Author: @kerry

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Ditch the Compass

Dominic Parravani of Durrants helps point you the right way through the new year property market maze.

There are areas of the British Isles, such as loftier parts of the Isle of Skye, where a compass doesn’t work. This anomaly is due to the local geology – a hard, abrasive, magnetic rock called gabbro. Not being able to trust one’s compass is always unnerving – and potentially dangerous.

At the moment the property market is like an untrustworthy compass. The needle should point accurately; instead it is going round and round, making the public uncertain about the correct way to go. Many people are faced with the rotating needle of conflicting information from the press and social media. Some commentators point to falling values, while others disagree. Headlines scream that higher mortgage rates will make it difficult for first time buyers, buy-to-let investors will be selling up en masse, or that in a few short months we will be in a pre-banking crisis, pre-Brexit and pre-pandemic property market Utopia.

It’s challenging for most to know which way to go. Should one hold off buying or selling in the hope of a better market? But buyers and sellers will be piling in by then, which could mean losing the advantage of bold action now.

The answer to all these questions is to ignore the confused media compass and find a more reliable pathfinder. Enter the estate agent. You might be astonished to know how much a good and experienced estate agent understands about their local property market. After all, agents’ activities are seen in the main to consist of social media posts, newspaper ads and For Sale and Sold boards. But estate agencies are like icebergs: ninety per cent of what’s going on is unseen.

Author Malcolm Gladwell suggested it takes 10,000 hours (or approximately ten years) of deliberate practice to become an expert in anything. Over ten years a good estate agent will have marketed, agreed the sales and seen through to completion thousands of property deals through markets good and bad, economies booming and busting, in spring, summer, autumn and winter. These property experts will have also helped families move during the good and the not so good times in their lives. Over 10,000 hours experienced agents have learnt what to do whatever the market, and they know what to do now.

So, if you want to know what direction is best for you in the prevailing property market, don’t trust a compass; ask an expert. Get in touch with your nearest Durrants branch, or get a free valuation of your property. 

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Update on Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMs)

Environmental Land Management Schemes ELMs

Defra has recently updated their guidance on the Environmental Land Management Schemes known as ELMs. In this document we have provided a brief summary of the updated information released by Defra.

The ELM schemes will continue to pay farmers to provide environmental good and services alongside food production. There is an increased focus on increasing biodiversity, improving water quality, flood resilience, woodland creation, and carbon capture.

Funding for farmers and land managers will be available under three schemes within the ELMs:

Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) will pay farmers to adopt and maintain sustainable farming practices.

Countryside Stewardship will pay for more targeted actions relating to specific locations, features and habitats.

Landscape Recovery will pay for bespoke, longer-term, larger scale projects to enhance the natural environment.

Below is a summary of the update for each specific scheme released last week:

New Sustainable Farming Incentives announced.

The update last week incudes new Sustainable Farming Incentives (SFI) Standards which will be available from late 2023. SFI offers funding to farmers to carry out farming activities in a more environmentally sustainable way so that they can produce environmental goods and services alongside food.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive Scheme opened in 2022 with originally three standards:

  • Arable Soils
  • Improved Grassland Soils
  • Moorland Standard

The six new standards include:

  • Hedgerows Standard
  • Arable & Horticulture Standard
  • Improved Grassland Standard
  • Low Input Grassland Standard
  • Nutrient Management Standard
  • Integrated Pest Management Standard

Sustainable Farming Incentive Management Payment

In 2023, Defra will introduce an additional ‘SFI management payment’ to recognise the management costs and time involved for farmers in participating in SFI.

The rates pf funding will be £20 per hectare (ha) management payment per year, for up to the first 50 hectares entered into SFI actions. This will represent a maximum payment of up to £1,000 per year. Defra will keep this payment under review over the next two years, along with all other elements of scheme design and deliver.

Countryside Stewardship (CS) Schemes:

From January 2023, payment rates for revenue and capital options in CS have been updated.

Defra have introduced a number of changes to help improve the application process and broaden the scope of the scheme.

These include:

  • expanding the capital offer to include specific items to help farmers and land managers prepare for habitat creation and restoration (such as feasibility studies, implementation plans or specific capital works) including existing HLS and CS agreement holders.

 

  • Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) offer will be expended so eligibility now covering all catchments

 

  • Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders will be able to take up Countryside Stewardship agreements alongside their HLS – this will benefit farmers who already have an HLS agreement but want to increase their income from schemes by doing more on more of their land.

 

  • Those farmers currently in a CS agreement can already apply for another CS agreement if they want to extend their activities and support delivery of Environment Act outcomes.

 

  • Defra will bring some Higher Tier options into Mid Tier to support wider take-up of biodiversity-friendly options, and increasing options available in the Wildlife Offers and Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Packages to support 2030 and other biodiversity targets’ delivery

 

  • Farmers and land managers will have three years to complete capital works activity and submit claims – this will be automatic for any new applications received after 1 January 2023.

 

  • Defra will also introduce an annual declaration in place of the current burdensome revenue claim process (for all CS agreements)

 

The Higher Tier and Mid Tier and Wildlife Offer windows will open again in February and March respectively for applications.

