8 minute read
Spotlight Area Focus Hammersmith
It’s happening in Hammersmith
Hammersmith is a hive of regeneration activity. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, regeneration chiefs are forging ahead with plans to revitalise parts of the borough, including a scheme to breathe new life into the western end of King Street.
Patricia Bench, BID Director at Hammersmith BID commented: “Both these ambitious developments reinforce the BID’s continuous work to support the businesses already in the town centre, and to encourage more organisations to move here.
We’re extremely proud of Hammersmith’s strong credentials in retail, culture and our creative industries. The BID’s fourth term, due to commence on 1 April 2021, comes at an excellent time for us to continue to provide a sustainable framework to underpin this growth.”
“West London Local Chambers is proud to deliver Chamber services to companies in the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham working closely with both the excellent local authority and BIDs. This is a crucial time, especially for small companies, to have access to local support to survive and grow plus receive assistance for international trade and export documentation which only Chambers can deliver” says Alan Rides Chamber Managing Director
The planning committee at Hammersmith & Fulham Council originally gave the green light to the proposals in February 2019. As part of the plans, the historic grade II-listed town hall building will be transformed into an energyefficient civic campus at the heart of the community. Construction work has started on the new Civic Campus after the demolition work on the old Town Hall Extension was completed. Building work is now starting on the new genuinely affordable homes and the cinema site on the corner of Nigel Playfair Avenue and King Street, as well as the renovation of the town hall.
The plans also include startup space for the borough’s entrepreneurs, homework space for local schoolchildren and a new fourscreen cinema with room for cafes, shops and restaurants built on the existing cinema and car park site.
More than 200 new homes – over one half of which have been classified as affordable – will be built, while new community art and event spaces will be erected, including a new public space for performances and events in front of the restored town hall.
Hammersmith & Fulham Council said opening up the town hall to the public, local start-up businesses and partner agencies would support the council’s mission to deliver the best public services as part of its industrial strategy.
Councillor Andrew Jones, cabinet member for the economy at the council, says: “The redevelopment of King Street, and the town hall in particular, will bring people into the area for a variety of reasons. “Affordable housing will be a great attraction for some, and from a business perspective it will be a fantastic place for incubating start-ups.
“As part of our industrial strategy we want to draw in large companies, such as hedge funds and pharmaceutical firms, and this creates opportunities for smaller firms in the supply chain. “In Hammersmith we have an ecosystem that’s attractive for global firms and we have excellent connectivity in a geographical and digital sense. A lot of companies are incorporating digital within their operations and this is helping them to gain a competitive advantage in their respective marketplaces.
“Going forward, we have to build on our best business assets, which include our arts, creative media and retail industries. These sectors are really important to us. It’s fantastic that Hammersmith & Fulham Council is working with the Chamber of Commerce once again, via West London Local Chambers, to ensure businesses survive this COVID crisis and get through to the other side intact.”
In a separate regeneration scheme, retail giant IKEA UK is set to open a new store in the King’s Mall in Hammersmith. The move is part of a strategy by the firm’s owner, Ingka Group, to bring the IKEA brand to city centres around the world.
At the time of the announcement of the plan last year, Peter Jelkeby, country retail manager and chief sustainability officer at IKEA UK & Ireland, said: “Our plan to open a new city centre store in Hammersmith is an exciting next step as we continue to respond to people’s evolving shopping habits, making IKEA more convenient than ever before.
Residential Sales, Lettings & Auctions
If you are looking to sell your home look no further, our sales & lettings staff have in excess of 45 years' experience in finding properties ranging from individual flats to large family homes for prospective buyers and those looking to rent in and around the West London area. We are confident we can do the same for you.
