14 May 2016 – by Alexander Peace Selling a multi-million-pound scheme as the prime London residential market takes a tumble might seem like a bad idea, but Bruce Ritchie has seen it all before. Photo by Tom Campbell The 58 flats at Garden House, 86-92 Kensington Gardens Square, W2, sit in the kind of plush West London spot where an affable, soggy-haired British actor might leap the fence at any moment in the final act of a formulaic rom-com. It is the sort of scheme which, up to a year ago, would have sold for silly money, and attracted investors from far and wide muttering phrases like “prime central London” and “safe haven”. So why is Bruce Ritchie, chief executive of Residential Land and one of the better-known figures in the prime London residential rental world, bringing it to market now – his first scheme for individual private sale in a number of years? All the content from this weekís magazine, including this article, is available in the new app. The answers are simple: because it fits into the sub-£1.5m tax bracket – he bought it at a low price in 2001 and now it needs refurbishment. And because it is important to keep moving. Speaking at Garden House, Ritchie says. “When you have institutional partners, it’s very important to prove the model, to show that you can sell something. It isn’t all about what it is valued at every year,” “Being the kind of partner who can show that the prices put on buildings are actually real is a very important thing to do, particularly if you are going to carry on growing.” And Ritchie has kept moving. While rental operators struggle to build portfolios at scale, he has amassed 1,500 units around central London, and while that market teeters, he continues to buy and sell – acquiring 39 Hill Street, W1, in December for £100m, and selling Kew Bridge Court, W4, to Grainger in February for £57.3m. Click here to read the full interview Source link

Pensioner property wealth hits £1 trillion milestone The long-term story as highlighted by our research is that property has performed very well with average over-65s making more than £9,000 a year during a period of record low interest rates and stock market volatility The latest data from over-55s financial specialist, KeyRetirement.com, has revealed that proeprty wealth amongst retired homeowners in the UK has passed the £1 trillion barrier for the first time. According to the analysis, pensioners who have paid off mortgages earned an average of £19,120 tax-free each from their houses in the past three months taking their property wealth to a new record high. Only over-65s in London and Scotland missed out in the past three months with Londoners seeing average falls of more than £62,000 and Scots suffering declines of nearly £16,000. However despite short-term ups and downs over-65 homeowners have seen strong long-term growth – since Key started analysing over-65s housing wealth in 2010, total pensioner property wealth has increased by around 24% or £245 billion which is worth around £55,000 on average for every homeowner. Owning a home has been worth around £9,100 a year for over-65s. Its Pensioner Property Index shows over-65 homeowners now own homes worth £1.01 trillion outright underlining the huge role property wealth is playing in financial planning and improving lifestyles in retirement. The growth in property wealth is helping drive the expansion of the equity release market with customers taking advantage of record low rates to cash in on their homes releasing around £76,300 on average, rising to more than £184,000 in London. The South East of England has now replaced London as the wealthiest region for over-65s accounting for a fifth of all UK pensioner property wealth. But it’s not doom and gloom for Londoners who, despite the recent fall, have experienced huge gains. Since the first index was published in 2010, Londoners have gained an average of £137,000 each over the period or £22,800 per year! Key highlights how record low rates for equity release coupled with the gains made are great news for pensioners. Looking at the best fixed rate 12 months ago compared to today, a pensioner borrowing the average release of £76,300 would now save £29,867 in interest over 15 years, increasing to a staggering £49,651 saving over 20 years. Dean Mirfin, technical director at Key Retirement.com said: “Property wealth is a growing asset for pensioners highlighting the success of investing in a home for the over-65s. The long-term story as highlighted by our research is that property has performed very well with average over-65s making more than £9,000 a year during a period of record low interest rates and stock market volatility. That is demonstrated by the average £76,300 that pensioners are choosing to release tax-free from their properties to enhance their retirement standard of living in general as well as to use for a wide range of purposes from holidays to considerable home improvement projects. With record low interest rates it is hardly surprising that property gains are being capitalised upon throughout the UK.” Source link

The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has fined bathroom fittings supplier Ultra Finishing Ltd £786,668 for preventing retailers from discounting online prices. CMA has also sent warning letters to a number of other suppliers of bathroom fittings that it suspects have engaged in similar practices in relation to internet sales. Although the CMA has decided in this case to impose a fine only on the supplier, retailers should be aware that they can also be fined for entering into similar agreements with suppliers, it warned. The fine follows Ultra’s admission last month that it had broken competition law and its agreement to pay a fine. CMA announced then that it would apply a discount of 20% from the fine in recognition of efficiencies resulting from Ultra admitting its infringement. The fine would have been £1,032,502 without the discount. The fine is for Ultra’s infringement of competition law between 2012 to 2014. It engaged in resale price maintenance (RPM) in respect of the internet sales of its Hudson Reed and Ultra branded products. RPM constitutes vertical price-fixing where a supplier restricts the ability of a retailer to set the prices at which it will resell the supplier’s products, for example by requiring the retailer to sell at a particular price or only above a minimum price. “RPM is illegal because it prevents retailers from offering lower prices and setting their prices independently to attract more customers,” said the CMA. Ultra has now agreed to set up a programme to help ensure compliance with competition law within its business and among its staff. This includes a clear commitment to competition law compliance by the Ultra Board, including an external statement to that effect, which has been published on Ultra’s website. The company said: “The Directors of Ultra Finishing Limited (“UFL”) are committed to ensuring that UFL and its employees comply at all times with competition law. UFL has a competition compliance programme to ensure that the Board’s objectives can be achieved. The Board will ensure that it monitors UFLs’ [sic] adherence to the competition compliance programme and that it is addresses [sic] at every Board meeting.” CMA said that the company will also roll out tailored compliance training for all employees, and has put in place a detailed procedure to identify, assess and mitigate competition law risks. Ultra will review the compliance programme on an annual basis and submit a report on its compliance activities to the CMA each year for the next three years. The CMA is working with a number of industry bodies to help publicise the lessons to be learned from this case and to encourage best practice. It has also produced written guidance and a short video to help businesses understand more about RPM.   This article was published on 11 May 2016 (last updated on 11 May 2016). Source link