News Archive April '06

Conveyancing Month!

CONTENTS

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Detached properties hit by inheritance tax

Text Box: Early warning systems to monitor solicitors who are not meeting performance standards may be introduced under the Law Society Regulation Board’s new strategy. The Board wants to develop new arrangements to give early warning on dishonesty, misconduct, unacceptable professional performance or practices that are in financial difficulties. The Regulation Board, which took up its full powers in January, has now put the new strategy out for consultation to a wide range of groups including consumer organisations.

Text Box: More detached property owners are potentially liable to pay inheritance tax (IHT) than five years ago with one in three (29%) detached property sales in the UK above the 2006/07 IHT threshold of £285,000, Halifax have warned. Five years ago only 13% of detached properties were sold above the then IHT threshold of £234,000. Halifax calculates that in London 82% of detached property sales occurred above the IHT threshold over the past year, followed by the South East (59%) and the East of England (37%).

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ODPM Publishes Timeline

Text Box: On 6 April 2006 mandatory HMO licensing will come into force across England. Practitioners advising landlords whose property is classed as a HMO should read on to find out what they need to do to prepare. Houses in multiple occupation (HMO’s) will become subject to new licensing provisions from the 6th of April onwards. The new regulations, introduced by the 2004 Housing Act, are complex, and provide that many - but not all - HMO’s will be subject to mandatory licensing by Local Authorities.

Paper Addicts Beware!

Text Box: Never mind the quality, feel the width! Practitioners are probably already aware that the cost of first and second class postage is due to increase from the 3rd of April. From that date onwards, the cost of posting a standard first class letter will rise to either 32p, (postage stamp) or 31p (franked). However, from August onwards, when their “Pricing in Proportion” strategy takes effect, Royal Mail will use the envelope dimensions - particularly thickness - as a basis for charging, and not merely weight, as at present.

Stung by the CML’s criticisms earlier in the month, and their declared intention to insist on professional valuations (which are not currently part of the governments HIPs proposals, and which Home Inspectors qualifying under the 2004 Act would not be qualified to undertake) Housing minister Yvette Cooper MP, has

Text Box: has published the long called for timeline, setting out in more detail the governments proposals for introducing the new HIPs regime.

Guild Slams Hips

Following on from a recent survey of it’s 666 members, the Guild of Professional Estate Agents has added to the growing chorus of criticism aimed at the proposed new HIPs regime.

Text Box: According to Guild managing director Malcolm Lindley, the survey revealed that HIPs fail to address the real reasons for delay and abortive transactions - long chains, lack of finance, nit picky solicitors, and plain changes of mind on the part of buyers and sellers.

Robust dry run needed for HIPs

Text Box: Following the publication by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) of a timeline leading to the implementation of Home Information Packs (HIPs) on 1 June 2007, Kevin Martin, Law Society president, says: ”It is encouraging that the government have listened to our call for a robust dry run, but the timeline leaves very little scope for that process. The industry and consumers need to be sure that the benefits that the government claims will be delivered and that the timetable allows any problems in the process to be rectified.”

HMO Licensing Begins

New regulation strategy aims to raise performance by solicitors

Property Owning Democracy?

Text Box: Buying an average-priced property in London now requires an income of nearly £82,000, a sum earned by fewer than one in 10 Londoners, the London Housing Federation has revealed. Responding to figures released this week by Rightmove.co.uk which show that in March 2006 the average house price in London broke the £300,000 barrier for the first time, the Federation expressed serious concerns about the impact of high house prices on a huge swathe of Londoners.

4.5% council tax rise to hit pensioners

Text Box: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) announced yesterday that the average council tax paid by Band D properties will rise by 4.5% over the 2006-07 financial year, sparking criticism from pensioners groups angered by the above-inflation increases. The ODPM said the average council tax for a band D property would be £1,268, up from £1,214 in 2005-06. This 4.5% increase would only be .2% if the levy on London homes to fund the 2012 Olympics were excluded. The ODPM added that the average bill per house in England would be £1,056, up 4.7 percent.