Q&A: Five minutes with Andrew Flint

Q&A: Five minutes with Andrew Flint

Andrew panoramic

Andrew qualified as a solicitor in 1988 and has been a partner at Colman Coyle since 1991. Andrew undertakes a wide variety of property work from the smallest of studio flats to the grandest of houses. As the UK property market recently experienced record highs in activity prior to the stamp duty deadline, and more uncertainty around mortgage rates, we sit down with Andrew to hear his thoughts and ask a series of questions on his career to date.

According to Hamptons, property sellers during last year’s house price boom made an average profit of £95,360 equal to a 46% gain on the original value. Given your experience, where do you think the UK property market will go in 2022?

The SDLT holiday of 2021 generated unprecedented levels of property transactions. This created a boom market for sellers with the Halifax house price index showing a 9.8 percent increase last year. This is the biggest annual rise since 2004 when prices rose by 12.4%. Now that this has finished most experts predict that the market will settle down particularly in light of higher mortgage rates and a general hike in the cost of living that will have an impact on mortgage affordability. Experts also predict that there will still be house price growth but at nothing like the rate of 2021 largely due to the lack of supply.

Nationwide has recently increased its mortgage rates by up to 0.45% in response to the base rate rise. Do you think further mortgage rises are coming in 2022?

Experts believe that the only way is up, particularly because inflation is at its highest rate for ten years. The Bank of England’s decision to increase the base rate in December 2021 is already having an impact on mortgage rates but current mortgage rate increases will add a relatively small amount to monthly payments for those with variable rate mortgages. There will of course be more of a squeeze on households if there are other rate hikes later in the year. Those with fixed rate mortgages will of course be protected until their fixed term expires.

What made you chose a career in property law?

I joined Colman Coyle in 1987 and it soon became clear that residential conveyancing was the right fit for me, and I have been doing it ever since.

Have you always been interested in the UK property market?

Property has always interested me, and I am always keen to see details of the properties that my clients are buying and selling. As with many people I know, browsing Rightmove has almost become a hobby!

Andrew has a loyal customer base who often return to Colman Coyle. What makes you go that extra mile for clients?

Buying a property is usually the largest financial transaction a person will ever undertake. It can be stressful process at times particularly if a client is involved in a chain where there is so much that is beyond our control. To enable transactions to progress as smoothly as possible, it pays to be highly organised as I will be acting for many clients at any given time, all at different stages of their transactions. This and good communication are the keys in my opinion to successful conveyancing.

Do you have a favourite transaction?

Any transaction that exchanges and completes!

You can read more about Andrew’s work and profile here. If you are interested in our conveyancing services and would like a quote, please contact Andrew on +44 (0)20 7354 3000 or andrew.flint@colmancoyle.com.  

Lenders relaxing rules on indemnity insurance for local searches

Lenders relaxing rules on indemnity insurance for local searches

Since the COVID pandemic began the processing of local searches by local authorities has slowed considerably and, in some cases, has ground to a halt.

An alternative to a full local search result is the availability of indemnity insurance but most lenders will only accept indemnity insurance on re-mortgage cases. However, due to the delays that are being experienced, some lenders are changing their policies and will allow indemnity policies to be taken out on purchases as well provided:

  1. The title is good and marketable
  2. The lender is fully protected
  3. The client is aware of the risks of proceeding without the result of a local search

The risk to buyers is that they will be buying without the benefit of seeing a full local search result and will not be aware of any adverse entries that might otherwise be revealed. Whilst the indemnity insurance may provide insurance cover, it will not take away the inconvenience and hassle that an adverse entry may bring and could hinder any future sale until the issue has been resolved.

It is possible that the relaxation of the rules may be time limited but if the vast majority of mortgage lenders adopt this approach, it will certainly free up some log jams that are currently occurring in the property market.

Andrew

Andrew Flint

Partner

Leasehold Reform

Leasehold Reform

The Law Commission has published its leasehold reform report and amongst its recommendations are the following:

  1. An improved form of Commonhold ownership. Commonhold was introduced about twenty years ago but never took off. It enables leaseholders to own the freeholds of their flat with the rest of the building owned and jointly managed by the leaseholders via a commonhold association.

2. To allow leaseholders of houses and flats to extend their leases for 990 years instead of the current 50 and 90 years.

3. An improved Right to Manage process, including the removal of the requirement of the leaseholders to pay the freeholder’s costs of an RTM claim.

 These proposals are now with the Government, who will decide which ones will make it on to the statute book.

Andrew

Andrew Flint

Partner

Capital Gains tax changes for residential property

Capital Gains tax changes for residential property

A reminder that the rules for paying Capital Gains tax after selling qualifying residential property are changing from 6th April 2020.

From this date, any UK resident must inform HMRC about the gain and the tax must be paid within 30 days of completion.

This represents quite a shift from the current regime where tax is paid in accordance with self-assessment deadlines.

Andrew

Andrew Flint

Partner

Stamp duty surcharge for overseas buyers in 2020 budget

Stamp duty surcharge for overseas buyers in 2020 budget

The Chancellor has announced in his budget of 11th March that there will be a 2% stamp duty surcharge on the purchase of property by non-resident overseas buyers.

The change will come into effect on 1 April 2021 and is payable in addition to the three percent surcharge that may already be payable if those buyers already own other property.

Despite speculation about other changes to the stamp duty regime that might have been made, particularly in relation to first-time buyers, this is the only change that was announced.

Andrew

Andrew Flint

Partner

Digital mortgage services reaches milestone

Digital mortgage services reaches milestone

The Land Registry has announced that the 7000th re-mortgage deed was signed and registered digitally in February 2020. This follows the registration of the first digital mortgage in April 2018.

This service was introduced by the Land Registry to reduce paperwork and speed up the re-mortgage process.

The service is currently only available for people re-mortgaging their property with no immediate plans to expand to all mortgages until further testing is complete.

Andrew

Andrew Flint

Partner

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