Recent Articles in Renovating property checklists

Kate Faulkner's property price update - April 2021
Apr 21, 2021

The main summary of the national figures is that for sellers, this is probably one of the best times to put your property on the market, but they are only likely to benefit from the reduced £250,000 stamp duty holiday as it’s likely to be too tight to sell now before the end of June. Regionally the market is starting to go back to different levels of growth. Read more about what's happening in the property market here.

External cladding – why is this an issue?
Apr 9, 2021

The horrific events of the Grenfell tragedy on 14th June 2017 have pulled into sharp focus the potential for significant health and safety issues around external cladding and fire safety in high-rise buildings. This article looks at the issues that someone affected by cladding who also may be considering buying their freehold may need to think about. To understand the position - which is likely to vary from case to case - we need to understand some of the background to the cladding crisis and look at how this has affected different buildings.

What's the problem with the current government support for home owners with the cladding crisis?
Apr 9, 2021

On the surface, a £5bn fund to help leaseholders to remediate the problem at little or no cost, seems to be a huge help from the government. However, according to George Martin, a leaseholder affected by these issues, the government is only attempting to solve a small part of the overall problem. This goes beyond cladding - it’s a building safety crisis. Read more here.

Any surprises in Rishi Sunak's Budget in 2021?
Mar 5, 2021

Yes there were! Lots of things not done that people feared, including, no changes to Capital Gains Tax, no changes to income tax, VAT etc. In reality, this was a pretty good Budget for everyone except tenants in rent arrears and the landlords who are having to deal with a situation where they can’t get rent, can’t evict the tenant and can’t even sell the property to recoup their losses. So, what are the implications of the Budget for people and property in 2021 and beyond?

Kate Faulkner's property price update - February 2021
Feb 18, 2021

My report on regional performance is usually: ‘look how diverse the performance is’ but not this month. All regions have bounded back incredibly post lockdown and rather than forecasts of falls in the housing market, it’s clearly done the opposite. As with the regional growth, most cities experienced extraordinary year on year growth across the UK, however, there are more differences at this lower geographical level. Read more to find out what's happening in your area.