Welcome to the Basingstoke Property Blog

I was on Rightmove this morning and saw two low guides, which are ideal for buy to lets. http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-45608319.html http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-45608322.html Both are for being auctioned and will sell on the day, they will be rented for around £650 per month, so depending on the price around £115,000 would be 6.8% however they might go for less then this even if you are lucky on the day. The lowest guide is £75,000 which is over 10%.

Apart from some minor exemptions, Stamp Duty is paid by anyone buying a property over £125,000 in the UK. It presently raises £10.68bn a year for the HM Treasury (interesting when compared with £27.6bn in fuel duty, £10.69bn in alcohol duty and £9.48bn in tobacco duty). In the latest set of data from HMRC, in the Parliamentary Constituency that covers Basingstoke, property buyers paid £8m stamp duty in one year alone – a lot of money in anyone’s eyes (although not as much as the £279m in income tax that all of us in the same area paid last year). However, as you may know, the government introduced an additional tax for landlords, and from 1st April 2016 they had to pay an additional 3% stamp duty surcharge on top of the normal stamp duty rate when purchasing a buy to let or second property. There were tales of woe and Armageddon with a report by Deutsche Bank suggesting that the new surcharge could see house prices fall by as much as 20%. HMRC data released in the Summer fo...

Basingstoke property values have been increasing steadily, and went up 0.66% last month alone, leaving Basingstoke property values 13.1% higher than a year ago. An increase in demand from buyers and an uninspiring level of supply (i.e. the number of properties on the market) has driven up the value of the Basingstoke’s housing. Values are 18.5% higher than 20 months ago. The usually wary RICS said throughout the UK, most of its Chartered Surveyors anticipated house prices to increase in the next six months which seems contradictory, given some of the economic cautions from the government and HM Treasury. Even though inflation will rise to around 2% to 3% in 2017 and perhaps a little more in 2018 because of Sterling’s devaluation, together with a high probability of a decelerating GDP and a slight rise in unemployment, how can the RICS and most of my landlords be so confident about the value of our homes?   We have to look at the market conditions we are starting fr...

Legislation Update - changes over the past 12 months that may impact your property I have had a number of conversations with landlords recently about legislation changes and how this may affect their properties or tenancies. As there have been a number of these over the past 12 months, I have produced a brief summary below. This is not exhaustive, as others were also introduced in Scotland and Wales as well as legislation relating to Retaliatory Evictions in England, however it does cover the most likely ones you will encounter. In each case there are links to provide additional information should you need it. Smoke Detectors From October 1st 2015, a smoke alarm must be fitted on each storey of a premises where there is a room used wholly or partly as living accommodation. These must be checked to be working at the start of each tenancy. This would include a ground floor entrance hall to an upstairs living space for example. Please click here for a government gu...

Back in the Spring, there was a surge in Basingstoke landlords buying Buy to Let property in Basingstoke as they tried to beat George Osborne’s new stamp duty changes which kicked in on the 1 st April 2016. To give you an idea of the sort of numbers we are talking about, below are the property statistics for sales either side of the deadline in RG21.     Jan 2016 33 properties sold     Feb 2016 41 properties sold     March 2016 71 properties sold     April 2016 20 properties sold     May 2016 21 properties sold     Normally, the number of sales in the Spring months is very similar, irrespective of the month. However, as one can see, this year was a completely different picture as landlords moved their purchases forward to beat the stamp d...

  The Home Office have announced that the date for new offences under Immigration Act 2016 relevant to the private rented sector in England, will come into force from 1 December 2016. The new measures follow the introduction of civil penalties created under Immigration Act 2014 and aim to: Make it easier for private landlords to evict illegal migrant tenants. Create new criminal offences for rogue landlords and agents who knowingly, or with reasonable cause to believe, let to illegal migrants.   The offences are part of wider Government measures to tackle illegal immigration, and protect public services and access to the private rented sector for lawful residents. Key Points From 1 December, landlords could be charged with a criminal offence if they know, or have reasonable cause to believe, that they are letting to an illegal migrant.                  ...

The Basingstoke Property Market continues to ignore all of the concerns about a post Brexit slump with a return to business as usual after the summer break.   The challenge every Basingstoke property buyer has faced over the last few years is a lack of choice – there simply hasn't been much to choose from when buying (be it for investment or owner occupation). Levels are still well down on what would be considered healthy levels from earlier in this decade, and there is still a substantial demand/supply imbalance. Until we start to see consistent and steady increases in properties coming on to the market in Basingstoke, the market is likely to see upward pressure on property values as a result.   However, there may be hope for first time buyers, with homeowners looking to move upmarket and the buy to let landlords looking for their next investment, the Basingstoke property supply crisis just might be starting to ease, as the number of new properties coming on...