How Brexit is affecting the property market

Martina LeesProperty marketLeave a Comment

The EU referendum result has left buyers and sellers with a new dilemma: should they move now or wait for the dust to settle? Leave or remain? It is the new referendum that divides opinion among the nation’s buyers and sellers almost as much as the shock vote for Brexit: should you move now, or sit tight? For the families … Read More

Think your lender won’t care if you let out your home? Think again

Martina LeesMortgages, Property marketLeave a Comment

After two collapsed chains, 14 months in limbo, £2,000 in lost fees and one rogue sighting of Japanese knotweed, friends in west London were on tenterhooks last week as they finalised the sale of their three-bedroom home. Would this be third time lucky? Alas, one piece of paper was missing down the chain. “It’s really stressful,” says the mother of … Read More

The question on our lips is what Brexit means for affordable homes

Martina LeesLettingsLeave a Comment

Gavin Barwell didn’t expect to become the fifth Tory housing minister in almost as many years. When Theresa May called last Saturday afternoon, he was “halfway up a tree, sawing off a branch”, and nearly fell off, he confessed on his website. “Croydon Central came pretty close to having a by-election.” Barwell’s parliamentary profile lists his interests as “education, policing, … Read More

Annoyed homeowners are taking their Airbnb-ing neighbours to court

Martina LeesLettingsLeave a Comment

Here’s my bid for a new entry in the Oxford English Dictionary: “airbnbreach”. With more than 100,000 British properties now listed on holiday hosting websites such as Airbnb, HomeAway and Wimdu, annoyed homeowners are starting to take their short-letting neighbours to court. I’ve had a taste of it this month. Just after midnight, the phone woke us up — water … Read More

15 properties — and just £1,000 a year in rent

Martina LeesTaxLeave a Comment

Chris Cooper never thought he’d be suing the government. As cabin crew with an airline, he earns £34,000 a year and lives in a one-bedroom flat in Windsor, down the road from Heathrow. Fifteen years ago, he remortgaged that flat to start a buy-to-let portfolio that now consists of 15 properties. “Rather than trading up, I’ve used that money to … Read More