Surrey Homes | SH79 | August 2021 | Adding value to your property supplement inside

Financial Advice
Three experts in their field talk us through changes to residential leasehold
legislation, property investments and retirement planning
PROPERTY
What does the Leasehold
Reform Bill mean for you?
Alison Sparks, Partner
Property Dispute Resolution at
Thomson Snell & Passmore,
talks us through the facts
The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill was
introduced to Parliament on 12 May 2021, with
the intention of reforming the current legislation to
make it easier and less costly for residential leaseholders to
extend the term of their lease and/or to acquire the freehold.
In recent years many leases have included higher annual
ground rents as well as provision for the rent to be reviewed
at regular intervals. The leaseholder, having already paid
a premium for the lease, is then faced with an escalating
annual ground rent which can often make it difficult
to mortgage the property or sell it going forward.
The purpose of the Bill is to make leasehold ownership
fairer and more affordable for leaseholders by restricting
the annual ground rent payable to a peppercorn or nil.
The Bill makes provision for leaseholders to recover
unlawfully charged ground rent plus interest through
the First Tier Tribunal. Further, the Bill places a duty
on trading standards authorities in England and Wales
to take enforcement action where a prohibited rent has
been charged. Where a breach occurs, the enforcement
authority has power to impose a financial penalty subject
to a minimum of £500 and a maximum of £5,000.
The Bill is the first part of two part legislation to reform
the leasehold system. We await the second part, which
aims to make the statutory process for enfranchisement
and lease extension easier and more affordable.
If you have any questions about how the Bill may
impact you, get in touch with Thomson Snell &
Passmore’s team of expert lawyers ts-p.co.uk
PROPERTY
Who can help me
invest in property?
The team at Buy To Let Hunter
explain how they can be of assistance
What do Buy to Let Hunter do? The Buy To Let
Hunter team seeks out properties for clients with money to
invest in real estate but without the time or experience to
confidently make these big decisions unassisted.
We have a sister company, Smarter Rent, who
can then mange these properties if required.
How does it work? We search in carefully selected
dormitory suburbs for the perfect accommodation to
purchase for each client, one which we know will then
slot in to the serviced accommodation market – these
properties will gradually increase in value over time and
bring in a fabulous annual return in the short term.
Why is now a good time to invest in Buy to Let
Properties? We can see that house prices are clearly rising.
Serviced accommodation is also incredibly attractive at the
moment – for staycations, but also for families refurbishing
their homes locally, those who are moving to the area or are on
a work contract, and people who have sold their homes and
are waiting for the perfect new property free from a chain.
Why use BTLH? We believe the combination of
the niche services we offer creates the ideal investment
model – best of all, we take all the responsibility for the
search, redecorating, furnishing and management of the
property out of your hands. You can just sit back and enjoy
the surety of investing in bricks and mortar, confident
that someone else will take care of everything else.
How much do your services cost and what’s
the deal going forward? We charge £2,500 plus
VAT for a property search of which half is paid upfront
and half is paid on completion. If you then choose to use
Smarter Rent to manage your property the fees are 15%
plus VAT of the rental income. There may be expenses
for furnishing and decorating and incidental repairs but
obviously that is all an investment in your property.
Can BTLH help you find the perfect property?
Call 020 7550 9396 or visit buytolethunter.com
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