UK house prices rising at their fastest rate since 2007

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The average house price has hit a new record high of £278,123, following the eighth successive month of growth.

Halifax’s latest House Price Index reports that prices are rising at their fastest rate since 2007, with growth up by 10.8%, adding £1,478 to the cost of the average home in February.

Seven UK areas are now seeing double-digit annual house price inflation. Wales is the strongest performing nation or region, with annual house price growth of 13.8%, pushing the average property price to £207,184. Meanwhile, the South West recorded growth of 13.4%, with by far the strongest quarterly growth (3.5%) of any region. Halifax says it’s notable that both areas benefit from an abundance of more rural, scenic living which has been in demand throughout the pandemic.

Upward trend

London remains the weakest performing area of the UK, although the capital continued its recent upward trend with annual house price inflation now standing at 5.4%, its strongest level since the end of 2020.

MD Russell Galley says average property values have risen by £38,709 (+16%) since February 2020 and over the last 12 months, gained on average £27,215 – the biggest one-year cash rise recorded in 39 years of the index’s history. He adds: “Lack of supply continues to underpin rising house prices, with recent industry surveys showing a dearth of new properties being listed, now a long-term trend.”

Galley says the war in Ukraine along with surging oil and gas prices and peaking inflation are all likely to impact on confidence and already stretched household incomes. “These factors are likely to weigh on buyer demand as the year progresses, with market activity likely to return to more normal levels and an easing of house price growth to be expected.”

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Prevent Council Tax bills being charged for individual bedroom lets

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We have just come across a petition to ‘Prevent Council Tax bills being charged for individual bedroom lets.’ Click Here

Surprisingly, it’s been up and running for almost six months already.  At the time of writing

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Glasgow Council ejects landlords from Scottish Landlord Register

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Seven failing landlords have been struck from the landlord register in Scotland for a raft of safety issues.

The Health and Safety Executive found a potentially dangerous gas boiler after tenants at two properties in Paisley Road West, owned by Ejaz Ali, raised concerns, reports the Glasgow Times. The council told tenants a rent penalty notice had been issued and they were not obliged to pay the landlord, but Ali then wrongly told them the issue was sorted and payments should resume.

Landlord Cheryl Campbell, who owns four properties in Mercat Gate Court, on High Street and Walls Street, was removed after it emerged she owed a property management firm more than £60,000 for common repairs and had an outstanding council tax bill of almost £28,500. She also didn’t provide fire safety, building insurance and legionella risk paperwork.

Lack of heating

After a tenant of John Milton, who lets six properties in Glasgow, told the council there was no heating and hot water in his home, the landlord failed to fix the problem. The council then discovered that four of his six properties did not have energy performance certificates, while he did not provide fire and gas safety and carbon monoxide detector details.

Clarkston Developments Ltd, which owns 12 properties in Glasgow, was not able to provide fire safety, carbon monoxide detectors and legionella risk assessment paperwork. A company representative accepted there were “serious question marks” but said the firm took its responsibilities seriously and was working on getting all the documents.

Safety certificates

James Duffy, who owns 29 properties across the city, failed to provide safety certificates for 12 flats in Ibrox and Cessnock. A council officer said Duffy claimed the properties had either been sold or were being repossessed, but checks found eight of the 12 were owned by the landlord and let to tenants. 

Rasham Singh, who owns a flat in Harley Street, was struck off after failing to provide a number of certificates, along with Mohammad Nawaz.

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Record annual house price inflation

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The industry standard Halifax House Price Index for February is reporting a record 10.8% annual rate of growth, which is the strongest level since 11.9% in June 2007.

Monthly house price growth rose to +0.5% following a slower start to the year with the average house price reaching £278,123.

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Stamp of approval for veteran dispute resolution service

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The Dispute Service Ltd has won government approval for its work to resolve tenancy deposit complaints.

It has been authorised by the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) body Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) to help tenants who feel they’ve reached a dead end complaining to their landlord or letting agent.

Efficient redress

Alison MacDougall, director of resolution at The Dispute Service Ltd, says it currently deals with more than 20,000 disputes a year, helping tenants move on to their next property and helping landlords to address any issues for future tenants. She adds: “We are delighted that our service has been endorsed by the CTSI as an approved ADR body and we look forward to continuing to work with our customers in the sector to provide effective and efficient redress.”

Andy Allen, ADR project leader at CTSI, says: “We are pleased to see the Dispute Service Limited becoming an approved ADR body for its tenancy deposit schemes. It is joining an expanding ADR environment and we hope that other organisations will continue to set up such schemes or have existing schemes approved.”

