Recently introduced requirements from the Housing Secretary will see those responsible for letting out properties have to resolve issues quicker than ever before, with time limits of as little as 24 hours for emergency issues.

Aaron Mcwilliam, Managing Director of PropCall, believes the tight time constraints of Awaab’s Law could affect managing agents’ workloads quickly and drastically, impacting heavily on their ability to switch off outside of working hours.

The strain could be particularly evident on weekends, with the 24-hour turnaround impossible to achieve without having to work during time off.

He said: “Over the last few years – particularly post-pandemic – we have seen employees’ priorities shift, and more people are now looking for flexibility and better work-life balance opportunities from their employer.

“These new regulations could have a negative effect on this, with mounting pressure for property managers to be ‘switched on’ 24/7 in order to deal with any issues and work over the weekend.

“Numerous studies have shown that those with a better work-life balance are more productive and ultimately contribute more to their company as they are able to fully relax and recharge when they are not in the office, giving their best performance when they return to work.”

Offering a better work-life balance was one of the founding principles of PropCall, which provides an out-of-hours call-handling service to estate and letting agents, as well as block management and student lettings companies.

PropCall’s team is made up of property managers who have extensive experience across multiple sectors, and handle calls from tenants, contractors or suppliers outside of your normal office hours, as well as ensuring you never miss a quality lead.

Aaron added: “Utilising support from external companies could be the solution, as it allows staff to hand over the reins after hours and leave their worries at the door. With PropCall, tenants receive expert care, while also getting advice and support for maintenance issues alongside 24-hour emergency contractor call-outs, should they be needed.

“Our unique remote video assistance tool allows us to triage any maintenance issues, helping callers fix remotely where possible and reducing any unnecessary call-outs, so you no longer have to stress about work when you’re not there and can focus on spending time with your loved ones and recharging.”

To find out more visit PropCall.

The post New Legislation Could Lead to Increased Pressure on Property Managers first appeared on Property Insider.

Firstly, the property market is certainly an unusual market at the moment. Prices are holding up pretty well, although demand is notably down. But then that follows three years or so of a market that probably should have fallen but just kept going up and up.

So let’s weigh up some factors that might help you decide whether you should make a move in the property market now, or wait.

Why might you buy property now?

House prices are starting to fall, according to most price indices. So you may be able to buy for less than you thought, or even get a bargain. (Price falls aren’t equal across the market however. They are larger in some places but minimal in others.).

The property market is cooler in most places. That makes the business of buying less hectic and less stressful.

In a cooler property market you don’t have to rush to view and make an offer the day a property reaches the market – as has sometimes been the case in recent times. You probably won’t be competing with a dozen or more keen buyers. You can take your time.

You can probably make an offer that is below the asking price and still be taken seriously  rather than being expected to make an offer over the asking price, as has been the case in recent times. You may even be successful with a cheeky bid!

If you’re currently renting you may find that, bearing in mind the current high level of rents, buying will actually work out cheaper than renting.

If you’re buying to let then, in a situation where prices are tailing off but rents are strong if not rising, you can get some very attractive yields with the right investment. Demand for rentals is sky high in most places, so you shouldn’t be short of tenants either.

Why might you wait?

Now let’s look at why now may not be such a good time to buy:

Property prices may have fallen slightly in many places but they’re still at historic highs. They are forecast to fall further over the next year or so, before rising again. So if you buy now you may need to be willing to take a short term loss, at least on paper.

Trying to time the property market is, however, always a tricky and uncertain business.

The cost of a mortgage is uncertain. Most experts believe that interest rates have peaked. But it’s by no means clear.

One way to look at this is that if you can afford a mortgage now you should probably be able to afford it in the long term. If interest rates fall you might be able to remortgage at a lower rate. (Always make sure a mortgage you take is affordable if rates rise however.)

There are sometimes practical difficulties involved with getting a mortgage at the moment too. A volatile market means that mortgage products are being withdrawn, introduced and withdrawn at very short (and often no) notice. There’s a risk that even if you get a mortgage offer in advance it might not be available when completion time comes.

