Stamp Duty Reforms on buying a property

Changes to Stamp Duty

Following the not so popular, 'Mansion Tax' whereby homes that were valued at over £2m would face an annual charge, the Government has decided to change direction and reform the way duty is added.
It would seem that many people who had lived in their homes for a large amount of years would be charged an additional tax due to the natural increase in value.  All properties that were valued at over £2m would be charged upwards of £10,000 per year.  This caused concern to many of retired people who may have owned a valuable property but did not necessarily have the spare funds to pay this increase.
Government figures show there are approximately 100,000 properties in the UK that have this value to them.  Of these 80% were in London but 22% of them were only flats.

New Stamp Duty Rates

As from 3rd December, a new stamp duty structure will come into force across the UK.  Instead of the present slab structure at the current rate, stamp duty will be a more progressive tax.  This is similar to the way income tax is paid.  The figures work out thus:

• No tax is payable on the first £125,000
• Between £125,000 and £250,000 the charge will be 2%
• Between £250,000 and £925,000 the charge will be 5%
• Between £925,000 and £1,500.00 the charge will be 10%
• Over £1,500.00 the charge will be 12%

Basically, this means that those buying homes under £937.500 will pay less stamp duty while those buying above this threshold will pay more.

This form of tax will come across as a double winner for the Government as the average tax across the board is an increase should all grades decide to move.  It will also assist those on a lower pay scale to be able to afford to buy a property as the tax is at a lower rate. 

This could serve to ease progression for many more first time buyers up and down the property ladder.  This, combined with the Governments, 'Help To Buy' scheme will make it more affordable to buy a home.

Advantages on Self-Build

When it comes to Self Build properties there has been no increase in taxes and you could save thousands of pounds.  Firstly because although you pay duty on the cost of the land, it only comes into force on plots worth £125,000 and above.
There is no stamp duty on the building work or the value of the property when the works are completed.
Stamp duty is levied at 1% on property on property sales between £125,000 and £250,000, 3% for property between £250,000 and £500,000 and 4% for properties selling for more then £500,000.

This means that if you buy a plot for £155,000 and the final value of the property is £525,000, you would pay stamp duty of £1,500 (1% of the plot cost).  In contrast someone buying a property worth £525,000 would have to pay stamp duty of £21,000 (4% of £525,000). 

Shortages of properties for sale

Although the price of properties throughout the UK and USA are beginning to rise, plus there is a 50% rise in enquiries about properties, the market is still very quiet.  Hopefully the reduction in tax duty will encourage more buyers to invest in a home of their own.  Of course, the problem of a shortage of properties at the cheapest end of the market is still evident.  Hopefully this will improve in the new year!

Is Privatisation our own fault?

Pain in the Neck

Woke feeling rather neglected the other morning as I realised my vertigo had taken hold again.  Having this affliction for many a year, I realised that it had been caused by getting my ears syringed the previous day.
Knowing that I needed some tablets to rectify this I called the Doctors to be told that I needed to book an appointment by calling at 8.00 the following morning.
The following morning I called the Doc's at 8.00 to be told all lines were busy,  I received the same message at 8.05, 8.10, and 8.15.  I eventually managed to get a message at 8.20 saying I was third in line and would be answered as soon as possible.  5 mins later I managed to speak to receptionist and asked for an appointment with the Doctor.  'Sorry', she said all appointments with the Doctors are taken but you can have one with a Nurse.
Luckily enough, the Nurse resolved my tablet problem without too much hassle.
But why was I not allowed to make an appointment the previous day, I asked the receptionist when I went to see the Nurse?  Her reply was that 'all appointments are made the same day, unless the Doctors ask for them because people book appointments and fail to turn up!'
Now maybe I'm looking at things though a simpletons eyes but how is this allowed to happen?  When I book an appointment with my Dentist I am expected to turn up or I will be charged for the inconvenience and loss of earnings to the Dentist.  If I book an appointment with a Chiropodist any other private healthcare treatment, and fail to turn up, I will be charged for the inconvenience.

National Health Service

• This is a service that deals with over 1 million patients ever 36 hours
• It's planned expenditure for 2013/14 is £113bn
• It's running costs in Scotland are £10bn alone
• It employs 150,000 Doctors

Statistically, 12 million appointments are missed each year at a cost to the Country of £163m a year.
A further 7m outpatient hospital appointments are missed at an average of £108.00 per person.
Is this the bottomless pit that we keep hearing about that needs to be continuously fed more funds to survive?
When will we start looking at the basic facts before it all gets privatised and ends up costing us all a lot more then at present?  Then who will we blame?


 

There but for the grace of God!

