Planning Appeals... What are they?

Planning appeals are generally submitted by people who do not agree with a decision made by the Local Authority. This is most often when a local council planning application has been submitted and has then been refused, an example would be if a house holder applies to build an extension to their house and the local council planning authority turns their application down.

Planning appeals can also be submitted when an Enforcement Notice has been served. An example could be if a property has been extended without planning consent and the local council planning authorities have ordered that the extension be demolished or its appearance changed.

Planning appeals can also be made against a local council planning authority’s failure to make a decision about a planning application within a given time.

Planning appeals are dealt with by the Planning Inspectorate which is a Government Agency.  Appointed by the Secretary of State – the Planning Inspectorate considers planning appeals against the decisions of local council planning authorities all over the Country – usually against their refusal to grant planning consent.

Planning appeals can take the form of a written submission where the planning appeal is dealt with in writing only – these are usually for small appeals and where there are very few points in dispute. For larger more complex issues a Formal Hearing may be required with the Planning Inspector acting as a judge. Finally, for the most serious matters, the planning appeal may take the form of a Public Enquiry.

Uncertanties about the Help to Buy Scheme

An end is put to uncertainties about the Help to Buy scheme fuelling second homes and foreign buyers

David Cameron has spoken up to clarify that the Help to Buy scheme is not available to people wanting to purchase a second home or to foreign buyers. He stated the Help to Buy Scheme is aimed at helping people onto the property ladder. The scheme is only to be used for people who are purchasing their own home to live in.

According to Cameron there will be a mechanism in place to ensure that foreign buyers and second home owners do not qualify for the scheme. Another point he made was that to qualify for the scheme you have to have a credit record in this country.

There are to be clear rules published relating to the scheme. It has been criticised that the scheme is artificially inflating house prices into a housing bubble. But time will tell…

What’s your opinion on the scheme?

We have a dedicated Help to Buy website for more information…

 

Click here to visit our dedicated Help to Buy website

Mortgage Strategy Awards 2013

Mortgage Strategy Awards 2013

Best Conveyancing Service – 3^rd Place

Bpl is proud to announce that we have been awarded 3^rd place at this year’s prestigious Mortgage Strategy Awards. We are very grateful to all the broker, estate agents and financial advisors who nominated us for the award. The awards are judged by a panel of top industry professionals.

In a continuing competitive industry we are very pleased to be recognised for our high level of conveyancing service to our customers and other industry personnel. Here at bpl we have a very hardworking team and are happy to say that all our effort it acknowledged.

Our Head of Business Development, Clive Dickman said “Winning the award is the culmination of a lot of hard work by all our staff and is the result of us continuing to strive to always improve our conveyancing standards.”

This award reflects our passion and dedication as a company to our clients. It wouldn’t have been possible without the assistance of our fellow industry professionals to achieve the best possible outcome. We are very pleased to be recognised as a market leader for proving a high level of efficient and reliable conveyancing both locally and nationally.  

Visit our website for more details

Stamp Duty preventing people from moving up the property ladder!

Stamp Duty preventing people from moving up the property ladder!

Since the mid 1990’s stamp duty has risen more than 7 times the rate of inflation. From an average of £532 to £5957 according to a report carried out by the Homeowners Alliance. Previously first time buyers have been exempt from stamp duty, but this is now not the case, preventing even more people from moving onto the property ladder.

On average when purchasing a new home the buyer pays 3.7% of the property price. In London when property prices have continued to rise the average stamp duty paid is £17,529. According to the report in 1995-1996 the average stamp duty bill was equivalent to eight days’ worth of earnings compared with 2001-2012 where it is worth 11 weeks wages.

 

Is Stamp Duty putting people off moving home?

Stamp Duty has now become a deterrent to people needing to move up the property ladder; instead families look for alternatives such as extensions, loft conversions and basement conversions to create extra space.

The Homeowners Alliance wants to see thresholds increase in line with house prices. And that buy-to-let investors and second home buyers should pay more than people who are buying a home to live in. They also suggest that the first threshold should be above the average house price and that first time buyers should be exempt.