There’s an increased risk of fall-throughs at the moment, partly because of the volatile mortgage market and volatile pricing. Even if your purchase goes smoothly there could be a chain further down the line and that could be at more risk of collapsing so affecting your purchase.

How to decide if now is a good time to buy or not

So should you buy property (or invest in property) now …. or wait until the market seems more favourable?

This is the question that property buyers and property investors have been asking for decades!

Every buyer or investor always hopes to find that sweet spot, where they can buy at the lowest point in the market, just before the market starts to rise. In reality that rarely happens, and then mostly by chance. Predicting the peaks and troughs in the property market is notoriously difficult (some would say impossible).

The best way to look at whether now is a good time to buy property, or whether you should wait, is to do so on the basis of what is right for you. If a property is right for you, if you think the price is a good one, and if you can afford it then now is a good time to buy. If it isn’t, it isn’t and you can’t then it is probably better to wait.

Originally written by Mark Hempshell for Apex 27.

The post Buy Property Now Or Wait? first appeared on Property Insider.

Fees for leasehold property sales and purchases grew at a slower pace by 3.72% and 3.82% respectively.

Now in its 4th year, Property Solvers’ annual research of legal practices (in England and Wales) has revealed that average residential conveyancing fees for a freehold tenured property sale and purchase in early 2024 stood at £1,187.98 and £1,265.65 respectively (inclusive of VAT).  

This represents increases of 6.16% (for freehold home sales) and 6.88% (for freehold purchases) relative to similar data collected in early 2023.

After what were rather aggressive price hikes between 2022 and 2023 (well above annual CPI), average conveyancing costs for a leasehold property sales saw somewhat subdued increases over the last year.  Prices rose by 3.72% for sales (from £1,351.71 in 2023 to £1,401.99 in 2024) and by 3.82% for leasehold property purchases (from £1,436.92 in 2023 to £1,491.83 in 2024). 

The property sales company approached 100 conveyancing firms for direct quotes.  It was assumed that a mortgage was being redeemed upon sale completion or the property was being purchased with a mortgage. Property values in the quote request never exceeded £300,000 for purchase or sale. Also, the fees do not include disbursements (telegraphic transfer charges, searches, ID checks etc.).  

Remortgaging costs – based on a secured home loan of £225,000 (75% loan to value on £300,000) saw an average cost rise of 7.68% (from £643.51 in 2023 to £692.92 in 2023). According to Property Solvers, leasehold supplementary costs tend to lie at between £200 and £350.

Ruban Selvanayagam of Property Solvers commented: “continued inflationary pressures on wages and other overheads involved in running conveyancing practices continue to drive fees upwards – albeit at a slower pace than in recent years.”

“We were coming across quotes going well into the £2,000s for freehold sales / purchases and nearly reaching £3,000 for leasehold property purchases – often reflective of the firms’ well-established reputation and their ability to process transactions quicker,” he continues.

“However, we continue to discourage sellers and buyers from using conveyancers with pricing that appears to be unusually inexpensive. Whilst more conveyancers are embracing AI and other streamlined process, you’ll often find that the “low fee” firms tend to be overloaded with cases – resulting in an inferior quality of service,” he concludes.

The post Conveyancing Fees Grow by 6.88% Over the Last 12 Months first appeared on Property Insider.

Secret No.1: There’s no need to get your property ready for sale when you sell it to a property buying company. You don’t need to decorate it or do repairs. You don’t need to tidy up or – as the TV property gurus tell you – to declutter. That saves not only time but money too.

Time saved: Perhaps 3-4 weeks.

Secret No.2: You cut out the long-winded marketing process that selling through an estate agent can involve. There’s no waiting for photos to be taken, descriptions to be written, listings to be uploaded or for the agent to send out details to potential buyers.

Time saved: Around 1 week.

Secret No.3: You don’t need to spend time on viewings when you sell direct to a property buying company. You don’t have to wait weeks while everyone who wants to gets to poke around your house.

Time saved: Easily 2-3 weeks.

Secret No.4: There are no timewasters when you sell to a house buying company. They’re professional house buyers. They actually want to buy your house and get a quick property sale.

Time saved: Many weeks.

