Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Industry news”
Companies with UK residential property with individual assets worth £500,000 or more as of 1st April 2022, have until 30th April 2023 to submit their Valuations to HMRC. Valuations are far more likely to be approved by HMRC if they are undertaken by a firm of Chartered Surveyors, with RICS Registered Valuers, like Websters Surveyors. We provide these valuations across …
External cladding is a process used by developers which sees an additional building layer of material attached to the elevations of a building. External cladding can be a useful measure to increase a building’s insulation or aesthetic design. However, since the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017 which claimed 72 lives, tens of thousands of multi-storey, multi-occupancy buildings have been …
Today, the Law Commission published a triumvirate of eagerly awaited reports on process issues for leasehold properties including a paper called ‘Leasehold Home Ownership: Buying your freehold or extending your lease’. Two other papers were published as well, namely – Leasehold home ownership: exercising the right to manage and Reinvigorating commonhold: the alternative to leasehold ownership This article will concentrate …
The Stamp duty holiday from 8th July 2020 until March 31st 2021 is a very welcome boost to the housing Market. At Websters Surveyors, we’ve noticed a significant upturn in market activity even in the week since the holiday was introduced. The number of Home Survey requests is increasing as the number of other instructions. After a quieter few months …
Amongst all of the troubles of living in a Coronavirus world, one thing that hasn’t escaped us is that a new Financial tax year started earlier this month. As seems to be customary at present, Government’s all-out attack on Landlords has continued. I write this not only with the cynicism of experience but also as both a Landlord and a …
In November 2019, the RICS produced a new Professional Statement on Home Survey Standards. From June 2020 it will be compulsory to comply with the new guidance. It’s about time too! The array of previous guidance is being replaced with one document which provides set requirements for Surveyors to comply with when providing a Survey. We regularly have clients asking …
The Government are currently looking at increasing the minimum term for tenancy agreements to be three years. Research suggests that 81% of tenants have agreements for 6 or 12 months whilst the average tenant remains at a property for 4 years. The justification is clear. It can be very difficult for tenants to uproot their lives if their Landlord evicts …
The High Court on 1st May 2019 rejected legal challenges against Heathrow Airport’s decades-long campaign to expand the aviation centre. The challenge was brought by local councils, residents, environmental charities and London Mayor Sadiq Khan after the House of Commons voted in favour of building the runway, approving transport secretary Chris Grayling’s National Policy Statement by 415 votes to 119 …
About time, many may say! Many leases of newbuild properties have rather onerous ground rents, described as toxic. Ground rents are typically annual payments paid by a leaseholder to a freeholder to reflect that the latter owns the ground on which the property sits. For too long, they have been seen as an income stream for freeholders. A way to …
As long as anyone at our company can remember, successive governments have talked up the need to build more housing. Also, as long as we can remember, the country has failed to do so. This has been the case for a number of reasons including supply and demand cycles and a complicated and protracted planning system. Tinkering at the edges …