At Manse & Garret Property Search we are almost on first name terms with a number of council planning offices across London and Kent. With three clients currently on our books looking to build their dream properties, a lot of time is inevitably spent on the telephone and in meetings with duty planners and building control.

I must admit that I do have my favourite planning departments: Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster provide the least painful experiences! Equally, I also have a few that I dread dealing with (although I won’t name any for fear of reprisals!)

From the midst of the planning process, preserving the character and appearance of our streets can seem like a bit of a hassle, yet you need only look at a beautiful streetscape in Hampstead Village to know that it is worth it. This is why I am still in a state of disbelief over the report of a developer in Twickenham who bulldozed a semi-detached Regency house, without permission in January of this year.

I may perhaps be slightly biased, as in terms of architecture I happen to be very fond of the housing stock which has survived from the 1820s, but even without my personal aesthetic preferences, I cannot believe that anyone could demolish a house that was attached to another without permission, in order to cut their own developer costs.

The developer was fined £80,000 by Richmond Council, and also had to pay Richmond councils £42,500 legal bill to cover the cost of taking legal action. I imagine that this will serve as a warning to other developers who may be tempted to subvert, or indeed, simply ignore planning regulations in future.

Technorati Tags: Buyers agents, London Buyer's Agents, London Property Buyers Agents, Planning, Planning Permission

Tags: Buyers agents, London Buyer's Agents, London Property Buyers Agents, Planning, Planning Permission

Sometimes I wonder if we do the right thing extolling the virtues of prime central London real estate to risk averse overseas buyers looking for good capital appreciation and a safe haven for their hard-earned cash.  As London Buyers Agents, we do most of our business in prime established areas but we also buy in other areas of London including Hackney, Islington, Greenwich and Blackheath and others.

City buyers like Islington and parts of Hackney for the 20 minute commute to Bank.  Canary Wharf workers like Greenwich and Blackheath for similar reasons.  One of our Clients can get from his front door to his desk in 17 minutes.  But all of these areas were hit in the downturn and in our view Islington agents were the first to lose face back in 2007 when Lehman Brothers went down and Northern Rock followed.  So we tend to suggest prime areas, which are likely to weather future storms much better.  And are relatively immune to rioting.

As I write, the skirmishes in Hackney look relatively minor but this London Buyers Agent is under no illusions that we may see a different picture in the morning.  During the first six months of the year, Hackney house prices had increased by 4.1%, the third highest house price rise by borough across London according to the Land Registry.

Islington has also been a winner to date, with prices rising 5.5% year on year, but there was rioting there too at the weekend and now we hear Highbury resident BoJo is cutting short his holiday and  coming home to save the day.

Likewise, Lewisham which incorporates a small part of Blackheath and is the closest DLR to some of the lovely heath facing properties in West Blackheath, has seen violence today.  Property prices overall in the borough had increased by 3.2% year on year to June, but this rioting underlines the issues about the area.  One of our Clients who settled in Greenwich was considering moving to Lewisham at one point.  We strongly suggested they settle at least initially in Greenwich or Blackheath, which was admittedly more expensive, but what price do you put on safety?

I bet they are grateful today that they listened to our advice and although they paid more than they wanted to, we negotiated a significant proportion off the rent.

So I don’t regret being firm about areas with Clients.  Our job as London Buyers Agents is to find perfect properties on and off-market, negotiate great deals for our Clients and make sure they are buying in the right area for them in the first place.  London is a series of villages and although confidence and house prices in affected boroughs will almost certainly be hit, there is sure to be the right village for you.

Technorati Tags: blackheath, Hackney house price rises, Hackney house prices, hackney riots, House Prices, Islington house prices, Islington riots and house prices, islinton riots, lewisham house prices, lewisham riots, London riots

Tags: blackheath, Hackney house price rises, Hackney house prices, hackney riots, House Prices, Islington house prices, Islington riots and house prices, islinton riots, lewisham house prices, lewisham riots, London riots

It will be no surprise to London Property Buyers Agents that The Royal Borough and Fulham and Hammersmith are continuing to lead the charge with rising property prices according to the latest figures from the Land Registry.  Property prices in the two boroughs have increased by 6.6% and 6.4% respectively this year, followed  closely by city favourite, Islington with an average 5.5% rise year on year.

Other areas to have performed well during the first six months of the year include Hackney, where prices have increased by 4.1% year to date and where prices rose by 1.8% in June, second only to Harrow where they rose by 2.4% in the same month.  Westminster, home to Mayfair and parts of Belgravia, Marylebone and Bayswater rose 3.4% year on year, although the best properties have had a good year if priced well.

In our capacity as prime London Buyers Agents, we’ve been in several sealed bid situations this year so far as prime property continues to be in short supply and so well-priced property has sold well during the first half of the year.  We always have searches in Mayfair and there has been a real dearth of good flats this year, apart from the odd portfolio sale, so the few deals we have done here have been off-market.

Now we are in holiday season, the market feels softer, as vendors and buyers retire to their second homes for the summer, but people have to live somewhere and although transactions are down overall year on year the numbers of prime properties changing hands in London is still up on last year.  Interestingly, the number of properties sold in London for over £2million doubled between April 2010 and April 2011 from 71 to 141.  I would be very interested to know how many of those completed before April 5th, when the new 5% stamp duty came into force for properties over £1million.  If the experience of this London Property Buyers Agent is anything to go by, quite alot, I would imagine!

All statistics provided by the Land Registry House Price Index July 28th