North London Estate Agents and World Cup Fever

Primrose Hill Letting & Estate Agents: North London Estate Agents and World Cup Fever

London Theatres Offer A Night Less Ordinary

Despite London theatre’s reputation for pricey tickets and an older audience, thousands of free theatre tickets for a selection of London shows are being offered to young people, that’s anyone under 26 year old.

Hampstead Theatre has clubbed together with 11 of London’s most exciting theatres to offer you lots of ‘nights less ordinary’ across the capital.

The Almeida Theatre, Battersea Arts Centre, Bush Theatre, Donmar Warehouse, Greenwich Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith, Royal Court, Soho Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Tricycle Theatre and the Young Vic have joined up to offer under 26’s a huge choice of truly great nights out at the theatre.

Through this group, you can discover some of the best performances that London has to offer, from up-and-coming new talent and stage and screen’s most famous faces. These theatres also have some of the most stylish cafes and buzzing bars in town – great for hanging out with your friends, people-watching and star-spotting.

Councils New Powers Against Garden Grabbing

Councils and communities are being given new powers to prevent the destructive practice of ‘garden grabbing’ and to decide what types of homes are suitable for their area, Decentralisation Minister Greg Clark announced today.

Over the last decade, many councils have been left frustrated at being unable to prevent a dramatic increase in the number of new houses being built on previously residential land such as people’s back gardens – up from one in ten to one in four between 1997 and 2008.

Planning guidance has classified gardens as previously residential land’, in the same Brownfield category as derelict factories and disused railway sidings, robbing communities of green breathing space, safe places for children to play and havens for urban wildlife.

Mr Clark is today unveiling plans to take gardens out of the Brownfield category, a simple step that will dramatically transform councils’ ability to prevent unwanted development on gardens where local people object and protect the character of their neighbourhoods.

Recent government figures suggest the proportion of houses built on previously residential land, such as gardens, increased from one in 10 in 1997 to one in four in 2008.

New build statistics show the decline in the number of houses built has largely been for 4+ bed houses, with small declines in 2 and 3 bed houses. There has been a corresponding proportionate increase in 2 bed flats

SOME GARDEN-GRABBING HOTSPOTS

Bournemouth (60%)
Winchester (59%)
Guildford (56%)
Weymouth and Portland (54%)
Camden (50%)
Kingston-upon-Thames (49%)
Mansfield (46%)
Harrogate (45%)
Blackpool (44%)
Source: Proportion of new dwellings built on previously residential land between 2005 and 2008 in certain towns (DCLG)

Foreign Buy to Let Investors In London

London is increasingly popular among foreign buy-to-let investors, and not simply because the rental sector is seen as lucrative, but also because it is seen as a safe investment option, reports the RLA News Service. Savills recently released statistics show a marked rise in the number of foreign clients looking to invest in residential rental properties. Approximately 55% of all sales and purchases of London-area properties involved foreign landlords and investors, according to Savills’ calculations. This represents near record levels, considering that at the height of the property boom, in 2007, just under half (45%) of all transactions were initiated by foreign investors.

In addition to London being seen as a safe investment opportunity, it is noted that the drop in the pound’s value, as well as lower prices following the economic crisis of autumn 2008 may have helped attract new investors from continental Europe and further afield, particularly in Asia and the Middle East.

Another factor which makes London attractive to international buy-to-let investors are continued low interest rates. This has made areas of Central London particularly appealing to foreign buyers. Residential property values have also shown positive signs of growth and recovery, even though increases over the past two months were relatively modest. The price of an average home in London, however, is now 8.5% higher than it was this time in 2009, and increased by an additional 0.2% this past April.

Forgotten Spaces: Camden Gateway by 11.04 Architects

Once a dignified town space, the gateway to North London’s Camden Town is now poorly maintained, little used, and almost unrecognisable as a civic place. However, it has potential as an urban leisure site, and would do much to improve the experience, and remove the congestion for the 100,000 weekly visitors to Camden Town.

Most arrive by tube at Camden Town Station. The scheme by 11.04 Architects encourages them to also arrive at the less crowded Mornington Crescent Station down the road, thereby reducing congestion and boosting footfall to the southern section of Camden High Street.

The scheme also redraws the space, incorporating a performance plinth for buskers, a pleached hornbeam crescent for shade and atmosphere, and urban seating in crescent-shaped granite blocks to encourage congregation. The area is also one of London’s adult playgrounds and the new space is expected to be used at night time when it will be appropriately lit.

