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Kingsley Napley’s Medical Negligence Team ‘walks together’ with the Dame Vera Lynn Children’s Charity
Sharon Burkill
Whether you are taking the big step of buying or renting your first commercial property, purchasing a development site, adding to your buy to let portfolio or purchasing your new home, understanding Value Added Tax (VAT) is an essential part of the world of real estate.
You own the freehold to an apartment building in London, and you are approached by the developer with an interesting proposal. They want to buy the unused rooftop space on your building to develop and sell some new flats. Their pitch? We pay you 2 million pounds and we take on all the expense and risk of construction and the building. Sounds great, right? But, what’s that nagging voice in your head saying “this is too good to be true”.
Whilst the developer’s plan is part of a growing trend to build extra floor on top of existing buildings to create new homes (and lines up with the government’s goal to boost housing across the UK), there are a number of risks to consider and actions to implement before agreeing such a sale.
The process of buying a residential property in England can be more complicated than purchasing a property overseas. There are a number of key factors which differ from overseas systems and understanding these differences can help overseas buyers navigate the system and ensure they secure the property they choose. We have set out below the main complexities for buyers to consider:
The need for new houses is well-documented and inarguable.
The government have set an ambitious target to tackle this housing crisis – calling for 1.5 million new homes over the next five years or put differently, 300k new homes a year. To put that in context, UK house building has not topped 300k in a calendar year since 1970 – so, as I say, ambitious.
This Bill, which was originally introduced by the previous government as the Renters’ Reform Bill, seeks to level-up the perceived current imbalance between residential landlords and tenants by bestowing on tenants greater rights and security. But critics argue that the proposed reforms go too far in favour of tenants. So, what are the current key reforms affecting private residential tenancies?
Sharon Burkill
Natalie Cohen
Caroline Sheldon
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