Marlborough News January 2015 OnTheMarket is the brand new website rivalling Rightmove and Zoopla/Prime Location which launched on Monday 26 January. Smiths Gore is very much behind the website as it will remove the distractions and sometimes erroneous information that other websites mix in with the properties being displayed. OnTheMarket (www.onthemarket.com) provides an easy to use, interactive system that is all about presenting properties properly. The new site already has over 2,000 estate agents signed up, operating more than 4,600 branches between them. Many agents have also agreed to the OnTheMarket exclusivity deal where properties appear on their site 48 hours before other portals.
Mortgage funding for the self-employed and business owners Guest Contributor – Andrew Tottman
According to reports, there are now over 4.6m people in the UK classed as self-employed or company directors. This increase in self-employment is growing at a much faster pace than PAYE employees and is considered the backbone in the growth of the economy by the Government. Mortgage lenders usually make the self-employed jump through more hoops than an employee when it comes to verifying their income. Often a 3 year business track record supported by full accounts is required, whilst an employee can just provide a P60 and 3 latest payslips. Ironically the owner of the business often finds getting a mortgage harder than their employees! I can understand that if the mortgage
lender believes the self-employed person presents more risk, then they should have more stringent criteria to protect themselves but often the selfemployed have the skills to set up and run a business and will not make poor financial decisions. The silver lining for the self-employed and business owners is that there are some niche lenders who have a different perspective to the mainstream Banks and Building Societies, and they are building a reputation for treating these individuals more fairly. These lenders often allow applications with only a one year track record or one year’s financial accounts. Many of these niche lenders can only be accessed via a specialist broker.
Andrew Tottman Andrew is a director of Chilvester Financial who are a firm of local Chartered Financial Planners. If you would like to speak to Andrew or his team on any matter relating to mortgages or personal finance, do contact Edward or Shona at our Smiths Gore Marlborough office and we will be happy to put you in touch.
Paris takes legal action after surge in holiday lets Authorities in Paris are taking drastic measures to control holiday lets because of concerns about the impact on the residential property market. Under French law, you can rent out your primary residence to holidaymakers for short periods. However, City Hall in Paris believes that as many as two-thirds of properties being rented on very short lets are not primary residences, which is one of the legal requirements. The authorities in Paris are so worried about the drain on residential property that they have enacted drastic measures to bring it under control.
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However, so far few property owners have complied with the new rules. As a result it is estimated that a staggering 20,000 people - foreigners as well as French - are today liable for fines of thousands of euros. The last study, carried out in 2011, put the number of Paris apartments being let out to tourists at 20,000. Today officials say it has risen to 30,000 leading to shortage of apartments for Parisians. So officials are becoming strictor with inspectors able to ask for documentary proof that the lease is for the minimum of a year. If owners produce fake leases, they face criminal prosecution for fraud.