As Winter approaches and I occasionally venture out for a walk, I can't help but notice the unfortunate soles who somehow manage to survive while living on the streets.  In life it is all too easy to point the finger and say that's their own doing.  It passes the buck that way and stops us feeling guilty in case there was anything we could have done to help.
I guess the general perspective is that these people are mainly drug addicts and alcoholics therefore they have caused their own demise.  The reality of it is that in many cases they haven't been able to pay their rent/mortgage and ended up getting thrown out of the property.
In many cases this could well be due to unemployment which may or may not be their fault.

Unemployment

Following a 6 month spat of unemployment myself I realise how easy it could be to find all you have worked for taken away. 

In the UK the average salary is £26,330.00 while the average debt level is £7,940.00.  In the USA the average salary is $81,400.00 while the average debt is $15,600.00.

Looking at these figures it is easy to see how in just a few months of not paying your debts, you could so easily end up on the street.
 
The United Nations Commission claim there are 100 million homeless people worldwide.  Just in England in the UK alone that figure is 28,000.  8 of the top 20 Cities in the world with the top amount of homeless are in America. 

When I arrive back to my warm home I wonder how Countries such as ours allow this to happen under our noses and choose to do nothing about it.  Naturally, the people who govern our lands like to tell us how well they are doing as they want our votes.  But for those who don't have a vote due to not having a fixed address, I feel they don't get a fair crack of the whip.

I understand, as with all things, it comes back to money or lack of it.  Well if we are so short that we cannot look after our own, why are we sending so much of our capital abroad in Foreign Aid?
Now I am all for giving money to poor Countries that have famines or disasters that are not caused by them and out of their control but why are we giving Billions to Countries that are not in this situation?

This year the Government of the UK is due to give Uganda £75.2 million and Zambia £45.6 million.
Islamic State Countries get £1.6 billion per year to do with as they will.
Pakistan is allocated £1.4 billion while India has a massive £2.19 billion.  Both these Countries possess an arsenal of Nuclear weapons with India still sending rockets to the moon!

In the meantime we continue to borrow money to add to our own debts of £1,400.00 billion with £43billion being added each year in interest!  That £2000,00 per household in the UK!

Call me negative if you will but it seems we are borrowing money to give it to others to do with as they want!

Housing

Perhaps I am being unjust with my comments and the Government knows more about what it is doing with my tax then me.  One of the biggest reasons there are so many people on the street is the lack of housing and we are told this is partly due to the lack of usable land.  So in this vast concrete jungle of ours, how much is actually built on?

In reality there is only 11% of the UK that has been built on!

Naturally much of this is in areas that are not the most desirable or easily accessible but although London has the greatest need for housing there are 35,000 hectares (86,450 acres) that are classed as Green Belt.  By building on less then a quarter of this, a million homes could be constructed which would give homes to those without plus bring in much needed capital to the City.  

Due to increased supply and demand factor, which continually pushes up the price of property in London, 1 in 4 families are facing eviction.

Isn't it time we started to look after our own rather then everyone else?

Do you know the difference between styles of housing?

