HOUSING NEWS

Katie Kendrick was among those whose freehold was sold on without her knowledge. People buying new-build houses in England will no longer be obliged to enter leasehold agreements, the government has announced. Anyone buying a flat – or a house – on a lease of longer than 21 years will also not have to pay […]

Estate agents are being warned to tell the truth on property adverts, after regulators said some of them were “stretching the facts”. The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), which writes the rules, said it would take enforcement action if things did not improve in 2018. It said any estate agent that did not comply with […]

Renters in Bradford get more floor space for their money than in many other major cities Spending £100 a month on rent in London secures floor space equivalent to a small garden shed, compared with nearly five times that in parts of northern England, new research shows. Data released to BBC News shows cheaper properties […]

Ministers should consider strengthening the safety net for homeowners struggling to pay their mortgage, a report suggests. Help for this group introduced in response to the financial crisis will be largely withdrawn by 2022. Academics, commissioned by lenders’ trade body UK Finance, said the government should review its position. However, mortgage applicants must now prove […]

The growth in UK house prices is continuing to slow, according to the country’s largest lender, the Halifax. It said average prices rose by 3.9% in the year to the end of November, down from 4.5% in October. And it warned that growth is likely to ease further in the longer term, as wages fail […]

Home ownership can be a thing of beauty. Just as you don a pair of fur-lined slippers and spend more time on the golf course, you find you have paid off your mortgage. For the rest of your life, accommodation is effectively free. But this utopian model is becoming the exception. High house prices mean […]

Tenants typically spend more than a quarter of their monthly salary before tax on rent, official figures show, but there are wide regional variations. They paid an average of 27% of their gross salary to their landlord in England in 2016, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows. The picture varies across the country. […]

The stamp duty concession for first-time buyers announced in the Budget will have a “limited impact” on housing demand, a lender has said. Stamp duty has been abolished when buying a first home up to a value of £300,000 in England, Northern Ireland and temporarily, at least, in Wales. For properties costing up to £500,000, […]

Philip Hammond did not give the “indexation allowance freeze” a lot of welly in his speech and certainly didn’t try very hard to explain its rather economicky sounding title but it’s a tax rise the government hopes will raise half a billion pounds a year by the end of this parliament and could have important […]

Stamp duty will be abolished immediately for first-time buyers buying a home of up to £300,000, Chancellor Philip Hammond has said. For properties costing up to £500,000, no stamp duty will be paid on the first £300,000. Mr Hammond said this meant 95% of first-time buyers would see stamp duty cut, while 80% would pay […]