The new tax year is almost upon us and now would be an excellent time to organise your tax affairs and to plan for additional changes to the tax treatment of mortgage interest. The phasing out of mortgage interest relief for buy to let landlords was first announced in the 2015 Budget. It will restrict the amount that landlords...

The number of first-time buyers hit the highest level for a decade in 2017 while lending for buy-to-let has gone into retreat, according to official figures. A total of 365,000 buyers took ownership of their first home last year, an increase of 7.4% on 2016 and the highest number since 2006, said UK Finance, the trade body for Britain’s...

For a significant period of time, using an ombudsman has been a successful way of resolving complaints with a property firm without having to go to court. However, the Ombudsman Services (OS) announced yesterday that it is withdrawing from complaints handling in the property sector. Instead, it will be launching a dialogue with consumers in an attempt to tackle...

When the Government announced reforms to the benefit system to a single payment called Universal Credit (UC) it had a basic premise, to be a benefit which helps the unemployed to become employed and to support the under-employed to become employed full time. In order to achieve this, the benefit is paid monthly like a wage, including help for...

In the recent Autumn Budget 2017Chancellor Philip Hammond announced the axing of stamp duty charges for first-time buyers who purchase a property with immediate effect. What this means is that first-time buyers will not have to pay stamp duty on the first £300,000 of any home that costs up to £500,000. The Treasury estimates that this move will mean...