Do You Know The Difference Between Prefab And Manufactured Homes? When talking about different kinds of homes, there may be some confusion in regards to the terms used to discuss what kind of house is being built. Prefab, Modular, Panel Built, and Manufactured are sometimes mistakenly used interchangeably, but they all mean different things. Prefab Short for Prefabricated housing, “Prefab” is a broad term that encompasses several different types of building. Technically, any home that has sections of the structure built in a factory and then assembled on site can fall under the “prefab” designation. Both Modular and Panel Built fall under the umbrella term of prefab, but just as different types of dogs are all canines but differ from each other, Modular and Panel Built both qualify as prefab, but are still different. Panel Building http://modularhomeowners.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/250px- Prefabricated_house_construction.gif As you can see in the video to the right, panel building is accomplished by laying down the floor and then lowering each section of wall in to place one at a time. This type of construction can be useful in building houses that don’t work neatly as modules and it can be just as structurally sound as other types of prefabricated building. Commercial prefabricated building is often done this way as it allows for wide open spaces and high ceilings. It is also much less expensive to transport a building in panels than in modules if it is large enough. In the video you will notice that both the first and second story floors are bare when they are lifted in. This is not always the case. Sometimes manufacturers will already have placed anything that can be bolted down. Toilets, sinks, dishwashers, and anything else that can be properly secured during travel can be pre-attached to the floor and cabinets and light fixtures can be pre-attached to walls. This means less work for the builder and saved time and money for you. Modular Building http://modularhomeowners.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/placingmodule1.jpg This picture shows a module being lowered in place by a crane. With modular building, the house is constructed in separate box-like modules which are then secured together to form a whole. Since the modules have to be transported on the backs of flat-bed trucks over highways, they generally have to be no longer than the truck and no wider than 16’. This traditionally meant that every room in the house had to be less than 16’ wide, but with new technology, old barriers in modular building are breaking down and houses are becoming infinitely customizable. Modular building usually doesn’t allow for additional structures like garages or porches to be built in the factory, but by combining panel building and modern modular building techniques, modular home factories are able deliver your home up to 90% complete. Manufactured Housing http://modularhomeowners.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/manufactured.jpg While built in a factory like prefabs, there is no construction that happens on site. Manufactured homes are constructed on a steel frame, shipped on its own wheels, and then laid on a crawl space, or a slab of concrete. In some cases, the wheels that got the house to the build site aren’t even removed, just covered up with side skirting. The picture on the right has had skirting added to try to conceal that it is a manufactured home. Manufactured homes don’t tend to age well, are prone to maintenance issues, and are generally considered to be the worst type of home to live in. The Difference Between The Two Building Codes Prefabricated houses of all kinds must adhere to state and federal building codes and undergo regular inspections, just like any site-built home. This ensures that prefab homes are at least as safe as their site-built counterparts, though there is evidence that a well-built modular home is even more sturdy than a similar site-built home. Manufactured homes on the other hand only have to adhere to HUD standards (Department of Housing and Urban Development) which has much more lenient rules and regulations. Resale Value Unlike prefabricated homes which are considered real estate and so maintain or increase in value over time like a site-built home, manufactured homes are considered personal property and so lose value as soon as it’s driven off the lot, just like a car. Their value will continue to decrease for the full life of the home. Building Limitations While prefabricated housing used to be limited to very basic designs, modern building techniques have allowed prefabs to become just easily customizable as site-built homes. Unfortunately, manufactured homes are still very much constrained, and have extremely limited options. Most manufactured homes dealers will have the home pre-built and then just sell from their available stock. This means that any customizations made would be done by the owner. Appearance Prefab homes are traditionally wood framed, but the push toward modern styles and sustainable living has forced the industry to adopt steel-frame construction for some projects. This allows modular and panel built homes a flexibility in design that allows for custom architecture. Some manufactured homes still have the tin-can look of years gone by and some have been modernized to look almost like a standard home, but there is little to no room for exterior alterations or creativity. Quality Perhaps the largest difference between prefab homes and manufactured homes is the quality of the final product. Modular homes are built with factory precision using 25% more material on average than either site-built or manufactured homes. According to FEMA, they stand up better in extreme weather, and they require comparatively little maintenance. by JElitzer

Is Rising Damp a Myth or just a Capillary Reaction?

Getting to Grips with Damp Damp is something that strikes a chord with anyone who cares for a property. Lack of regular maintenance can be a prime cause of this common problem, especially if blocked pipes and gutters are causing an overflow of water that is penetrating and adversely affecting a building. http://www.maintainyourbuilding.org.uk/data/images/pages/mike_parrett.jpg In 2005 damp was a key theme of SPAB's (The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings) annual National Maintenance week, SPAB joined forces with national damp expert Mike Parrett, whose work to dispel some of the myths and misunderstandings around the subject were featured in the hard-hitting investigative tv programme "Raising The Roof". His common sense approach gets to the root of the issue and can even help people to save money by helping them to recognise the causes of their problems, giving them the confidence and knowledge to take the right steps to remedy the situation. Mike's damp busting tips: Watch out for the following symptoms and signs of dampness. Damp rooms usually have a distinctive and easily recognisable smell. Stale trapped air caused by poor ventilation is another good indicator. Damp patches and patches of mould can be due to water leakage and or water penetration - look for any corresponding defects (leaking gutters, pipes, roof tiles etc) at or near the locations of the mould. Dampness on or around a chimney breast is likely to be caused by falling damp! Rainwater directly entering the chimney mouth and filtering down through the walls below. Capping your chimney could eliminate this problem. If your house pre-dated World War II it is likely that it was built using lime. This is a breathable material, but later additions such as modern, hard cement renders and masonry paints may actually be trapping moisture into the walls. Crescent shape mould in the corner of two external walls is more typically due to active condensation. Mike Parrett Causes of condensation can be due to: •Design, layout and construction of the building •Use and occupation of the building •Defects to the building •Or any combination of the above Salt clusters on the wall surfaces can be due to water leaks, ground water and or rain water penetration. There are salts originating from the ground and natural salts in clay bricks. Remember - rising damp, penetrating damp and condensation are not causes of damp but describe the transportation of moisture - What causes them to occur is where you start to look and not where you finish looking. A great deal of dampness to ground floor walls is commonly referred to as being caused by rising damp necessitating a new damp proof course to be injected - But rising damp is not a cause it describes the movement of moisture in a particular direction! mayhttp://www.maintainyourbuilding.org.uk/data/images/pages/mike_parrett_surveying.jpg Common causes of dampness to ground floor walls that cause dampness to rise: 1.Raised external ground levels against outside walls - where the ground is higher than either the physical horizontal damp proof course or higher than the internal finished floor level. 2.Leaking high level gutters, overflow pipes and rain water pipes. 3.Lack of adequate air flow under timber suspended floors. 4.Rubbish and rubble placed under suspended floors, trapping moisture and affecting ventilation. 5.Blocked cavity wall voids. 6.Leaking potable water main supply at or near the building. 7.Causing damp where suspended timber floors have been replaced with solid floors - rarely is the damp proof membrane under the solid floor (if one exists!) properly related to the perimeter walls, causing moisture to squeeze out from beneath and upwards. 8.External renders applied to external walls bridging the damp proof course and in contact with the ground. 9.Dampness to common or party walls - the adjoining property must also be checked! 10.High local water table and or proness to flooding - check with the Environment Agency, Local water provider and or Local Authority for further information. Traditional masonry It may surprise you to know that the majority of so called damp guarantee's do not cover any of the above list of common causes of rising damp! And the above list is by no means exhaustive. Physical damp proof course rarely fail - even a cracked slate damp proof course in a wall is unlikely to create a capillary by which moisture would pass through. So if they rarely fail it is not very common to require a new one! http://www.maintainyourbuilding.org.uk/data/images/pages/smailholm_mortar.jpg Chemical damp proof course injections in themselves do not provide a total barrier against rising ground water and rely on the additional water proof render and plasters to be applied to the ground floor walls. Such treatments are not a total cure, but a management of the problem. One of the World's largest manufacturer's of electrical moisture meters say that you cannot rely solely on the results of an electrical moisture meter to form a diagnosis of the cause of dampness. So if the manufacturer's say that, how can £000's of remedial treatments be recommended, determined only by the use of that single instrument?

