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Published: Friday, 12 December 2014 14:17
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Written by Justin Vogler
It is easy to overlook but stripping old wallpaper can add thousands to restoration costs.
You’ve at last found the right house. It’s in a state but you’ve worked out costs for the new kitchen and bathroom, new carpets, rewiring repointing and painting throughout. You’ve even remembered to include a wedge for paving the drive and doing the garden. What can go wrong?
Hopefully nothing, but if you’re looking at one of the many period house that has several generations of vintage wallpaper and/or woodchip on the walls and (even worse) the ceilings, you might be in for an expensive shock.
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Published: Monday, 08 December 2014 10:02
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Written by Justin Vogler
Osborne’s reforms provide no incentive for the restoration and redevelopment of empty properties and will increase house prices, writes Justin Vogler.
In my last blog I described how my bidding pattern in an auction was influenced by calculations about the £250k stamp duty threshold. Last week George Osborne announced that he was scrapping the threshold system in favour of a graduated rate.
If they work, Osborne’s reforms will remove a major distortion in the housing market.
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Published: Tuesday, 09 September 2014 09:18
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Written by Justin Vogler
9 Heathfield Terrace LS6 sold (to someone else) in auction for £247,000.00. View the property details.
I’d put in a good bit of work on this one and I was disappointed that I got out bid at Auction House’s October 22 auction. The house was a real mess but it came with, albeit expired, planning for three apartments and was excellently positioned just off Cottage Road in the Headingley Conservation Area.
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Published: Wednesday, 12 March 2014 15:54
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Written by Justin Vogler
Like most planning authorities, Leeds City Council condition the subdivision of buildings into multiple dwellings on the provision of: a) adequate off-road parking, b) off road, preferably out of sight, bin storage, c) safe bicycle storage, and c) green garden areas. This is, in principle, good policy.
The problem is that our Victorian forefathers in the building trade saw fit to build thousands of terrace and town houses with very little curtilage. Many are attractive buildings in sort after locations, worthy of restoration and conversion. They lend themselves to division into luxury apartments as the lack of garden make them unsuitable for family occupancy.
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