HOMES & GARDENS / PROPERTY
MARKET READY
GET Beating emissions Getting your home ready for the spring
property market, why we’re facing an insulation crisis, local news plus property of the month
I
f you’re thinking of putting your home on the market this spring or summer and want to increase its ‘kerb appeal’, or simply feel like a spring clean, now is the time to get started. There are some surprisingly simple ways to make the process much smoother – they all just require a little bit of forward planning. First impressions really do count, and
while there’s likely no time for major refurbishments, doing those minor repairs and touch-ups that you’ve been putting off will make your home look fresh and desirable to potential buyers. It may not seem entirely worthwhile now that you’re on the move, but small improvements like refreshing your front door with a lick of paint, replacing caulk and grout in your bathroom or changing door knobs will smarten up your property no end.
This time of year is ideal for brightening
up your front garden with window boxes, hanging baskets, and troughs and tubs planted with colourful bedding plants. Outdoor spaces can be very attractive to buyers, and if your garden looks green and alluring, it can only be a plus. Prune back shrubs and bushes and mow that lawn! A front garden can add considerable value to your home if it’s made into off-street parking, especially in the more expensive
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urban areas. Planning permission is sometimes required to do this, or there may be planning restrictions on things like the size and materials used. With or without off- street parking, you can create an attractive, low-maintenance front garden with gravel, pebbles or slate chips, combined with plants.
Attack the clutter
While buyers don’t expect to see a perfect show home, clearing up the clutter will give them a better chance of projecting the lifestyle they might imagine for themselves onto your property – and that applies to both indoors and out. Start going through the shelves, draws and cupboards and those places where you tend to stuff paperwork and other non-essential bits and bobs. And packing away some of what’s left after your declutter will make your house look bigger and neater for when the viewings begin. It’s also an ideal time to tackle the attic, basement and garage to assess what you’ve got stored in there and whether you still need them in your next home.
Though selling your home is never
stress-free, if you start laying the groundwork with simple steps now you’ll feel ready to take on all those viewings!
More than one home every minute will need to be refurbished in the UK between now and 2050, experts warn following a report to Parliament highlighting that 25 million existing homes will not meet the insulation standards required by mid-century. The UK needs to cut carbon emissions by 80% by then – and a third of those emissions come from heating draughty buildings. The report from a group of leading construction fi rms – the Green Building Council (GBC) – says four out of fi ve homes that will be occupied in 2050 have already been built.
That means 25 million homes
need refurbishing to the highest standards by 2050 – at a rate of 1.4 homes every minute. There have been calls for successive
Governments to impose a national programme of home renovation, which would save on bills and improve people’s health, comfort and happiness. It would also create thousands of jobs. Julie Hirigoyen, Head of the GBC,
is reported as saying that there was a great prize to be grasped in upgrading building stock: “People will have warmer homes and lower bills; they will live longer, happier lives; we will be able to address climate change and carbon emissions. We will also be creating many thousands of jobs and exporting our best skills in innovation.”
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