You may have had a fleeting look at the leaflets that seem to come through our doors on a weekly basis about cover for damage to your pipes but do you really know who is responsible for the sewage pipes that connect your home to the public sewer?

New legislation is being brought in from October 2011 which will see an end to home owners having to fork out for leaks and other repairs to ‘their’ pipes as the responsibility will be placed at the feet of each of the 10 water companies that currently supply water to the UK.

You could be forgiven for overlooking the fact that you and your neighbours are responsible for part of the pipe work when damaged but unfortunately as a home owner you are only made fully aware of any problem or liability when the damage actually occurs.

The proposals coming into effect later in the year have brought a bit of clarity and definition to the matter. Any pipes that fall inside a property’s boundaries that connect to drains from the property to the sewer or lateral drain will remain the home owner’s responsibility – anything else will be looked after by the water company. The exception to this being if other properties drain through your own.

It is hoped that these proposals will be approved by the summer (2011) when they are presented to Parliament. However, it will not be the water companies themselves who will foot the bill for this nor will it be the Government so don’t be surprised if you see a small increase in your water charges in the near future.

If you are thinking of moving house you should make sure you use a conveyancing firm who will do all the necessary checks for you and uncover any likely issues that may arise from your purchase or sale. QualitySolicitors Keith Park can provide this service for you and allow you to check on the progress of your case online 24/7.

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With the release today of their January House Price Index Rightmove are forecasting a spring stock shortage will underpin prices in popular locations as new seller numbers dwindle. Rightmove also reports that there has been record internet activity indicating stirring buyer interest.

With property coming to market at its lowest level since January 2009 scarce new sellers have raised asking prices by 0.3% (£711), the first rise in three months. The most significant absentees are potential sellers of semi-detached properties who are either unwilling or unable to move. The VAT increase is also not helping with those struggling to stay in their homes as well as hitting first time buyers and trader-uppers who are saving hard to save the huge deposits required. We can only hope that this lack of property coming to market will assist an upward trend in new sellers’ average asking prices for the next three months as it coincides with the run in to the spring moving season.

Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, comments:

“The opening skirmish in the 2011 price battle looks to be going marginally in favour of scarcer sellers, especially in locations preferred by tooled-up cash buyers or those packing a hefty deposit. With the number of new sellers at a two year record low, prices are being under-pinned by muted new supply just managing to fight off the downsides of lender reticence. However, in less popular locations, the smokescreen of New Year price optimism is temporarily masking the collateral damage that the new era of tighter credit will continue to inflict”.

While nationally new sellers average asking prices increased by just 0.3% (£711), they were outperformed by the confidence of the capital’s sellers who pushed theirs up by 1.1% (£4,470). This is a timely positive sign for new sellers as it breaks the downward spiral of falls seen in the previous two months when prices fell by a total of 2.4%.

Miles Shipside commented:

“This month’s price rise will come as a welcome respite to prospective sellers in the London area as they had witnessed falls in both November and December. Sellers in the run up to Christmas normally have a pressing reason to sell so chopped back their prices, while sellers launching to the market in the New Year are traditionally more optimistic.”

Source: Rachel Lyndon of Pencil-Case

November was a stable month with very few changes to the volume and value of mortgage activity, according to new data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders. 44,000 loans for house purchase, worth £6.3 billion, were advanced in the month. This was unchanged from October and down 15% by volume and 13% by value from November 2009.

This month sees the launch of a new database for the CML monthly Regulated Mortgage Survey lending figures, and all historic RMS data back to 2005 are now based on this. There have been revisions to all historic data, reflecting improvements in data coverage and quality. Although most revisions are modest and within expected statistical error margins, care should be taken in comparing these new figures with any published by the CML previously.

Table 1: Loans for house purchase and remortgage

Loans for remortgage were down compared to the same period last year (12% by volume and 14% by value) but they showed a small increase from 25,000 (worth £3 billion) in October to 26,000 (worth £3.1 billion) in November. Bank of England Lending to Individuals figures showed a much larger increase in remortgage activity (from 29,200 loans in October to 36,300 in November). The Bank’s figures are based on mortgage approvals, and therefore are a lead indicator of the CML figures which are for mortgage advances. This indicates there may be a further, more substantial increase in CML remortgage data in the coming months.

Table 2: First-time buyers, lending and affordability

First-time buyers took out 16,400 loans (worth £1.9 billion) in November, a 3% increase from October (with the value staying the same) and a 19% decrease (down 17% by value) from the same month last year. Loans to home movers, on the other hand, were down 2% from October with 27,800 loans (worth £4.4 billion), and down 12% compared to November 2009. Like first-time buyers, the value of lending to home movers was unchanged between October and November.