We have gained a reputation for a high quality service through, trust, professionalism and a sound local knowledge. Our office is strategically placed in Hammersmith to cover West London property and beyond. This allows us the flexibility of effectively managing our current diverse portfolios. For further assistance please contact;
For any help or advice relating to these services, please get in touch with William Taper | Telephone: 020 8222 9958 | sales@willmotts.com
Willmott House, 12 Blacks Road, London W6 9EU T: 020 8222 9958 E: info@willmotts.com W: www.willmotts.com
Hammersmith Property Market Is it Time to Stamp Out Stamp Duty?
Most people pay Stamp Duty Tax when they buy a property, house, apartment or other land and buildings over a particular price in the UK. The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak (quickly followed suit by the Welsh and Scottish Governments), announced last July that Stamp Duty was partially being suspended on all English property transactions up to £500,000 (£250,000 in Wales and Scotland) - a Stamp Duty Holiday.
That meant only 1 in 8 English buyers would pay any Stamp Duty Tax on their home purchase (if it was over £500,000), saving any buyer up to £15,000 in tax on the purchase. The problem is the property needs to have been purchased and bought by the 31st March 2021. Complete the transaction a day later, and those buyers will have to pay Stamp Duty.
The issue is local authorities are snowed under with local search requests, mortgage companies and conveyancing staff are working from home, so property transactions are taking much, much longer. This means many Hammersmith (and UK) buyers who have currently sold (subject to contract) will miss out on the stamp duty saving.
Most (not all) estate agents have been warning the buyers and sellers in their property chains that some deals might not make the 31st March 2021 deadline and pleasingly, most people aren’t moving because of the Stamp Duty Holiday (they are moving because they need extra space because of the pandemic). However, it only takes one person in the chain not to be ‘singing off the same hymn sheet’ for the whole chain to collapse … so keep in touch with your estate agent.
A campaign by one of the national newspapers and an online petition to extend the stamp duty holiday has meant the topic could be debated in Parliament in the next few weeks, after 100,000 home buyers and sellers signed that petition, asking for an additional six-month Stamp Duty Holiday. The home buyers and sellers are worried the property market will collapse after March 31st when the Stamp Duty Holiday is removed.
The last time British home buyers were conscious of upcoming Stamp Duty changes, it distorted the number of properties sold. The bigger question though is, did it change the overall number of people moving home? In November 2015, the then Chancellor, George Osborne, announced in his Autumn Statement that buy to let landlords would have to pay an additional 3% in Stamp Duty (over and above owner occupiers) for all property bought after the 1st April 2016. As shown in the graph below, this caused a surge in property buying (which we have seen since this summer with the Stamp Duty Holiday), with many Hammersmith buy to let landlords completing their property purchase in March 2016, as they dashed to complete their property purchase before the tax increase.
With the average value of a Hammersmith home at £946,300, the stamp duty cost if the sale is delayed after the 31st March 2021 is an additional £15,000
My advice to all buyers and sellers is to be constantly talking to your estate agent, your solicitor and your mortgage broker. With your estate agent to ascertain if they have asked every person (or asked the other agents in the chain to ask the question), “What if we don’t meet the stamp duty deadline?” With your mortgage broker and solicitor to give them all the information they need to ensure there are no delays with any information they request from you.
Residential Sales, Lettings & Auctions
Willmotts Est. 1856, provide an award winning Estate Agent and Letting Agent, service in Hammersmith, London W6. Winning best Sales & Lettings for 6 years in a row, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 & 2015. If you are looking to sell your home look no further, our sales & lettings staff have in excess of 45 years' experience in finding properties ranging from individual flats to large family homes for prospective buyers and those looking to rent in and around the West London area. We are confident we can do the same for you. We have gained a reputation for a high quality service through, trust, professionalism and a sound local knowledge. Our office is strategically placed in Hammersmith to cover West London property and beyond. This allows us the flexibility of effectively managing our current diverse portfolios. For further assistance please contact;
Call Willmotts for property advice or informationFor any help or advice relating to these services, please get in touch with Rentals, Lettings, Management & InvestmentsWilliam Taper | Telephone: 020 8222 9958 | sales@willmotts.com info@willmotts.com or call 020 8222 9958
