Another feature of Alistair Darling’s debut budget was his decision to cut stamp duty on property purchases for first-time buyers and key workers with an annual household income of less than £60K looking for a new-build property; this cut, which comes into effect on 1st April, will see buyers on the New Build HomeBuy or Social HomeBuy shared-ownership schemes will be eligible for a cut in stamp duty.

Under the Chancellor’s new proposal, those who buys using one of these shared-ownership schemes is exempt from stamp duty until they own 80 per cent of the property, at which point they pay stamp duty at a reduced rate because it is only on the remaining 20 per cent. (more…)

OK, so stories of this kind are hardly new, but it turns out that some people are still oblivious to how much juice electrical appliances such as TV sets eat up when in stand-by mode, and by the same coin, how much money can saved by switching them off at the mains. The average piece of black goods equipment can use anything up to 85% of their full power when dormant, and why not? Your car still eats up petrol and battery power even when it’s in neutral – you wouldn’t leave the engine running on the driveway overnight, so why should you leave your TV on standby?

It is estimated that UK homes indirectly kick out roughly one million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as a result of leaving appliances unnecessarily switched on – not only does this have an adverse effect on global temperatures, but it also has an adverse effect on wallets. (more…)

Credit cards which come with 0% on balance transfers and purchases for a limited time are incredibly enticing, and used carefully, can be incredibly useful when it comes to clearing existing credit card debt.

However, any card with a 0% introductory rate on anything is likely to come with a high rate of APR for transfers and purchases once the honeymoon period is up – there are a number of things you should keep an eye on when apply for any of these cards including the following: (more…)

The 2008 Budget saw the Chancellor raise the Maxi ISA limit to £7,200, and the Cash Mini ISA limit pumped up to £3,600 in a bid to encourage people to invest more money into tax free savings schemes.

The new rules for ISAs, which come into effect on April 6, will see investors able to save more overall, but some savers will have a lower investment ceiling for their stocks and shares than they do now. Currently, someone can invest up to £3,000 each tax year in a cash mini, £4,000 each year in a stocks and shares mini or a combined total of £7,000 of which £3,000 may be cash. (more…)

Whilst Gazumping sounds like a word used to describe the practice of siphoning petrol from someone else’s car, the term is thought to comes from the Yiddish word gazumph, meaning to swindle or extort; in property terms, being ‘gazumped’ it means that you will be refused a sale agreement for a property at the last minute, due to a more attractive offering being made to the owner by a separate party.

This can often happen in the last few stages of a deal, literally as you are about to sign the documents and formalise an agreement – according to figures from the National Association of Estate Agents published in 2002, one in three agreed sales does not make it to exchange of contracts.

This is incredibly frustrating and typically happens when there is an overall drop in house price – estate agents employed on a commission basis will want to take advantage of the biggest offer going, and so it is in their interests to find them best deal for them, and not for you.

However there are, a number of steps you can take in order to strengthen your position when it comes to buying and potentially avoid becoming a gazumpee. Read on… (more…)