News ReseaRch
Goodbroadbandessential forhousehunters
Agood broadbandconnectionnow topsoff-street parkingand access to localamenities as oneofthe vitaldecidingfactors forpeople buyinganewhome,accordingtoa study of Britishhomebuyers. Oneinten house-hunters
admitted they havewalkedaway fromproperties with poor internet connections,whileone in five has checked broadbandspeedswhen evaluatingahome. Thefindings arethe result of
anationwidestudy of morethan 2,000homebuyerscarried out by
broadbandchoices.co.uk and property expert,Henry Pryor. In the study, knowing that a property hadgood broadbandspeeds wasroutinely ranked as more importantthantraditional selling pluspointssuchasoff-street parking, accesstoamenities like shopsand alocalpub –and even proximitytoadoctors’surgery. TheUKgovernmentrecently
legal
squattingin residential propertybecamea criminal offencefor thefirst timeinengland andwalesfrom1september.squatting in commercial premises will remaina
civilmatter.theoffence, introducedby section144of thelegal aid,sentencing andPunishmentofoffendersact,willbe punishable by amaximumprisontermof upto sixmonths,amaximum£5,000fine, orboth. thechangefollows a consultationlast
squattinGisnowa CriminaloffenCe
summer,which received2,217responses, thevastmajority ofwhichopposedthe change.buttheministry ofJusticesaidthat 1,990ofthoseresponseshadbeengenerated byacampaignledbythesquattersactionfor
securehomes.anewguidanceleaflethas beenissuedbygovernmentgivingadviceon dealingwithsquatters. todownloadacopy goto:
www.communities.gov.uk/documents/ housing/pdf/2208971.pdf
legal ProPertymanaGerProseCutedforfraud
Former propertymanagerSimon VonHoutenwas sentencedto 30monthsinprisoninJulyfor fraud. VonHouten, aformer employee of propertymanagers Rendall&Rittner cheatedthe companybyraising invoices for maintenanceworkswhichwere
Flat Living Autumn2012
nevercarried outand usingthe money to finance hisownluxury lifestyle. Thescamwas successful fortwoyearsuntil suspicionswere raised over thesizeofthe bills facing unsuspecting residents. VanHouten, aformerParish councillor forPagleshamin Essex,
pleadedguilty at the Old Bailey where, the judge Sir Geoffrey Nice in passingsentencesaid“This wasaserious fraud, andinlarge part it is unexplained. You had areasonableincomeand, as is clearfrom themanytestimonials that I’ve read, you had friends
andactivitiesinlifethatgaveyou reason to be content”.Rendall and Rittner have reimbursed theresidents affectedbyVon Houten’s fraudulent activities andcommented that they were “delighted”hehad been successfully prosecuted.
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announceda£114minvestment in broadbandacrosskey cities tomake Britain’s broadbandthe fastest in Europe by 2015.But at present broadbandspeed varies greatlyacrossthe country, and these variations are having a huge impact on the propertymarket. MilesShipside, director of
Rightmovesaid: “Inthisdigital age, afastbroadband connection is becoming moreandmore importantfor home-hunters. Peopledon’t just rely onagood internet connection forbrowsing theweb,but also television entertainment andworking from home. “Asthe consumer technologies
whichrelyoninternetconnection in thehomeexpand, theneed for astronginternetconnectionwill be added to moreandmore home moverwish-lists.” To provehowimportantbuyers consider a good broadband service,
oneinfive (19%)ofnewmovers revealed they arranged an internet provider before connecting gas (10%)orTV(8%). In fact,setting upabroadband
connectionwassecond only to findinganewelectricitysupplier. Theresearchalsofound that over athird of househunters (35%) thinkestateagentsshouldinclude broadbandspeedsinproperty adverts. In response to thefindings,
broadbandchoices.co.uk has launchedapostcode searchtool, whichletshomebuyerscheck the availablebroadband packages by priceand speed,sopeoplehavean idea ofwhat they will have to pay andthe speedstheycan expect. It also tellsusers if theirchosen postcode has accesstosuperfast fibre opticservices alongside standardADSL
packages.This canbefound on thehomepageat:
www.broadbandchoices.co.uk
Business
firm CrabtreePropertyManagement has become the first non-law firm in theUKproperty sector to set up a legal services company, using thenew AlternativeBusiness Structure(ABS).London-based Crabtreewas grantedits licence by theSolicitorsRegulation Authority earlier this year and CrabtreeLaw LLP begantrading on
1September.The only other non-lawyer business offering legal services underthe ABSstructure is thought to be the Co-Operative whichestablished alegal division in 2006. Thefirm,headedupbyIn-house
Crabtree ProPerty launCheslaw
lawyer, James Naylor is offering afixed-feepropertylitigation servicetobothexistingand newclients in response towhat Jamesdescribes as demand for“a modest andmorecertain cost”. Thecompany is likelytoadd additionalservices in future if the demand is
there.The response to thenew business hasbeenvery positive in its first fewweeks of trading, says James. He believes Crabtree’s existing clients will be more inclined to instruct a law firmthat they already feel they know andcan trust, duetotheir existing relationship with the propertymanagement business. Crabtreecurrentlymanagesa portfolio of more than 17,000 unitsinLondon andthe Southof England.
James naylor
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