Table 3: Home movers, lending and affordability

Lower monthly year-on-year business continues in all areas due to the distortions caused by some households bringing forwards house purchase activity before the close of 2009’s stamp duty concession.

Credit criteria remain tight although loan-to-value ratios appear to have eased a little, particularly for first-time buyers. This group borrowed 80% of their home’s value in November and is the second month in a row the loan to value has been at 80%. This is the highest the market has seen since November 2008.

Home movers on average borrowed 68% of their home’s value for the second month running, up from the low of 67% seen over the summer. For all house purchasers, the proportion of income needed to cover the mortgage interest was at an all-time low of 10.7% in November.

CML director general Michael Coogan said:

“It is encouraging to see credit criteria becoming a little more liberal for first-time buyers. But the funding and capital constraints on lenders will continue to exert a dampening effect on lending, and criteria are unlikely to loosen substantially.”

Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders (http://www.cml.org.uk)

Consumers have been advised to use conveyancing solicitors when buying or selling a property in order to protect them against fraud.

The Law Society and Land Registry have teamed up to issue a warning to property owners after discovering increased levels of of identity and registration frauds this year, the Guardian reports.

Linda Lee, president of the Law Society, said: “Land and buildings are usually the most valuable assets people own. They can be sold and mortgaged to raise money and can therefore be attractive targets for fraudsters.”

She suggested seeking the advice of qualified solicitors who can protect those buying and selling at every step in order to avoid potential pitfalls in property law.

QualitySolicitors Keith Park has a team of experienced conveyancing solicitors who will be able to assist with all aspects of moving home.

Our online tracking service will also allow clients to follow in detail the progress of their property transaction via the internet.

Despite the fact that the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) reported that the number of mortgages and remortgages in August 2010 decreased by 19% from the same period last year, 2 UK conveyancing firms published different statistics.

As such, according to Conveyancing Alliance Ltd., independent conveyancing company, saw a 48% in remortgages in Q3 compared to Q2 2010. Commenting on the figures, Mr. Singh (managing director at Conveyancing Alliance), said that the company’s statistics suggests that the remortgaging market has seen improvement and that lenders have been active.

Another report that comes at odds with the statement of the CML was published by Enact Direct Legal Solutions. The firm has seen a 41% improvement in remortgage transactions in September 2010 from September 2009. Mr. McChesney of Enact said that although the overall amount of remortgage transaction was lower this year, the firm managed to sign contracts with new clients and, thus, significantly increase its sales volume.

Source: http://www.e1buytoletmortgages.co.uk/news/conveyancing-solicitors-in-uk-cheap-online-legal-property-services/uk-conveyancing-firms-report-increased-remortgage-levels-4360.html

I am terrified to pick up the paper or switch on the news, are we facing housing market Armageddon????

According to Nationwide, the market has stalled, house prices falling 0.9% in August, but are still £3,000 up on the start of the year.

Are we all over reacting, prices rose at a heart fluttering pace only to come back down again, perhaps this is all just a healthy correction.

Nationwide said the average home is now worth £166,507 and the property market appeared to have stagnated following the past year´s surprise rally in house prices.

Annual property inflation has slipped back to 3.9%, after hitting a recent peak of 10.5% in April, while over three months house prices are flat.

The building society said that while the market was easing, house prices were unlikely to fall rapidly as they did in 2008, with the evidence instead pointing to a period of stagnation which would improve affordability.

Recent market trends remain consistent with an unwinding of the supply-demand imbalance that drove up prices for much of the last year.

As more sellers have returned to the market, buyers have a greater selection of properties to choose from and more bargaining power with which to bid down asking prices.

There is little evidence of distressed selling, however, with the Council of Mortgage Lenders´ second quarter figures showing another drop in mortgage arrears and possessions.

At present the trend for price decline is likely to remain modest.

A run of downbeat news emerging from the property market has led to renewed forecasts from some economists that prices will fall once more.

Howard Archer, chief UK economist at analysts IHS Global Insight suggests prices will be 10% lower than their mid 2010 levels by the end of 2011. His forecast was echoed this week by Andrew Goodwin, senior economic advisor to the influential Ernst & Young ITEM Club, who said annual price falls of between 3% and 5% will be seen over the next 12 months, before house price stabilise.

However, economists and property watchers agree that the effects of a slowdown will be felt differently across the UK. The threat of spending cuts and public sector cutbacks is more likely to affect areas outside London and the South East and hit them harder.