Secret No.5: You can get a fast decision when you sell to a property buying company – often in hours. Unlike with a conventional sale the buyer doesn’t need to check with their spouse, their partner, or ask the bank of mum and dad.

Time saved: Perhaps 1 week.

Secret No.6: There are no long, drawn out negotiations when you sell to a property buying company. The buyer will offer you their best price. You just decide whether to accept it or not. There’s no haggling over whether you’re leaving the carpets, the curtains or are willing to throw in the fridge freezer.

Time saved: At least 1 week.

Secret No.7: There’s no waiting for your buyer to sell their own house so they can buy yours. Even then, their sale could fall through so yours might too.

Time saved: Potentially 2-3 months or more.

Secret No.8: You don’t have to wait for your buyer to get a mortgage when you sell to a house buying company. And there’s no mortgage offer to expire either. They usually buy with cash, which is always the best option to get a quick property sale.

Time saved: Around 3-4 weeks easily.

Secret No.9: There’s no quibbling over minor faults when selling to a property buying company. Like that broken kitchen draw or squeaky stair. Property buying companies will offer you a firm price warts-and-all.

Time saved: Several days.

Secret No.10: There’s no gazumping or gazundering when you sell this way. That is, where a buyer drops their price drastically at the last minute. Good property buying companies will offer you their best price and stick to it.

Time saved: Possibly months.

Secret No.11: There’s no buyer’s remorse when you sell to a professional property buyer. That is, buyers who agree a sale and then later decide they don’t want to buy …. or find they can’t afford it.

Time saved: Possibly months.

Secret No.12: When you sell to a property buying company you won’t have to spend many months (or even up to a year) evicting tenants …. if you’re selling a buy to let. Property buying companies can help landlords sell your buy to let fast by buying with tenants in situ.

Time saved: 2-12 months.

Secret No.13: You avoid getting stuck in a chain when you sell to a house buying company. When you get stuck in a chain someone else’s house sale falling through can mean your sale falls through too.

If you’re already involved in a broken chain then a property buying company may be able to fix it.

Time saved: Many months.

Secret No.14: Conveyancing is usually so much faster when selling to a property buying company. Buying companies have access to lawyers who know the importance of selling a house fast.

Time saved: Several weeks.

Exactly how do property buying companies do it so quickly?

By saving a small amount of time at every stage property buying companies save many, many months overall. That’s exactly why these professional house buyers make selling a house fast in as little as 1 week compared to a normal sale which can take anything between 17 and 34 weeks (Latest Zoopla estimate).

At the end of the day, the main way that property buying companies make selling a house fast is that they help cut the long and tedious traditional house selling process. By simplifying the whole process at every stage they save headaches, save hassle and save fall-throughs and ultimately time.

Originally written by Mark Hempshell for Open Property Group.

The post How Do Property Buying Companies Do It Quickly? first appeared on Property Insider.

HCH Financial Services will offer access to a comprehensive range of holiday let mortgage products, in addition to providing all types of life insurance, will writing, and other services.

Holiday Cottage Handbook shares valuable free education with short-term rental hosts, property managers, and industry professionals. Since launching in September 2023, the platform has built a highly engaged audience through its weekly podcast and newsletter.

HD Consultants is an award-winning, multi-adviser firm operating across several markets, including holiday lets, residential mortgages, buy to let, commercial finance, bridging finance, equity release, life insurance, wills, and estate planning.

HCH Financial Services aims to cater for the buoyant holiday let sector in the UK – which has experienced rapid growth in recent years.

James Varley, Founder, Holiday Cottage Handbook, said: “We are delighted to launch HCH Financial Services in partnership with HD Consultants. Over the last three decades, Howard Reuben and his team have developed an award-winning service that is renowned for delivering outstanding value for its clients.

“This new partnership will specifically cater for holiday let investors – a sector of the market we are dedicated to supporting with valuable free education, including tips, trends, and best practices. We are certain our growing audience will find exceptional value in working with HCH Financial Services.”

Howard Reuben, Owner, HD Consultants, said: “Combining James’s expertise and experience as a property investor in the holiday let sector, and his outstanding knowledge and skills in the world of publishing and media, together with the sector specific knowledge that my team of qualified, trained, and professional mortgage and insurance advisers provide, we are excited to unveil HCH Financial Services.

