Theresa May

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    Our new Prime Minister: Boris Johnson wins the battle!

    Boris Johnson bags an impressive 66.4% of the Conservative Party vote and will be our Prime Minister by lunchtime today.

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    Government’s flagship 300,000 new homes target stands ‘little chance’ of being achieved, say MPs

    Report by Public Accounts Committee has heavily criticised ministers for failing to get to grips with housing shortage.

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    Hard Brexit will prompt property slump, says leading rating agency

    Read how leading global rating agency Standard & Poor's says the UK will see house prices slump by up to 10% following a hard brexit.

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    Overseas investors to pay extra Stamp Duty on UK property purchases

    An additional Stamp Duty bill for overseas investors has been announced by Theresa May at this year's Conservative Party conference.

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    Theresa May chairs first meeting of new housing taskforce, but was Dominic Raab there?

    Meeting of ministerial minds urged by PM to "think creatively" about how to build more homes, but where was her Minister for Housing?

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    Who’s your agent, Theresa? PM joins the ranks of landlord MPs

    There’s an agent somewhere in central London with a very special client and looking after a property with very high political connections. It has been revealed by Prime Minister Theresa May that she and her husband Philip have become landlords after deciding to rent out their central London apartment. The information has come to light after the Prime Minister, who is the MP for Maidenhead in Berkshire, declared the interest within the latest update of Parliament’s Register of Financial Interests. On 19th August the pair rented out their property in London, which unsurprisingly is worth more than £100,000 and generates more than £10,000 a year, the thresholds for property and rental income declarations by MPs. Landlord MPs Theresa May is not the only MP to join the House of Commons list of landlord MPs recently. Other MPs making the same declaration as the PM include Nigel Adams, MP for Selby & Ainsty, who has declared two rental properties in York, and Sarah Newton, MP for Truro & Falmouth, who has a rental property within her constituency. Earlier this year it was revealed that almost one in five or 123 MPs are landlords including Chancellor Philip Hammond (pictured, left), Foreign Secretary…

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    £12 billion extra for housing revealed during Conservative Conference

    Details of Theresa May’s announcements during her conference speech yesterday about how she will fix the nation’s ‘broken’ housing market have been revealed including measures worth an extra £2 billion. The extra cash will be spent on building additional council homes for rent, which comes on top of the extra £10 billion announced on Monday to fund an expansion of the Help to Buy scheme. The budget for affordable homes is to be increased by £2 billion to £9.1 billion and will see an extra 25,000 homes to rent created that are “affordable for local people”. Theresa said she was “getting government back into the business of building houses” and that she wanted to create “a new generation of council houses to help fix our broken housing market”. “Whether you’re trying to buy your own home, renting privately and looking for more security, or have been waiting for years on a council list, help is on the way,” she said. The £2 billion will also be used to change housing policy on affordable homes – subtly but importantly – to include funding for ‘social’ as well as ‘affordable’ council homes to rent. Help to buy The additional spending comes after Chancellor…

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    We need a long-term vision and a housing tsar, says Belvoir

    Estate agent franchise group Belvoir has published an open letter to the Prime Minister Theresa May calling for both the appointment of a housing tsar and an ombudsman for tenants. Released today, its Chief Operating Officer Dorian Gonsalves (pictured, right) says the UK needs a cross-party housing tsar to work with industry experts, social housing providers and all housing stake holders to help “create a stable property market with a long-term vision”. Dorian describes new Housing Minister Alok Sharma (pictured, left), MP for Reading West, as “Britain’s sixth since the Tories came into power in 2010” and that on average they only stay in post for 12 months. “I believe that the appointment of a housing tsar, who could work with industry experts and politicians from all parties, and then make recommendations to the new Housing Minister, would be an effective way of increasing market stability, and would be extremely beneficial for the housing industry,” he says. Leave landlords alone Gonsalves says Belvoir has been calling for the current government to encourage rather the alienate landlords, who he says are best placed to provide the extra rented homes “the UK so badly needs”. “It is no longer acceptable to use…

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    General election reduces ALL housing market indicators

    Not many agents have thanked Theresa May for holding a general election during the crucial summer months, and now the extent of the damage being caused by the campaigning is laid bare. All the UK’s housing market health indicators fell last month which, according to NAEA Propertymark which compiled the figures, is “most likely down to uncertainty triggered by the snap General Election starting to take effect, as buyers put their plans on hold until the result is clear”, it says. House hunter number fall This includes the number of house-hunters in the market which fell by 4% to 381 per branch, property supply per branch which dropped by 8% to 36 per branch, and the number sales agreed per branch. This fell from ten per branch in March to eight in April. This is the third April in a row during which politics has conspired to dampen down the housing market after last year’s EU Referendum – which had the hardest impact on the market – and, before that, the 2015 General Election. For example, during the EU Referendum the number of house hunters dropped to 325 per branch, 17% lower than the current figure of 381. “Periods of…

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    Conservative Party Manifesto: Theresa’s 12-point plan for property

    If the expected Conservative victory on June 8th materialises then what should the property industry look forward to (or not) from a renewed Tory administration? The question was answered comprehensively today after Theresa May launched the Conservative Party manifesto, several pages of which are dedicated to the housing market. In summary, the Tories today promised a 12-point property plan, some details of which was specific, others which were not: 12-point plan Reform and modernise the home buying process so it is more efficient and less costly. Crackdown on unfair practices in leasehold, such as escalating ground rents. Improve protections for those who rent, and look at how to increase security for good tenants and how to encourage landlords to offer longer tenancies as standard. Fix the dysfunctional housing market so that homes are more affordable, and that there are enough homes built to meet demand. Bring the cost of renting of down by securing more homes available to rent – a veiled reference to Build to Rent. Support specifically the building of mansion blocks, mews houses and terraced streets – i.e. high quality but high density housing. Build 160,000 homes on government land. Introduce a £23bn National Productivity Fund which…

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