Camden Architects

Blanket WiFi Coverage Promise for London

The BBC reported yesterday that Boris Johnson has said that London will get a blanket wi-fi coverage by the time of the 2012 Olympics, with the internet available everywhere.The London Mayor said his vision was that “every lamppost, every bus stop” in the capital would offer wireless internet access.

So far 22 London boroughs have signed up for the Project WiFi scheme, but no pricing plan has been announced. The mayor was speaking at a Google event in Hertfordshire.
A similar scheme in the City of London already offers people internet access anywhere.

Mr Johnson also spoke about an upcoming app for Apple’s iPhone, which will show locations of cycles for the London bike hire scheme.”Not only can you see where the bikes are, but you will also be able to tell how many bikes the local yobbos have left there,” he said.The bike hire scheme, which involves cycle docking stations throughout the capital, is due to launch this summer.

Londoners Optimistic Despite Economic Gloom

The BBC is reporting on the 2010 Annual London Survey carried out by BMG Research; Londoners are feeling safer, more optimistic and more satisfied living in the capital now than at any other time in the last decade.

Despite the economic gloom of 2009, the 10th Annual London Survey published on Wednesday, also reveals a growing satisfaction with policing and an increased positivity about the benefits of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games on London.The survey reveals 83% of Londoners are satisfied with the capital as a place to live, compared to 75% in 2000.

Eighty-five per cent are happy with their neighbourhoods and over three quarters feel safe walking alone at night, a figure that has steadily increased over the last 10 years.

Interest Only Post Office Mortgages Help First Time Buyer

The Post Office has stepped up its attempt to become one of the UK’s biggest mortgage lenders, the BBC reports. It is offering a mortgage deal that requires just a 10% deposit. Unusually, the deal is available on an “interest-only” basis as well as the normal “capital-and-interest” repayment method.

This will make it cheaper and easier for some borrowers to afford the initial repayments. The interest charged by the Post Office on its two-year fixed rate, at 90% LTV, is 5.45%.However, its base-rate tracker at 5.49% is set at a margin of 4.99% over the Bank of England’s base rate, with no cap or ceiling.

A spokeswoman explained that while being offered “interest only” deals, borrowers would still have to show they could eventually repay the capital as well.
“We ask all the usual questions any responsible provider would, for example assessing the value of the property, credit history, employment status and salary, plus customers are required to provide details of their repayment plan in order to ensure the loan can be repaid,” she said.

“Importantly, each application with the Post Office will be manually underwritten which means it is assessed by a fully qualified human being, not a computer,” she added.

Fall in Repossessions; No Time for Complacency

Maida Vale Letting & Estate Agents: Fall in Repossessions; No Time for Complacency

Buy to Let Lending Remains Steady

Data published today by the CML shows that buy-to-let activity in the first three months of this year settled back to former levels, following a modest upturn in house purchase by investors at the end of last year triggered by the stamp duty holiday. As a result, the number of buy-to-let loans declined by 15% to 22,000 in the first three months of 2010. Over the same period, the value of lending also declined, by 12% to £2.1 billion.

Leaving aside the impact of the stamp duty holiday, however, buy-to-let lending has now remained broadly flat over each of the last five quarters. Compared to the first quarter of 2009, the value of buy-to-let lending in the first three months of this year is unchanged, while the number of loans declined by just 2%.

Low interest rates are continuing to contribute to a modest improvement in buy-to-let arrears. At the end of March, the number of loans with arrears of more than 1.5% of the mortgage balance totalled 19,300 (1.56% of all buy-to-loans), compared with 20,700 (1.69% of loans) at the end of 2009, and 28,800 (2.47% of loans) a year ago. The number of buy-to-let properties taken into possession in the first quarter of 2010 totalled 1,400, an increase from 1,200 taken into possession in the preceding three months but unchanged from the total a year ago. Meanwhile, cases where a receiver of rent had been appointed totalled 11,200 at the end of March, down from 11,900 three months earlier but up from 9,200 a year ago. These cases are similar in many ways to a lender taking possession of a mortgaged property, with the landlord being removed and the receiver collecting rent and passing it on to the lender to apply to mortgage payments.

Commenting on the figures, the CML’s director general Michael Coogan said:

“Ignoring the effect of the stamp duty holiday, the lending figures show that the buy-to-let market has settled into a period of stable, low-volume activity. Generally, prospects for the rental market are good. But uncertainty over house prices, interest rates and the availability of mortgage funding is continuing to hold back the buy-to-let market at this stage.

“We also want to see how the new coalition government takes forward the Treasury’s initiative to encourage higher investment in the private rented sector, bearing in mind the scope for growth that exists to meet future demand from tenants. There is a case for targeted measures in the Budget, even though the primary focus will be the fiscal deficit.”