The much-predicted imposition of Capital Gains Tax on foreign individuals buying in the UK has just been announced by the Chancellor in his latest Autumn Statement.  Ordinarily this tax could make sense. However, it is the third tax imposed on the property sector when you add the Stamp Duty and Maintenance Tax changes of the Budget of 2012 where the rate was increased by 300% from 5-15% for corporate bodies and an annual Maintenance Tax of up to £150,000 also applied. Continue reading →

Halleluiah and good on you Boris for your championing the cause of new homes in London.  We build 5% of the homes we need in the Capital and the supply is being strangled by politically inept planning councils and lenders who are being thoroughly over cautious and risk averse and are conspiring to limit new house building.

The aim of building 42,000 new homes per year for the next ten years is ambitious but if you don’t set a benchmark you will never improve on your performance. Continue reading →

Following the tax changes in the budget of 2012 Stamp Duty for properties over £2million has risen by 40% from the previous level of 5% to now 7% (for non corporate bodies and 300% for corporate bodies to 15%).  This means that if you sell a property and buy another (at this price level) you could find that 10% of the available money to spend has gone on expenses (7% Stamp Duty, 2% agents fees and the balance solicitors fees).  The result is that if you sell a property for £2.5million you only have £2.25million of available monies to spend on the next property. Continue reading →