The Home Lovers

How to turn a house into a home

In the many years I have been involved with the construction Industry I occasionally ponder over what different people call home. Or more to the point, 'what makes a house into a home'? It could be related to a part of the world they have lived, a place where their parents live, the place where they were born or maybe the place they live with their family! All these places are where they have acquired memories that are important to them in one way or another. Personally, I tend to stick to the old adage 'home is where the heart is'! 

The part I have never been able to get a hold on is why some people look after their 'homes' so much better then others. On the whole most people who have worked hard for several years to get a deposit together have a tendency to appreciate all the effort that it has taken. Keeping things clean and in their rightful place seems to be part of a natural process they automatically accept. It also seems par for the course to 'keep up with the neighbours' to ensure everyone is friendly and not seen to be bringing the neighbourhood down. People who venture onto a self-build are generally even more meticulous in their approach. So much so, that windows are washed weekly, drives are swept regularly with all items having a place where they live and should never be left anywhere else. 

 One of the great attractions of self-build is that it gives you the opportunity to create a home to suit your lifestyle. Perhaps you are after a property for your uh p-and-coming family, or perhaps one to prepare yourself for retirement with a spare room for guests to stay. Whatever the reason you start a self-build, one of the great attractions is that you will have a property designed to suit your lifestyle and allow for possible changes in the future. But no matter what the reasons are, you will put more effort into planning and building this then any home that you could buy off the shelf. I guess both these ways of looking after your home is fairly evident and understandable but what I can't get my head round is the people who rent properties.

 Now I don't have a problem with people who rent as in many cases it suits or buying is out of the question. The part that I don't seem to get is the attitude that 'it's not my house so why should I look after it'? Although it is not their property, do they not live in it, therefore making it their home? In many cases these people live in them for many years. By this I don't necessarily mean maintenance of the property but just keeping things together like putting your bins out of the way, cutting your grass and not having scrap cars outside. To me a house is a pile of bricks but a home is where the heart is! If you don't care for your house it will never become a home!

To Build or not to Build

Is this an easy way to make money?

 

 

Reading some of the comments made by people who have become involved in a self-build project I can't help but smile to myself.  As with most projects we undertake in life nothing can possibly go wrong - can it?
I recall years ago when I was selling a lease-hold shop business and my concern was whether I was asking for more then the business was worth.  A fellow business friend said to me to remember that anyone who starts a business up believes they will be millionaires in a few years time.  If they didn't they would probably never start the business in the beginning.  Naturally, I don't need to state how many people do go on to become millionaires or indeed how many wish they had never got involved to start with.

 

 

 

 

 

Now for all of you who have achieved a successful outcome with your self-build I agree that statistically you will make money from your work, although it is likely to be a reasonable amount less then hoped for.  Indeed, the average cost of a new home is approximately £190,000 but if you get someone to do the build for you it should come out at approx. £146,000, but should you choose to do the work yourself it may be nearer to £85,000.  Naturally, the largest proportion of us are likely to go for carrying out the works themselves as all we can see is the final figure.  I could go on all day but I would rather you gave me some food for thought on this!  Have you done a self-build and did the figures come out as planned?  What would it have cost if you had got a Builder to do it and more importantly, would you do it again?