London property is not restricted to the big five of Kensington,Knightsbridge, Belgravia, Chelsea and Mayfair.’Prime’also relates to areas of London where property is much sort after on the basis of the community, culture and nationality.
The Americans live in St Johns Wood because that’s where The American School is. The super-rich Russians want to live in Knightsbridge, preferably within walking distance of Harrods and the French always want to buy in south Kensington near the Lycee Francais School.
This phenomena isn’t confined to Central London; There is a huge Jewish community in and around Golders Green in north London and not far away is where Greeks and Turks have settled.
A walk through Stockwell in South London will take you into an area known locally as Little Portugal because London’s Portuguese population lives there. Similarly, the biggest concentration of Koreans outside Korea is in, of all places, New Malden – again in south London.
When moving into an area there are a number of local services you need to know about. Below you can access local authority information and services; we have chosen the most frequently asked information. Just put in your postcode and find out information on;
Bin Collection, Council Tax, Parking Permits, Recycling centres,Electoral roll registration, School and Term Dates and your local councillor for your new area.
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London Property News
London property is not restricted to the big five of Kensington,Knightsbridge, Belgravia, Chelsea and Mayfair.’Prime’also relates to areas of London where property is much sort after on the basis of the community, culture and nationality.
The Americans live in St Johns Wood because that’s where The American School is. The super-rich Russians want to live in Knightsbridge, preferably within walking distance of Harrods and the French always want to buy in south Kensington near the Lycee Francais School.
This phenomena isn’t confined to Central London; There is a huge Jewish community in and around Golders Green in north London and not far away is where Greeks and Turks have settled.
A walk through Stockwell in South London will take you into an area known locally as Little Portugal because London’s Portuguese population lives there. Similarly, the biggest concentration of Koreans outside Korea is in, of all places, New Malden – again in south London.
The new Home Office Crime Maps website was launched last week with the suggestion that the information would make the police more accountable to local communities. The launch obviously caused a stir as the website had crashed by late morning.
One of the arguments against the virtue of making such information freely available was the use that may be made of it by Estate Agents or Insurance Companies. House prices might be artificially hiked on the basis of the property being located in a ‘no crime area’, and premiums might go up in high crime streets. The fear is, the information will be used to the disadvantage of the potential home buyer/renter and home insurer.Would this in turn mean that lower crime areas insurance premiums would go down, or that higher crime rate areas rental value will suddenly decrease?
Paramount Properties Director Mark Grieg said “While School catchment areas have had a significant impact on the price of property in areas of North West London it seems unlikely that the crime maps will have much impact. Home buyers and Renters have usually done their research on which area of the city they want to live in. The information provided by this website will not be a surprise to most. A neighbourhood watch scheme has never really been a selling point.”
At the top of most home buyers want lists will be number of bedrooms, good schools, green spaces, future planning and development of the area and council tax bands. Crime statistics will simply be added to the list of information and the house will be bought or rented on consideration of all factors. The more information a home buyer can gain before buying a house, the better.
“An area with no crime will be extremely difficult to find; burglars don’t mind which postcode they steal a flat screen TV from.” said Mr Grieg.”We have all looked at our homes on Google Street View, and we will probably all take a look at crime rates on ours and our friend’s neighbourhoods. It will be interesting to see whether the site continues to be so popular.”
London Property News
London property statistics show there is likely to be a “widening gap” between the performance of properties in the lower tier of the market and the middle and upper tiers across the UK.
This is the view of Lucian Cook, director of residential research at Savills, who noted that rental yields and returns in London and in other parts of the country will drive values in the lower tiers of the housing market.
“[That is] opposed to the middle and upper tiers where values are driven by owner-occupiers and mortgage affordability, which is then a function of interest rates and everything else that goes with it,” he pointed out.
This movement could be witnessed over a period “of at least the next five years and possibly the next decade”, Mr Cook explained.
His comments come after the latest set of data from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed activity in the housing market continued to slow during November, with average house prices slipping further.
London Property Market News
If you can’t afford to buy a low-cost home, the Governments ‘Rent to HomeBuy’ scheme or ‘Rent to Buy’ could help. You pay a reduced rent on a new home so you can save money for a deposit to buy a share of it later.
The concept of rent to buy has taken off recently, with developers and homeowners seeing it as a way of bringing in an income to pay their own mortgages while, hopefully, working towards a sale.
For tenants and first time buyers the big draw is that if you do proceed to a sale you will have the rent you paid returned and you can then add this to your deposit.
Rent to HomeBuy is open to:
- people who rent council or housing association properties
- ‘key workers’ in the public sector, eg teachers, who work in the area
- first-time buyers (you are a first-time buyer if you haven’t owned a home before)
You will probably be looking at purchasing 100 per cent of the property with a private scheme, although this can vary. And, as long as you earn enough to cover the mortgage, the schemes will be open to anyone.
London Property News
As part of a move designed to boost positive social housing news, the government has confirmed a new drive to promote entrepreneurship from such homes.
Housing minister Grant Shapps confirmed that councils and housing associations should take steps to promote entrepreneurial spirit and allow people to set up businesses from home.
Communities and Local Government claims that some 96 per cent of social housing associations require permission from tenants before being allowed to work from home, and many tenants believe such permission would be denied.
Mr Shapps said: “Tenants should have the same opportunities as anyone else and landlords have the key to unlocking this untapped entrepreneurial talent.”
While social housing providers may have to consider issues relating to a change of use of a property, entrepreneurs hoping to start a small business from home should be given support, Mr Shapps suggested, noting that when tenants make reasonable requests to start a business from home, permission should be granted.
Social Housing News
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has said that the third-quarter GDP figures released today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) provided a “positive surprise”.
Over the quarter, construction output rose by four per cent, the initial estimate from the ONS suggests.Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at RICS, said that the construction sector is a key driver of the recovery.
“Over the past two quarters construction output has been responsible for not far short of half of the increase in GDP,” said Mr Rubinsohn.
However, he added that the organisation remains sceptical over the strength of the recovery, noting that mixed signals continue to come from the building sector and that sentiment surveys are not yet showing robustness.
Mr Rubinsohn also claimed that more “monetary accommodation” may yet be necessary in order to fully sustain the country’s economic recovery.
London Property News
There remains a level of caution in people’s approach to housing funding in the UK, it has been claimed.
Bernard Clarke, a spokesperson for the Council of Mortgage Lenders, said that borrowers continue to have a cautious approach when seeking funds for a new home.
The remortgaging market appears to be slightly more lively, however, Mr Clarke said.
A few more competitive deals are in place in this sector, he said, adding that the lowest risk options are available to those with more equity in their property.
“There has been the launch of some quite competitive and attractive remortgaging deals so we may begin to see some improvement in remortgaging in the coming months,” he said.
His comments follow recent research from the British Bankers’ Association which found there was a drop in new mortgage approvals in September when compared to the previous month.
Earlier this month, the Council of Mortgage Lenders revealed that remortgaging activity accounted for 25 per cent of home loans in August – the lowest proportion for ten years.
Mortgage Rate & Home Loan News
- Local authority government grants will be cut by 7.1% a year over the next four years
- Ring fencing of Local Authority grant will end next year
- Rent and tenant agreements remain unchanged for current social housing tenants
- New social housing tenants will see their rents equivalent to 80% market rate
- 150,000 of new affordable homes to be built over the next four years
- The age threshold for the shared room rate in housing benefit from 25 to 35
- Local authorities are to have greater flexibility to manage council tax together with direct control over Council Tax benefit, within an overall budget that will be reduced by 10% from April 2013.
- Decent Homes programme to continue.
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