Deposit distribution

The Dispute Service Ltd has operated several statutory tenancy deposit protection schemes for many years and as part of the overall service, agents, landlords and tenants have access to free dispute resolution for disagreements about deposit distribution at the tenancy’s end. Its ADR service can only deal with disputes about a deposit protected by one of its tenancy deposit schemes where a landlord or letting agent wants to make a deduction from the tenant’s deposit. It cannot resolve cases where the tenant says they withheld rent because repairs were not carried out.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Stamp of approval for veteran dispute resolution service | LandlordZONE.

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UK Buy to let tax in Spain?

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Hi there, I was wondering if anyone has any insight into the Spanish taxation on UK rental income. I am very close to becoming a Spanish resident, but I am worried about the overall taxes concerned. I am aware of wealth tax obligations and income tax obligations but have seen on some tax sites the mention of a 60% reduction of net rental income available in Spain but only for long term rentals.

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War In Europe by Mark Alexander

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I make no apologies for sharing my thoughts on this topic, even though they are not directly property related.  I have disabled commenting because I do not want Property118 to become a Political debating ground or to subject our moderators to extremist comments on this extremely emotive subject.

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New TV series highlights property fraud

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A new four-part ITV drama series starting tonight is based around title fraud which can rob you of your property.

Downton Abbey actress Tuppence Middleton and Line of Duty star actor Martin Compston portray a couple who become victims of the little-known crime of house hijacking, a crime that “can destroy your life”.

Based on a 2018 thriller by Louise Candlish, who said the quote to describe the effects of losing your house title to the sinister world of identity fraud.

Based on real events

Candlish got the idea for her book after reading about a real-life drama, when Penny Hastings, the wife of military historian Sir Max Hastings, very nearly lost her investment property in London in 2015.

Her property in Fulham, west London had been sold under her nose to an unsuspecting buyer and by the time the crime was discovered, by accident, the new “owner” had received the keys and had got planning consent for renovations, and a builder was about to start.

This was a rental property that Hastings had on the market for new tenants with an estate agency. A female criminal had changed her name by deed poll – Penny Hastings – and processed the purchase with forged documents.

The real victim was the innocent purchaser, a young woman who paid the full amount of £1.35million in cash, with no mortgage. She had been fooled into handing over the money to the fraudster which was last heard of winging its way to a bank account in Dubai, never to be seen again.

This was a high value fraud, one which has been occurring with increased frequency reports the Metropolitan Police. A whole series of these linked frauds against ‘high value’ homes have been investigated by the Met’s Falcon (cybercrime) unit. They typically involve huge sums disappearing into Middle Eastern bank accounts. Several people have been arrested in recent years.

Rental properties are targets

Rental properties without the encumbrance of a mortgage are prime targets for this type of crime and ones which the owners rarely visit make the fraud easier to carry out. Home hijackers tend to target these rentals and second homes, mainly investment properties. They target wealthy cash buyers to complete the fraud which means that mortgage lenders do not need to carry out any checks.

Fraudsters will typically rent the victim owner’s property so they can impersonate the owner using forged documents, intercept the post and oversee estate agent and buyer viewings. Some owners have even been known to leave personal documents including passports in the property, which makes the criminal’s clandestine work even easier.

Candlish, the author of the book describes this type of property crime as the tops, “the crown jewels of property fraud”, a much more sophisticated scheme than the more common scam of intercepting conveyancing solicitors’ emails and diverting buyers’ payments.

Just imagine arrive home or going round to your investment property to find a removal van parked outside with a new family moving in. They bought your property from fraudsters and they are now the registered owners.

To many people this storyline may seem far-fetched, but in reality it’s far from it, it can happen to you, It’s a sophisticated scam that involves both the buyer and the seller in the con.

And it’s not insubstantial. During the financial year 2020-21, mostly during the lockdown period, The Land Registry paid out £3.5 million in compensation for 22 claims for property fraud of one type or another, from forging documents to transfer a parents’ home into a relatives’ own name or a stranger impersonating a homeowner and selling their house to an unsuspecting buyer as above.

Land Registry Property Alerts Service

There’s a simple precaution that every UK property owner can take to combat this type of crime:

sign-up to the Land Registry’s free properly alerts service. If you own a property without a mortgage especially, it’s a simple process which takes a couple of minutes on the LR website and well worth the effort.

In addition, The Law Society and the Land Registry are advising conveyancers to use enhanced identity checks on buyers and sellers to help screen out these frauds.

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – New TV series highlights property fraud | LandlordZONE.

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