The Autumn Statement and Residential Property

New spending on housing projects totalling £3.7bn in England has been announced by the chancellor in the Autumn Statement.
£2.3bn is going to be spent on infrastructure (such as roads) in relation to housing developments. This will obviously make it easier and cheaper to build homes and boost this sector, meaning more properties overall and (in theory) lower prices.

The chancellor has said the funding will help support the building of up to 100,000 new homes.

The government has also agreed to spend an extra £1.4bn on affordable housing in England, which would fall into categories such as Affordable Rent, Shared Ownership or Rent to Buy.

This is expected to lead to 40,000 more affordable homes being built.

Paul Berry, Head of Residential Property says “There still seems to be a big demand for property. We’re certainly as busy as ever in the Residential Property Department and prices don’t seem to be going down any time soon.”

Hopefully these will be Freehold properties, moving away from the recent trend of Leasehold houses, where the “buyer” essentially takes a lease over a new build house (albeit for 999 years maybe) with a ground rent that could be several hundred pounds, and depending upon the lease, potentially doubling every 10 years causing substantial problems in years to come.

MORE INFORMATIONIf you are buying a residential property, whether it is a primary or second home, contact our Residential Property Department for further information on our services. Contact 01708 229444 or mail@pinneytalfourd.co.uk to speak to a member of the team at any of our offices in Brentwood, Hornchurch and Upminster. We are also able to see clients in Leigh on Sea.

This article was written by Paul Berry, Head of our Residential Property Department at Pinney Talfourd Solicitors. The contents of this article are for the purposes of general awareness only. They do not purport to constitute legal or professional advice. Specific legal advice should be taken on each individual matter. This article is based on the law as at November 2016.