“This alliance is founded on a common objective to help, support, guide, and plan a holiday let property and finance strategy for our clients. We’ve been a company of advisers for more than 30 years and we prioritise long-term relationships, starting with arranging finance and continuing with regular reviews and advice.”

To support the new brand, Holiday Cottage Handbook has launched a new podcast series dedicated to holiday let mortgages. The monthly HCH Mortgage Podcast will keep investors, hosts, and property managers informed about the latest products and highlight case studies. Click here to watch the first episode on YouTube.

Samantha Turmaine will be heading up HCH Financial Services. A specialist mortgage adviser with a wealth of experience in the finance and property sectors, Samantha will be a regular guest on the new podcast series.

“I am excited to join Howard and the HD Consultants team, embarking on a partnership with James and Holiday Cottage Handbook to introduce HCH Financial Services,” said Samantha.

“This collaboration reflects our ongoing commitment to enhancing services and expanding our range for both current and prospective clients – which is testament to our market-driven approach.

“With more than a decade of expertise aiding holiday let purchasers and current owners, my experience spans first-time buyers, first-time landlords, and the occasional second home renter, all the way through to seasoned landlords managing multiple properties. This positions me perfectly to assist clients in securing tailored solutions while offering comprehensive financial guidance.”

The post The New Home for Holiday Let Mortgages: HCH Financial Services first appeared on Property Insider.

Through SecureMove, one Redbrik transaction was able to progress from sale agreed to exchange of contracts within just eight days.

The service was introduced as part of Redbrik’s drive to revolutionise the industry and is designed to minimise fall-throughs, speed up the sales process and provide more certainty to both Buyers and Sellers by legally preparing properties for sale before they go on the market.

Mark Ross, Managing Director at Redbrik, said: “We are absolutely delighted for our Buyers and Sellers who were able to move through this process at record speed.

“SecureMove has completely changed how we operate and it is transforming the moving process for everyone we work with. Our Sellers were able to have the searches completed and a full Buyer information pack created before listing, putting them in the best position to move forward once an offer was accepted.

“Just five days after conveyancing was completed, our Buyers were able to move into the property and are looking forward to spending Christmas in their new home.”

The majority of sales using SecureMove have a completion timeframe of just 90 days or less, while the national average stands at almost eight and a half months.

Upon signing a reservation agreement and paying the agreement fee, Buyers receive the full Buyer Information Pack created prior to marketing, along with searches from the solicitors straight away – a process which can typically take two to four weeks.

Redbrik is encouraging other agents to adopt the game-changing model to help improve the buying and selling process for homemovers across the country.

To find out more about Redbrik and SecureMove, visit https://www.redbrik.co.uk

The post Estate Agency’s New Service Achieves Record Breaking Contract Exchange first appeared on Property Insider.

Birchgrove, the UK’s leading provider of rented retirement homes, has announced that two of its three communities are now at full occupancy and operating Ready Lists as demand for rented retirement homes continues to soar, far outstripping supply. 

Queensgate Apartments in Sidcup, which comprises of 74 one, two and three bed apartments, is now at over 98% occupancy, while Woodbank Apartments in Woking, which comprises of 51 one and two bed units, is at 96% occupancy. The occupancy rates represent a significant landmark for operator Birchgrove following M&G’s £69m acquisition of the two sites in January 2022. 

As a result of the full occupancy, both sites are now operating a Ready List – a waiting list of retirees looking to rent a unit once they become available, having already registered interest and undertaken a financial assessment.  

The Ready Lists represent another important milestone for Birchgrove, given older people renting in retirement was largely unheard of in the mid-market sector until Birchgrove introduced the model to the UK in 2017. Many of those on the Ready Lists have lived in Woking and Sidcup their whole life, and are looking to downsize from their family home into rental assisted living accommodation that is more flexible and better suited to their needs. 

According to the English Housing Survey, the number of pensioners in rented accommodation is set to double to over 1m in the next decade. With demand for rented retirement accommodation already far outstripping supply, Birchgrove has invested in a further six sites across the South-East – with three communities under construction and now available for rental off-plan, and a further three London sites acquired. 

