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You may think you know how to rent but London’s lettings market is fast-paced, competitive and can catch you off guard. Our guide to renting property will help you avoid making basic mistakes, especially if you’re new to renting.
Don’t let lax paperwork let you down
Before you go flat hunting, spend time getting your finances and paperwork in order - that is so that you can make a move as soon as you see a property you like. Some rental applications are delayed or derail because a document wasn’t provided, background checks weren’t passed or the tenant didn’t have enough money. Documents including wage slips, bank statements, utility bills (not mobile phone), photo ID (passport or driving license) should be at hand, and you should have the funds to pay a security deposit and usually one month’s rent in advance. If you need to know the full list of what’s required, message us on
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Gordon and Co
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Ever since the EU referendum in 2016 the London property market has been stumbling along, with low growth and a sense of depression and uncertainty as the spectre of Brexit looms.
The data from surveys and the official records of estate agencies and other organisations working in the property sector have been telling a common picture over this period of gloom, with falling demand and a reluctance by many investors to commit capital to new acquisitions or construction projects.
However, new figures from lettings agency JLL for the prime central London area in the second quarter of 2018 indicated a more nuanced picture.
At one level, it might appear to be just a continuation of a bad news story, with the number of lettings transactions down by 15 per cent on the same period in 2017.
However, while prices of rental property worth over £5 million fell 1.8 per cent, this decline is far from the worst seen in recent years, which occured in the third quarter of 2015 (5.9 per cent). Much more encouraging, however, is the fact that prices in the £2 million to £5 million bracket rose by 0.4 per cent, while those worth under £2 million increased by 0.2 per cent. This meant an overall price rise of 0.1 per cent. Slight though the increase may be, it is the first time in four years that prices have increased in successive quarters.
Check the blog here: http://www.goandco.co.uk/about-gordon/latest-news/central-london/1292-prime-central-london-shows-potential-sign-of-recovery
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A joint deal between the government and various industries is hoped to "transform" the development of domestic properties and buildings through the use of innovative technologies.
The project, which was announced by business and energy secretary Greg Clark in a speech to the Northern Powerhouse Summit in Newcastle, will boost efforts to meet the government's target of delivering 1.5 million new homes by 2022.
Bringing together the construction, manufacturing, energy and digital sectors, the initiative will focus on new approaches that drive productivity in housing development and enable greater energy efficiency and affordability in the property market.
Digital design and offsite manufacturing are two of the key concepts at the heart of the so-called 'bytes and mortar revolution'.
One of its key objectives is to support the industrial strategy goal to halve the energy use of new builds by 2020 - consequently delivering lower energy bills for families and businesses.
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House prices in London could be about to see their first fall since the financial crisis, according to a panel of 30 housing market experts assembled by Reuters.
The survey found a consensus that the impact of Brexit on the housing market would bear down on property investment everywhere, with the mean prediction for average house prices across the country as a whole being an increase of just 1.7 per cent in 2018 - a real terms fall as Consumer Price Index inflation is expected to run at about 2.5 per cent.
In London, where high rates of house price inflation in recent years have been fuelled by overseas investors, a decline in buyer numbers will ensure a price drop in absolute terms, with the average prediction being a drop of one per cent this year. However, individual panel members varied widely in their London forecasts from a rise of 2.5 per cent to a plunge of six per cent.
The panel noted that while property in the UK is cheaper for foreign buyers due to the lower value of the pound since the EU referendum, the uncertainty over the country's economic future - particularly London's role as a global financial and commercial centre - has deterred many buyers.
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In a speech delivered yesterday (July 2nd), communities secretary James Brokenshire announced a consultation that is likely to have wide-reaching implications within the property market. He declared that the government is looking into the possibility of a three-year minimum for rental leases.
Mr Brokenshire said: "We’re proposing a new longer tenancy model, of a minimum of three years, with a six-month break clause to allow tenants and landlords to exit the agreement early if needed." The idea would be for this to protect renters and give them more stability.
While in theory this would prevent exploitative landlord practices, many have warned that it is a poor solution to this problem. Locking landlords and tenants into a minimum of three years has been described as restrictive, while not actually solving issues like rising rents across the UK.
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The UK housing market has shown an impressive amount of improvement recently, with May seeing more mortgage approvals than expected. This is according to new data from the Bank of England (BoE), which suggests that activity might be perking up again after a relatively slow 2017.
Growth in both purchases and house prices slowed down significantly in 2017, and the first few months of 2018 showed no sign of this trend reversing. However, the latest figures hint that things could be speeding up again, as the number of approved mortgages hit a four-month high.
In total, 64,526 mortgages were approved in May, up from 62,941 in April; an increase of just over 2.5 per cent. Not only is this an impressive boost, it is also a much better performance than expected. A Reuters poll of economists predicted that the market would continue to slow, with mortgage growth slowing to around 62,000 approvals.
Alongside this, the number of approvals for remortgaging also increased, to 50,979 from the 47,295 approved in April. This equates to growth of around eight per cent, and is the highest number of remortgaging approvals seen since November 2017.
In total, the amount lent as part of mortgages increased by £3.9 billion. This is a rise of 0.3 per cent compared to April. The total value of mortgages has been growing at a steady rate for several months now, and May's figures do not mark a significant change in this regard.
However, while all this news is positive for the property sector, there are reasons to be cautious. The prospect of Britain leaving the EU - which is scheduled to occur in just nine months - has led to a downturn in consumer confidence. A recent survey revealed that Britons in general are more downbeat about the economic prospects of Brexit.
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Residential property investors across the UK will often reassess their property portfolios, but it has generally been unlikely that they will have turned their attention much to Burnley.
For anyone who has been focused on mature markets like central London, the idea of targeting an old Lancashire mill town might seem incongruous. After all, if the north-west is to provide new opportunities, why not focus on Manchester or Liverpool?
Direct Line for Business has provided the answer, revealing that Burnley currently offers the highest annualised rental yield at 7.1 per cent, almost twice the UK average of 3.6 per cent.
The second and third highest yields are in prominent cities, with Glasgow on 6.9 per cent and Belfast on 6.4 per cent.
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