April 2006 - Property News with Bruce de Wert Plenty of news for property owners this month between the Chancellor and the Scottish Parliament. Gordon Brown's Budget, this year, continued his theme of stealthily acquiring more and more of property owner's cash. The headline is that he increased the threshold for Stamp Duty at 1% by £5,000 to £125,000 but what this masks is his failure to increase the thresholds for 2% and 3% rates, at all. The current rates are: -- £0 - £125,000 - nil rate Over £125,000 - £250,000 - 1% Over £250,000 - £500,000 - 3% Over £500,000 - 4% Effectively, this increases the tax take significantly. Whilst it may not affect too many of us in the Far North at this stage, with the rate of house price inflation that we have, it will not be too long before most people will be paying the higher rates. 1% is bad enough but 3% or 4% will hurt. As property owners, you will be delighted to hear that the Scottish Parliament has made it an offence for you, after 30th April, to let a property, without having been registered at www.landlordregistrationscotland.gov.uk. There has been widespread disbelief amongst my clients that this applies to them. It does. The laudable aim is to "ensure that all private landlords are `fit and proper' to be letting residential property". Whether it will do so or not is another question. The good landlords will register but will the bad landlords? On top of this bureaucracy, if your tenant should turn out to be engaging in antisocial behaviour, you will be punished if you do nothing about it. You can be served with an order and your tenant may be able to refuse to pay the rent! In addition, hidden in the small print is a reference to "National Core Standards" which a model landlord is asked to follow. One interesting standard which does not, as yet, have the force of law is the suggestion that you should not discriminate between those who claim Housing Benefit and those who don't. You can be sure that this is just the tip of the iceberg for landlords and I suspect that the only result will be to reduce the supply of homes offered for let. Time will tell. More information is available on the Scottish Executive's web site, www.betterrentingscotland.com. I promised last month to mention something about smaller towns and villages. This has always been a fascinating subject because in such a small area you would have thought that there would be little difference in demand between the various localities. Nothing could be further from the truth. Certain towns such as Lybster and Latheron have seen an amazing increase in demand and prices recently, mostly from incomers, and, yet, other towns such as Castletown have seen little of such increases. It is difficult to generalise but it comes down to the different markets operating in the area. There is the commuter belt which is defined by the distance that an incoming recruit to Dounreay will be prepared to travel to work. One cannot make a hard and fast rule but it certainly goes as far as Dunnet and Bettyhill, whilst I have experienced resistance to anything beyond Halkirk. On the other hand, there is the incomers' town market which has more to do with a wish to live in a quiet, safe environment but with facilities, such as shops and Banks, within walking distance. When marketing a property, I always think of whom it is that is likely to buy it and adjust the particulars to attract that buyer. Is it a science or an art? There are some who would put down all Estate Agency practice to the black arts! I promised more on the Purchasers Information Pack but there has been insufficient space and this will have to wait until next month. Anyone who would like to comment or for this column to touch on any particular matter, please email me on bruce.de.wert@georgesons.co.uk. Bruce de Wert has 25 years of experience and is now Principal Solicitor and Estate Agent at Georgesons, Wick and Thurso. < Back to Property News