APRIL’S GAME CHANGING PROPERTY LEGISLATION


This month, many new regulations are coming into force that will affect the property industry. Karen Manning, Director of Streets Ahead, Bristol, highlights these key laws and discusses what impact they could have on the UK's housing market.


April is a game changing month for the industry due to a number of new laws coming into force. Here is a brief overview of the changes that you can expect to see this month.


The recent budget confirmed that an additional 3% of Stamp Duty will be introduced on second homes, in an attempt to curb the growth of the private rental market.


Marcus Whewell, CEO of The Guild of Professional Estate Agents believes that this will have an impact on prices: ‘When the cost of buying a private rental property increases, rents would normally follow suit as landlords seek to maintain their margins / returns. For that reason, one likely effect is a rise in prices and rents.’


The government has also announced that HMRC is removing the ability of landlords to deduct ‘wear and tear’ from rental receipts before income tax is applicable. Again, it is thought to possibly increase the price of rents as Marcus Whewell explains, ‘Although many landlords have complained that this could dramatically reduce the yields from such properties, in a free market, rents could simply adjust to cover this extra risk.’


Other imminent changes include an increase of an average £58 for Council Tax on properties in Band D. This is the consequence of hundreds of councils around the country increasing rates by up to 4% - the largest Council Tax increase for eight years. On the other hand, properties that are rented from a housing association or the council will see a rent decrease by 1% each year for the next four years, starting from April.


Karen Manning says, Bristol still remains a great place for property investment with a large number of professionals renting property throughout the area.  Bristol has strong finance and commercial sectors in the City Centre, retail centres both in the City Centre and out of town, Business and Science parks to the north of the City along with the new super hospital at Southmead all of this and the very large student population from both University of Bristol and University of West of England create a very buoyant rental market all over the region.


Streets Ahead, 415 Gloucester Road, Horfield, Bristol, BS7 8TS. 0117 9520829


www.bestreetsahead.co.uk


Member of The Guild of Professional Estate Agents (The Guild) The Guild is a national network of approximately 800 carefully selected independent estate agents, working together to consistently raise standards of excellence and professionalism in the industry. The Guild facilitates and supports its members providing marketing, business and technology solutions to ensure a ‘best in class’ service delivering a key competitive advantage: trust and confidence.