INDUSTRY NEWS 15
Developers call for brownfield land release
Releasing more publicly owned brownfield land for development is the biggest oppor- tunity arising from the government’s recently launched Housing White Paper, according to new research among property developers commissioned by Amicus Property Finance. Over two-thirds (69 per cent) of develop-
ers think increasing the availability of brownfield sites will offer the most poten- tial for developers. The proposed reduction in the time
permitted by local authorities to approve planning applications from three to two years (49 per cent), continuation of the Help to Buy scheme (45 per cent) and increasing the focus on building homes in the affordable sector (41 per cent) were the second, third and fourth most popular measures respectively. Despite showing support for elements of
the White Paper, property developers are sceptical of the government’s target to build one million homes by 2020, with just one in five (21 per cent) believing this target to be realistic. Amicus’ research revealed a number of
additional policies property developers would like to see the Government introduce in order to address the housing crisis. 78 per cent called for a repeal of the stamp duty rises and tax relief reductions on landlords, 44 per cent would like to see incentives for elderly people to downsize and free up family homes, 41 per cent think stamp duty should become a “seller’s tax rather than a buyer’s tax,” and 37 per cent recommended a suspension in capital gains tax to encour-
age more land to come to the market. Keith Aldridge, founder and managing
director at Amicus Property Finance, commented: “Property developers appear highly supportive of a number of the ideas in the White Paper, particularly releasing more brownfield land to the market and the greater focus on affordable housing. He concluded: “Though large scale
Government investment plays a part in stimulating supply, developers see the current tax laws as one of the biggest obsta- cles to solving the housing crisis, particularly repealing the recent stamp duty increases for landlords.”
Strong start for 2017 home registrations
Over 42,000 new homes were registered in the UK by NHBC in the first three months of the year, according to figures released at the NHBC’s Q1 statistics briefing. 42,470 new homes were registered in
Q1, an increase of 17 per cent on the 36,351 registered 12 months ago, resulting in the highest quarter in 10 years. For the first time in seven years, all 12
Property developer jailed
A former Ascot-based property developer, Keith Conner, 55, who “hijacked” details of an offshore company and forged documents to commit fraud and evade VAT, has been jailed for three years and seven months. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
investigators discovered that in June 2011 Conner obtained the details of the British Virgin Islands registered company to buy and sell a residential property in Thurloe Square, Kensington, London. Conner then forged a Power of Attorney document to transfer £309,000 profit from the London sale into a company bank account he controlled. A similar property deal in October 2011
involved the purchase and immediate sale of a business property in Earls Court Road, Kensington. Conner again hijacked the details of a company to commit the fraud. None of the profit from either sale was
declared to HMRC, meaning the tax wasn’t paid. As a business property, VAT was due on the Earls Court Road purchase and sale. Connor failed to declare or pay this money to HMRC, evading a total of £150,000 in VAT. Conner also used counterfeit ‘proof of
funds’ letters to carry out the fraud and was also trading while disqualified as a company director. He pleaded guilty to five offences at
Reading Crown Court in January 2016 and was jailed for three years and seven months in April 2017. Sentencing had been delayed to allow
Conner time to sell his Ascot home to pay any future confiscation order, which was set at £640,709 at the sentencing hearing.
regions across the UK experienced growth in registrations, when compared to the same period 12 months ago. The North East (up 39 per cent), London (up 38 per cent) and Eastern (up 31 per cent) were among the regions with the most notable growth. Commenting on the figures, NHBC
managing director Neil Jefferson said: “These figures, which show growth across the entire country, are clearly encouraging for the sector, at a time when there is considerable demand for new, high-quality homes.” Brexit doesn’t appear to have affected
registrations to any long term degree yet, and though numbers haven’t risen back to the highs preceding the 2008 financial crash, the results were almost equal to the long-term average over the last 40 years. It was unclear which way the election
would swing registrations, but past further uncertainty, it was generally agreed across the table that an expected Conservative win was only likely to stabilise the market. Speaking alongside Neil Jefferson and
NHBC business development director Mark Jones, Colin Cole, chief executive of Lioncourt Homes, gave a housebuilder’s perspective on the current market. When asked whether the execution of
Brexit will exacerbate the skills shortage, Cole said he believed that “it might.” “We just have to be careful about
looking two years ahead now,” he said, “It’s all about land buying in the housebuilding industry, and the land we buy today we’ll be building on between 18 months from now and five years.” He revealed the company were treading
careful when looking to the future. “Whereas once we would be buying sites of somewhere between 50 and 150 plots, I’m starting to think I want to buy sites at 50 plots.” “I don’t know all the answers,”
concluded Colin, “I just know there’s something in my mind that makes me think I want to be a bit more careful.”
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