Honor Barratt, Chief Executive, Birchgrove said: 

“Every day in 2024, 1,000 people in the UK will turn 80. In ten years’ time, Birchgrove will have built 1,000 units – so enough for one days increase in need, or 0.1% of the more than one million retirees predicted to want to rent by then. 

“We’re delighted to have demonstrated that the mid-market rental model works. We’re thrilled to have acquired nine sites in six years. And we’re proud to be changing older people’s lives for the better, by helping them to live more flexibly. But with two of our three operating communities already at full occupancy, the sector requires far greater investment, development and ambition to meet this surging demand.”   

The post Birchgrove Communities – Rental in-Retirement Demand Soars  first appeared on Property Insider.

What exactly is the housing crisis?

There are two main elements to the housing crisis. One is that there aren’t enough houses available, whether to buy or rent and in different ways, for everybody who needs one. The second is that the housing that is available is too expensive to buy or rent.

Other issues around the housing crisis include housing quality and homelessness.

It’s important to remember that when talking about the housing crisis that the problem isn’t universal across the country. It’s more acute in London and the south east. Some parts of the country don’t have a housing crisis.

So what might be some possible solutions to the housing crisis and, more to the point, would they work?

Simply build more houses. On the face of it, this is the obvious solution. It’s not quite that simple however. Houses need to be where people need them, and it’s harder to build in the places where there’s more demand. And they need to be of different types of tenure to suit different needs, whether to buy or rent and in different ways.

Build more privately developed houses. This has been the main way to provide more housing in recent decades. The snag here is that private developers are in business to make money, not solve the housing crisis. They can only build where they can make money from doing it.

Build more council houses. Some councils do build homes but the numbers they can build are very small. It’s difficult to see how this could be upscaled. There are funding problems and it’s also difficult for councils to find the land. Planning problems hamper social developments in the same way as privately developed ones.

Build more build to rent homes. Build to rent (or BTR) is a type of development where private developers build homes purely to rent out themselves and not to sell. Build to rent has been slow to get moving in the UK. Build to rent is mostly only found in large cities and for apartments or flats.

Encourage the private rental market. Today millions of people rent in the private rented sector or PRS. It may be seen as radical, but an argument could be made that by encouraging more investors to buy to let it would provide more homes to rent. Better still if there were more homes to rent then, potentially, rents would fall.

In recent years however the government has done a lot to discourage buy to let, so this is almost certainly never going to happen anytime soon.

Make it easier to build new homes. Building houses is expensive, time consuming and difficult in terms of the materials and labour needed. Modern methods of construction like modular construction can make building and so houses themselves cheaper. It can speed up the build process too. But modular construction hasn’t been very successful in the UK – two modular companies have run into problems this year.

Reform the planning system. This is probably one of the biggest factors in the housing crisis. The planning system in the UK is cumbersome and slow and it is very difficult to get new large scale housing schemes passed. Also people who live in areas where more housing is needed often don’t want more houses to be built there – so called nimbyism.

The government has been promising to reform the planning system for years. It seems unlikely to happen any time soon.

Prohibit land banking. Land banking, where developers buy up land and then don’t develop it for many years, is sometimes held up as being a contributor to the housing crisis. There have been proposals that it should be made unlawful to bank land, because it blocks new houses from being built on land that is inherently suitable for it.

One snag is that although it might help with the supply of land such a measure won’t help with actually building on it. Developers will only build homes that people want and can afford to buy.

More government help with housing. Some people suggest that giving people incentives to buy a home could effectively make it cheaper, and allow more people to buy. But there have been some measures that do this in recent years, such as Stamp Duty reductions and the Help to Buy scheme. Arguably these have made things worse by pushing up demand and hence property prices without doing anything to increase supply.

A new approach to government and political party policy. This is perhaps the biggest problem behind solving the housing crisis. Solving many of these problems is well within the remit of politicians.

Politicians of all colours generally propose policies that will boost their popularity for the next election, over a period of five years at most. But today’s housing crisis is a long term problem which has been building up over the last 40 years or so. Solving it will need a long term solution, not one that is only designed to last as long as the next election.