Stamp Duty Thresholds

Currently 1% Stamp Duty tax is payable on homes over £125,000 then the next threshold is £250,000 - £500,000 at 3%. This means for example a house is bought for £240,000 and £2400 stamp duty is payable it then sells later for £270,000, the stamp duty has incurred an increase of 238% to £8,100.

What are your thoughts and opinions? Has Stamp Duty put you of moving?

 

bpl solicitors ltd - conveyancing services

UK housing market finally on the up!

UK housing market finally on the up!

Rate them or slate them, the new government schemes aimed at getting the property market moving again are proving to be working. The demand for housing is the highest since 2009, and the new government Help to Buy scheme is proving to be one of the reasons for this. After the Stamp Duty Holiday there was a lull in the property market for first time buyers, however now that mortgages with a higher loan to value and new government initiatives are more readily available the number of first time buyers is increasing.

Help to Buy Scheme

It is encouraging to see government schemes are having a positive effect on the property market. Help to Buy is aimed to enable people to purchase property with a small deposit (5%) and the government lending the further deposit (20%)  interest free for the first 5 years enabling the buyer to get a lower LTV mortgage (75%) with a lower interest rate and smaller monthly payments compared to if they took out a 95% LTV mortgage. Help to Buy is open to everyone, not just first time buyers; this may be why it is a factor in the rise of property demand. However developers need to be true to their word in delivering more housing so that house prices do not rise too drastically. According to a monthly report carried out by the RICS (Royal Institution of Charter Surveyors) property prices are starting to rise and inquiries from new buyers were at their highest since November 2009.

Funding for Lending Scheme

Another factor which may be responsible for the increase in the housing market is the Funding for Lending Scheme, introduced last August. It was aimed at making borrowing easier for prospective buyers, with mortgage lenders loosening strict mortgage requirements this has helped to reduce mortgage rates. The Funding for Lending scheme was designed to enable was designed to enable greater availability of funds to lenders at a lower cost and proves to be paying off. With lenders more confident in their credit supplies they are more openly providing borrowers with mortgages and supporting first time buyers. In conjunction with each other these schemes have had a positive effect on housing market activity and it is showing signs of further growth.

The Concerns

All this being said there are also some issues which may arise. House prices are gradually being pushed up, however this makes property which has been unaffordable even more unaffordable to buyers. Within our economy earnings are still showing very low signs of growth. With a demand for property and developers under pressure to deliver it is inevitable that property prices will rise.

The property market is still a favourable place to those looking to buy their first home. According to the Council for Mortgage Lenders more borrowers are taking out higher loan-to-value mortgages than any other time over the last four years. At first people were dubious about the success of these government schemes but from all the evidence they are only proving to be of help.

 

BPL Solicitors awarded Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditation

All of us at bpl solicitors limited are very pleased and  proud of our recent accreditation under the prestigious Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme.

David Bridge, Managing Director at bpl commented:

“As a specialist firm of Property Solicitors, we are at the forefront of conveyancing in England and Wales. This accreditation reflects the hard work of all our staff and their commitment to providing an excellent service for all our clients. By achieving this accreditation, all our clients can rest assured that we will do our best to provide the service that they expect and the reassurance of knowing that we have been independently assessed and approved by the Law Society.”

We are one of the top conveyancing firms in the country and consistently in the top twenty firms by volume according to the land registry statistics.

By gaining the CQS accreditation, we can also ensure that we are qualified and trusted to act for the increasing number of lenders that require this accreditation before they are prepared to entrust the mortgage work to a conveyancing firm.

We underwent rigorous assessment by the Law Society in order to secure CQS status, which marks our firm out as meeting the highest standards in the residential conveyancing process.

More information about our conveyancing services can be found on our website at www.bplaw.co.uk

Great news from surveyors - UK housing demand now highest since late 2009

Demand for housing across Britain in April has risen to it's highest level for more than 3 years, helped by the recently launched government Help To Buy scheme, the Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors (RICS) announced in a recent survey.

Alongside this, RICS's seasonally adjusted house price balance notched its first gain since mid-2010, their monthly survey showed last week.

This is really good news for us all and Peter Bolton King, RICS global residential director, is encouraged by these figures and expects sales to pick up over the coming months.