 

Landscape Recovery

Landscape Recovery is designed to fund a smaller number of longer-term, larger-scale, bespoke projects to enhance the natural environment and deliver significant benefits. Defra will award agreements through competitive application rounds focused on the outcomes that are best delivered through these types of projects.

Defra will open applications for further rounds of Landscape Recovery in spring this year and in 2024. 

Round two will focus on net zero, protected sites and habitat creation. This could include landscape scale projects creating and enhancing woodland, peatland, nature reserves and protected sites such as ancient woodlands, wetlands and salt marshes.

The roll out from Defra will continue for 2023 and 2024.

 

Please click the link here to access the full policy paper from DEFRA.

 

For further information or to discuss the new schemes and how they will be applicable to your individual circumstances, please contact one of our agricultural team on 01502 712122.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Introducing Felicity Thornett

Felicity Thornett Chartered Surveyor

Felicity Thornett has joined Durrants as a Rural/Valuation Surveyor working across our entire area in Norfolk and Suffolk.

She is an experienced Chartered Surveyor and works across a number of Durrants departments, including Agricultural, Residential and Commercial.

Felicity said: “I’m really passionate about the area having lived here for a number of years, I’m already enjoying the variety of work, getting out and about to meet a diverse range of clients.”

“At a company like Durrants, we have such a great diversity of work and I enjoy grasping any challenge that comes across my desk.”

Felicity is a RICS Registered Valuer and member of the CAAV, the professional body for agricultural valuers. After studying law at university, she gained experience with both national and regional firms before moving to Durrants. She regularly undertakes a range of professional work including Red Book Valuations, Rural Estate Management and Farm Agency.

“One of the advantages of working with us is that we have experts across every aspect of property, whether it’s Agricultural, Commercial, Residential or Building Consultancy. It’s so important that our clients can tap into the knowledge we have across a range of services so they can receive the best advice.”

To find out more about the range of services Durrants can provide, click on our dedicated sections for Agricultural, Commercial, Building Consultancy and Residential.

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Consultation for a new NPPF is underway

NPPF consultation is underway

On 22nd December 2022, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities launched its consultation on proposed revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Last updated in 2021, the NPPF is the starting point for all planning decisions and policies in England, and its content can significantly influence the ways in which our built and natural environments (and our local plans) evolve.

The consultation, which closes on 2nd March 2023, seeks to clarify housing delivery figures, promote beautiful homes, ensure food security and encourage onshore wind development, among other goals.

We have summarised the key proposed changes below.

     1. A relaxation of housing delivery targets for local authorities

Whilst the 5 year land supply (the requirement for local authorities to demonstrate a 5 year supply of land for housing at all times) remains, it has been tweaked slightly so that authorities with an up-to-date local plan (i.e. less than 5 years old) do not need to demonstrate a 5YHLS. The current buffers in place are proposed for removal, and LPAs can also allow for historic over (and under) delivery when calculating their housing needs figures.

The current presumption in favour of sustainable development remains intact, but again an amendment is proposed which would allow this to be waived where development would result in inappropriate density, or where a neighbourhood plan is in place and is less than 5 years old (this was formerly 2 years).

Overall, this is a fairly significant relaxation of housing delivery policy, despite the government reiterating their aim to deliver 300,000 homes per year by the mid-2020s – a figure which has not been achieved since the 1960s.

     2. More focus on beauty and the continued focus on design codes

Several insertions are proposed to encourage planning for beautiful buildings, over and above the previous wording of ‘well-designed’. 

Whilst design codes were a feature of the 2021 NPPF, they have now been inserted in a more explicit manner – for example, it is now proposed that ‘the primary means’ of ‘improving the design of development’ is through the use of local design codes.

     3. Climate change

Despite the claims of the consultation documentation, no new mentions of ‘climate change’ or the ‘environment’ are proposed. However, more support for renewable energy schemes and improvements to existing buildings is offered. A new section on onshore wind is proposed, allowing such development to be granted without planning permission where there is local support.

And for anyone who is wondering, there is no mention of street votes in the new NPPF!

The consultation is open until 2nd March 2023, with the revised NPPF due later this Spring.

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If wishes were sales, sellers would move

if wishes were sales

This time last year Russia hadn’t set foot on Ukrainian soil, the chickens were still to come home to roost for Boris Johnson, we had hardly heard of Liz Truss and were barely out from Covid restrictions: nor had interest rates reached a 14-year high or the nurses, train drivers, postal workers, etc., embarked on strike action. Also, the property market was only showing tentative signs of cooling.

It is difficult to imagine now how the property sector could not have been greatly affected by all that happened at home and abroad during 2022.

Yet despite all the political and economic turmoil, the property market is still active. If anything, the market has reached a more normal level of activity. It’s just that most activity is down to the doers and not the wait-and-seers.

There are two ways to sell property. The first is to let it happen. That has been fine over the past few years when all many had to do was to open the door to lots of open-house viewers and then bask in the flood of cash offers that ensued.