Meanwhile, in the more buoyant capital and commuter areas, good properties in desirable locations are likely to prove most resilient.

Last year, there was a major disconnect between the property market and the economy. House prices rose at a rate that was simply unsustainable and a degree of correction was always on the cards.

Source: http://www.conveynews.com/article.aspx?aid=66

The British Property Federation (BPF) has called the 1 million empty homes in the UK a ‘shameful waste’. According to the BPF there are over 4 million people on housing waiting lists in Britain and they believe reviving the current empty homes would provide a good-value solution. Their research has shown that bringing a house back into use can take as little as £10,000, a fraction of the £100,000 cost of building a new social home from scratch. Furthermore, the BPF claims the ‘social housing crunch’ has been exacerbated by a £450m cut in the Homes and Communities Agency’s budget that has caused it to scrap two of its Kickstart housing funding projects, while a drop off in section 106 contributions has also reduced new affordable housing.

Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said:

“It’s a shameful waste that so many homes are empty while millions of families living in poverty or without permanent housing. Renovating empty homes is an opportunity for the government to get people of housing waiting lists and into ‘good as new’ homes; it will also save them money and reduce the burden off of over-stretched councils at a time when housing benefit is also being slashed. Awarding renovation grants will remove eyesores from the local community and rectify lost incomes for the owner and surrounding landlords. It is a win-win situation for the owner of empty properties and the campaign to recycle existing housing stock. With the upcoming Comprehensive Spending Review we can expect local authority funding to be cut further. But housing need will not go away and while there is no silver bullet solution, renovating empty homes is a cheap and useful contribution to a huge problem. It would also tackle some of the problems caused by empty homes, which can attract petty crime, squatters, fly tipping, vandalism and occasionally arson – forcing areas with high numbers of empty homes into a spiral of decline.”

Alistair Darling could have became the darling of the first time buyer housing market by delivering what in general was a holding budget last month, although his extended and improved Stamp Duty Holiday for First Time Buyers may come as a welcome opportunity for those seeking to jump on the property ladder for the first time.

The first stamp duty holiday ended on 31st December last year, and that had an impact on both buyers and sellers wishing to move at the start of the year. The new, extended holiday now means that no stamp duty is payable by first time buyers on any property up to £250,000 in value. The holiday lasts for another two years which should help buyers confidence levels and also boost the market because more properties now fall into the ‘exempt’ category for first time buyers, improving choice, saving buyers money and expanding activity amongst different price levels.

Rempoving stamp duty for first time buyers wanting to buy up to £250,000 will mean significant cost savings on the tax can now be directed towards deposit funding for first time buyers which in turn means that more mortgage products may be within reach of most buyers.

For consumers the advent of “Tesco Law” with the promise of low or fixed fee legal services may be a welcome relief.  This is especially so in an environment where consumers seek value for money, but how do you measure value?  Solicitors and Barristers have for many years charged their time at a set hourly rate.

Recently the Master of the Rolls predicted that Tesco Law would remove from the market place the “billable hour” and replace it with fixed fees.  Any lawyer who has worked with fixed fees will know that this does not automatically mean low fees.  What consumers are acquiring is a great deal of expertise backed with years of education and continuous training in order to provide the commodity that they seek.

Tesco are clearly experts in the field of providing mass products at low prices but anybody who thinks that a legal service is akin to a can of beans is in for a shock.

The only way that low or discounted fixed fees are going to come about is by the services to which they relate being provided by lesser qualified individuals.  The Legal Services Act 2007 will do little I suspect in providing the safeguards around ‘non-law firms’ to ensure quality of products, which standards lawyers have had to aspire to under the Code of Conduct 2007 and its predecessor.

The only saving grace for traditional law firms with the dawn of ‘Tesco Law’ is the potential to ultimately market for mass Professional Negligence claims against the providers of volume, remotely accessed legal services at low prices.  Such suppliers, in trying to produce these services cheaply, may do so as a consequence without sufficient regard for quality. That quality having been achieved traditionally by reason of the work being done at reasonable hourly rates, reflecting the many years expertise and qualification which apply to such areas of work.

Ask any law firm who have had to advise families whose deceased relatives have used certain ‘Will writing companies’ only to discover that the Wills are negligently drafted or the companies no longer exist and didn’t carry Professional indemnity insurance.

There is a well known and perhaps suitable adage to be applied in this context that you only get what you pay for; let’s hope that consumers are more discerning about the acquisition of legal services than they are cans of beans.

Nick Hall
Keith Park Solicitors