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The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, is drawing up plans to cut inheritance tax. In a move to appease the Party faithful at next month’s Conservative Party Conference, sources suggest Sunak is considering cutting the ‘most hated tax in Britain’ and possibly phasing it out completely. What is Inheritance Tax and who pays it? Inheritance Tax […]

Following pressure from campaign groups, the Government has outlined plans to make it cheaper and easier for leaseholders to extend a lease. Current rules for lease extensions Under the current rules, leaseholders of houses can only extend their lease once – by a 50 year period – while leaseholders of flats can extend their leases […]

Following the mini-budget of the short-lived Truss premiership, mortgage rates soared to their highest in 10 years.  Now some of Britain’s biggest lenders have started to cut the cost of fixed mortgage deals by more than half a percentage point. This brings the average rate of a two-year mortgage fix down to 6.48 per cent, […]

Leeds Building Society has become the first mortgage lender to refuse loans to those who wish to buy second homes. The announcement, by Leeds Building Society chief executive, Richard Fearon, is a rare move by a lender; they do not normally make public statements about their lending policies. Leeds is the UK’s fifth largest building […]

The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 comes into force on 30 June 2022 (except for retirement properties where it will not come into force before 1 April 2023). In one of the most significant changes to property law in recent years, the act will put an end to ground rents for new and qualifying […]

Freehold-owners of buildings are selling space above leasehold flat-owners’ heads for millions of pounds thanks to new rooftop extension rules. Permitted development rights Permitted development rights, that the government approved in August 2020, mean that up to two new storeys of flats can be built on top of existing residential blocks, or commercial buildings, without […]

According to The Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecasts, tax receipts accumulated from IHT will rise from £5.1billion in 2019-20 to £6 billion in 2021-22. 

The government will offer incentives to mortgage lenders in a bid to bring back 95% mortgages which have all but disappeared during the Coronavirus crisis.

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is considering extending the stamp duty holiday for a short period according to a newspaper report today. The Daily Telegraph, quoting an unnamed government source, says the Treasury may extend the stamp duty holiday deadline of 31 March 2021 by as much as six weeks– taking it to mid-May.  The move […]

The government has extended the deadline of the current Help to Buy scheme. COVID-19-related delays of up to eight months meant that buyers of yet-to-be-completed new build properties were at risk of being unable to complete on the purchase before the end of the Help to Buy Scheme.  History of Help to Buy In the […]

Delays in the building of new homes caused by the Covid-19 pandemic may mean thousands of property buyers will lose out if their homes are not ready before the end of the current Help to Buy loan scheme. The government launched the Help to Buy equity loan scheme  in 2013 offering  loans of up to 20 […]

The Tory government faces a backbench rebellion over the plight of residents stuck in blocks of flats who face crippling bills to remove flammable cladding. Backbenchers are calling for an amendment to make it illegal for housing developers to pass on remediation costs to leaseholders.  They are close to obtaining the 44 Conservative party member signatures […]

The scandal over shoddy flat construction is causing the housing market to see flat sales drop. According to Land Registry figures, the housing market saw flat sales halve in 2020. Thousands of flat-owners are unable to sell their apartments following the scandal caused by the Grenfell Tower fire which killed 72 people. Following the disaster, […]

The government’s Help to Buy scheme is changing in England. The government launched the Help-to-Buy scheme back in 2013 to help homebuyers purchase a new build with a small deposit. Original Help to Buy The original scheme allowed house hunters to purchase a new-build property worth up to £600,000 with a 5 per cent deposit […]