...]
LANDLORDS who put their tenants at risk by failing to ensure their homes are safe are being warned by Bolton Council that they could face hefty fines. The warning comes after Britannia Estates Lettings Ltd was fined £4,000 by Bolton Magistrates for failing to keep two family homes up to legal standards. Rob Devey, Bolton [...]
Weak mortgage lending is far from being all bad news Banks and mortgage lenders will be disappointed to learn that Britons borrowed less to buy houses in November than in any month since July 2005. So will many homeowners. It suggests that recent falls in the price of houses may continue. It indicates that consumer [...]
The new year may bring cheer to those priced out of the market House prices could be even more of a talking point than usual in 2008. Ian Pollock, Personal finance reporter, BBC News – 28 December 2007 For the first time since 1995, this could be a year in which property prices actually fall. [...]
2007 was an eventful year for the lettings market, characterised by exceptionally strong demand from tenants; new legislation to protect tenants’ deposits; a series of interest rate rises; and ongoing debate over the future of the market. Says Paul Weller, managing director of Leaders – one of the UK’s largest independently owned letting specialists: “With [...]
The Royal Insitute of Chartered Surveyors(RICS) believes that the heaviest falls in house prices are behind us, going against current opinion of more house price falls in 2008. Housefund.co.uk – 21 December 2007 RICS said that the Bank of England’s commitment to keep the market liquid will mean that interest rates will be cut back [...]
A new report today from Citizens Advice reveals how the dream of home ownership has turned sour for many people on low incomes who have taken out mortgages or secured loans with sub-prime lenders only to end up deep in debt and facing the prospect of homelessness. Set up to fail shows how dubious advice [...]
The oversupply of flats in city centres is a problem likely to affect those looking for quick gains but not long-term investors, landlordzone.co.uk has said. HotProperty.co.uk – 20 December 2007 The web portal has said that investors with long-term goals will not be concerned by short-term price drops, and may even be able to use [...]
Friends Provident yesterday became the first property company in the current downturn to stop private investors withdrawing cash from a property fund. Property Week – 21 December 2007 More than 118,000 investors in its £1.2bn pension and life-linked property fund have been told that they will have to wait up to six months if they [...]
Britain’s 15-year economic expansion is built on unsustainable foundations that are becoming more exposed as homeowners’ finances are stretched ever tighter, two reports have claimed. Gabriel Rozenberg, Economics Reporter, The Times – 20 December 2007 Policy Exchange, the centre-right think-tank, says today that the UK’s unprecedented period of consistent growth and low inflation is “more [...]