When looking more closely at the housing crisis it is obvious that it involves not just one but many, many problems. Unless positive action is taken to solve not just some but most of them it’s unlikely to see an end to the housing crisis anytime soon.

A blog post originally written by Mark Hempshell for Apex27.

The post The Housing Crisis: Can It Ever Be Solved? first appeared on Property Insider.

“Crucially, the already delayed National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline is still nowhere to be seen, with the government saying it will publish a National Infrastructure Strategy next year.

“Investment in infrastructure, and removing barriers to private sector investment, is hugely important to driving economic growth. With the Autumn Statement, construction firms operating in an uncertain market have simply had that uncertainty prolonged yet again.

“We welcome full expensing of plant and machinery becoming permanent, for those firms who qualify. Having the ability to plan capital investment more effectively will be a huge benefit for firms looking to invest now and in the future, and maybe even a lifeline for some.

“For house builders, the promise of more streamlined planning processes and investment in new schemes may be welcomed, but we can’t forget that the significant slowdown in the housing market has been primarily caused by high interest rates creating a lack of demand. The housing sector would benefit more from tangible growth in the economy, which could in part have been boosted now by transparency around and commitment to infrastructure plans.

“Other measures, which will be welcomed by the industry, include a slice of a £50 million investment pot for engineering apprenticeships, but this doesn’t address a much wider skills gap we have across construction. The abolition of class 2 NI contributions for the self-employed, a growing demographic in our industry, is a saving of just £3.45 a week, and so a drop in the ocean considering the considerable costs construction trades have faced and continue to face.

“As BCIS recently launched the Built Environment Carbon Database, to unite the industry in making the measurement and reporting of whole life carbon assessments consistent, and as we approach COP28 next week, it’s hugely disappointing that the government hasn’t addressed the built environment and other sectors’ significant contribution to carbon emissions. Ambitions to reach net zero continue to be hampered by a lack of mandate for reporting from government level.”

The post Autumn Statement – Underwhelming for the Construction Industry says BCIS first appeared on Property Insider.

The damning indictment by Nigel Green of deVere Group comes as it is reported that the Chancellor will use the Autumn Statement to slash what is often described as the most hated of all taxes.  

He is coming under increasing pressure from Conservative MPs to deliver some tax cuts for voters ahead of the general election and put some clear dividing lines between them and Labour.

The deVere CEO says: “Jeremy Hunt’s reported move to cut inheritance tax by 10 percentage points is a half-baked, half-hearted attempt to woo voters.

“What he should be doing is abolishing the most despised tax completely.”

IHT is often dubbed the most loathed of all taxation, as frozen tax thresholds and an incredibly high rate of 40% place more and more ordinary families at risk of being taxed. 

The number of homes facing the IHT burden has more than doubled since 2010, despite it being designed as a tax for only the super wealthy, and around 40% of homes sold in England and Wales in 2022 were worth more than the basic allowance.

“IHT is clearly no longer limited to the ultra-wealthy, as initially intended. It is increasingly affecting middle-class families whose primary asset is their family home,” remarks Nigel Green.

“The desire to leave a legacy for loved ones is a deeply ingrained human instinct, and individuals find the IHT particularly objectionable as it essentially constitutes double taxation—taxation on assets that have already been paid for and taxed before.”

In a recent survey conducted by deVere Group in May, it was revealed that 72% of individuals aged 50 and above with taxable assets were unaware that the IHT threshold stood at £325,000.

“It’s disconcerting that those with assets susceptible to IHT lack understanding about the potential implications. This lack of awareness puts these individuals’ families at risk of facing an unexpected and potentially significant tax burden upon the death of a loved one. 

“It is even more troubling given the strong sentiments people have against inheritance tax, detesting the notion of their already taxed money being subjected to further taxation.”

Of the recent reports of a reduction in inheritance tax, the deVere CEO concludes: “This is a weak plan. Scrapping inheritance tax once and for all would not only be the right thing to do, but also an historic, popular vote-winning strategy.”

The post Hunt’s Inheritance Tax Plans are ‘Half-baked and Half-hearted’ first appeared on Property Insider.