Taking the higher ground rent: How homeowners can stop themselves falling victim to dubious leasehold contracts May 28, 2019 Finally able to buy your first home, you skip away from the rat race that is the rental system, proudly boasting the much-revered title of “homeowner”. And yet, if you’ve bought a leasehold property, it might not be the picket-fenced dream that you’d bargained for. Millions of UK properties, typically flats, are sold as leasehold. This [...]
Sluggish economic growth to continue as demand for lending falls May 28, 2019 The UK economy’s sluggish growth shows no signs of letting up, with all three major lending classes set to grow less than two per cent this year, new figures have revealed. Despite an uptick in real incomes, demand for consumer credit is forecast to grow just 1.6 per cent this year and two per cent [...]
Specialist lender Paragon reports strong mortgage and commercial lending growth despite housing market slowdown May 22, 2019 Specialist lender Paragon reported a first-half profit boost with soaring commercial and mortgage lending volumes in the face of Brexit uncertainty. The bank reported an underlying profits boost of 8.7 per cent to £79.8m in the six months to the end of March. Read more: Paragon boosts lending in buy-to-let and commercial divisions Lending volumes [...]
Property Legal Q&A: I am buying a flat and have been advised that the landlord of the building is missing. Should I be worried? May 21, 2019 Often, where the owner of a flat has not heard from the landlord in a while, they will consider the landlord as “missing” but that may not necessarily be the case. Your solicitor should check what enquiries have been made to try and locate the landlord. For example, the landlord may have died and his [...]
Technology spend knocks Nationwide profit down by 15 per cent May 21, 2019 Nationwide saw its profit fall 15 per cent as the building society’s interest income was squeezed by strong market competition and it splashed out on technology, its full year results revealed today. Read more: Nationwide invests in ex-Barclays CEO's firm to boost business banking The figures The UK stalwart’s profit before tax fell to £833m in the [...]
The Restaurant Group sees sales rocket 57 per cent after Wagamama merger May 17, 2019 Frankie & Benny’s owner The Restaurant Group began to feel the benefits of its controversial Wagamama purchase as sales soared 57 per cent in the year to May. Read more: The Restaurant Group profits fall as like-for-like sales slip Like-for-like sales rose 2.8 per cent, meaning the acquisition of Wagamama for £559m at the end [...]
Why is the mortgage market strangely resistant to technological change? May 16, 2019 Technology is so pervasive that it is easy to forget just how fundamentally it has impacted our lives. In fact, it is hard to think of an area of life that hasn’t been made more accessible, faster or cheaper. Personal finance is no exception. Price comparison websites, mobile banking, and other innovations have all transformed the [...]
UK remortgaging rate jumps as owners cash in on low interest rates May 16, 2019 The number of people remortgaging their homes with additional borrowing spiked in March, according to data released today, as people took advantage of favourable interest rates. Read more: Experts warn of 'bumpy ride' for UK house prices Meanwhile the number of new loans to both movers and first time buyers fell in March year-on-year, figures from [...]
Specialist lenders One Savings Bank and Charter Court both boost loan books ahead of merger May 15, 2019 Challenger banks One Savings Bank and Charter Court have both reported loan book growth ahead of their proposed merger. One Savings Bank reported five per cent loan book growth to £9.4bn in the first quarter of the year, due to strong commercial and residential lending. Read more: One Savings Bank and Charter Court confirm £1.6bn [...]
The big fixer-upper: How to solve the problems in the mortgage market May 15, 2019 We've sent people into space, built driverless cars, and engineered robots that can think like us. And yet, fixing the mortgage approval process still seems out of humanity’s reach. The market is riddled with inefficiencies. Consumers are forced to fill out documents detailing every corner of their lives, while clunky underwriting processes mean that it [...]