The second way to sell a house is to make it happen. Now that the market has turned in favour of buyers, sellers can’t sit back; they have to take the initiative. So, to location, location, location as a strong buying feature we must add price, price, price and condition, condition, condition.

Just as the recent seasonal festivities wouldn’t happen without people taking control and putting up decorations and cooking meals, a property won’t sell without some effort from sellers to prepare it for the market. If that means setting a competitive asking price and keeping a welcoming exterior and neat and spotless interior, then so be it.

Good estate agents are doers by nature, training and experience. But they can’t do it alone, they need their clients’ support and agreement. This teamwork is essential to get things done. To make things happen in the property market in 2023, don’t be a wisher be a doer.

We wish all our clients and friends a very positive, healthy and happy New Year.

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The new interest rate rise is set to do good things for the housing market

interest rates

When most people hear the phrase – interest rate rise, they immediately panic and worry about higher bills and extra expenses at the end of each month, then have a good rant about how horrid and expensive everything is getting. Every cloud has a silver lining, though, and the good news is this could do a lot of good for the housing market.

It’s no secret that we have had it good for a long time. Interest rates through the pandemic have been at an all-time low. In fact, many argue that they have been so good that it’s been too much of a good thing. We all know too much of a good thing has bad consequences!

Many experts have said that because interest rates have been so low, it has caused the instability that we have endured this year with nine consecutive rises.

So how is this good news for you?

Mortgage interest rates are falling and are set to fall further.

This small increase in the base interest rate should not affect your mortgage interest rate. In fact, interest rates for mortgages are steadily falling, with some experts predicting that five-year fixed-rate mortgage interest rates will gradually decrease in 2023, before settling below 4%. So don’t worry about higher base rate interest rates, they do not always directly affect your mortgage interest rate.

Stability  

The base rate set by the Bank of England has peaked for this year. Therefore, 2023 should offer much more stability, certainly for the first quarter. This will mean a more stable housing market, which means buyers and sellers can remain confident about making their moves. It should also mean that the 2023 housing market will get off to a good start!

Confidence  

As mortgage markets rebalance, property markets stabilise instead of enduring instability. More realistic and stable interest rates returning to the levels of pre-pandemic norms encourage long-term confidence and investment. That means you can move and invest, taking the long-term view that there will be fewer bumps in the road.

Demand is still strong

Forgetting the world’s current obsession with interest rates, perhaps it’s easy to overlook the obvious. The demand for property is still relatively high compared to the shortage in supply. You don’t need to be an economist to know that this will keep house prices healthy!

The future is looking good

With strong demand, stability, and confidence all looking promising, now is a great time to start putting your future property plans into action.

Demand for rented accommodation is still growing and is likely to continue that way, offering very healthy investment opportunities, even if there are more challenging times ahead.

Even if house prices fall in the next 1-2 years, over the next five years, many expect house prices to gradually and steadily grow.

Putting the onus on quality and a healthy, long-term, and sustainable investment is the way of the future. Making houses and rented accommodations more desirable means improving the quality of life, instead of making a quick profit.

Are you looking to move home, make your first step on the property ladder, or want to invest in a great buy-to-let opportunity? Contact Durrants today.

Book a valuation today

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Santa visits Wymondham Rugby Club minis

rugby

Durrants again joined in the fun when Father Christmas visited Wymondham Rugby Club minis section on Sunday 18th December.

Father Christmas was greeted by all the different age groups and handed out gifts sponsored by Durrants.

Durrants Managing Director and chair of Wymondham Rugby Club Minis, Dominic Parravani said: “Father Christmas always visits the children on the last Sunday before Christmas and its a lovely family day to start off the festive season.

“Durrants are delighted to be able to add to the fun.”

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Durrants Christmas Jumper Day beats charity target

jumper day

Durrants Christmas Jumper Day was a great success with team members from right across the company wearing festive knitwear and raising money for Save The Children.

£150 was raised on the day with the Government promising to match donations with an equal amount, so £300 will be going to the organisation so they can help mums and babies stay healthy, and giving them the chance of the future they deserve.

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Race report: Scottish Borders Hill Rally

hill rally

Durrants have recently pledged their support to Diss-based Planner, Jasmine Philpott, in her off-road car racing pursuit. Here’s the latest updates on her progress in events around the UK. This time: the Scottish Borders Hill Rally.

The Scottish Borders Hill Rally is a season highlight for anyone in the offroad community. It takes place at the stunning 11,000 acre Forrest Estate near Dumfries and is the most challenging event of the year.

Taking place over two days, including into the night, the event is demanding on driver, co-driver and race car, and finishing is an achievement in itself.

Unlike comp safaris, this event is run like a rally, but with unique stages driven completely blind, with no pace notes. The event uses rally timing clocks, meaning every minute of your weekend is against the clock, from leaving parc ferme, to entering the stage, to your pitstops in between sections. You are penalised for being both late and early, and if you have a mechanical failure, you only have between 30 and 45 minutes to fix it.

I have attempted this event four times including this year, and have finished it once. In 2018 I had every sort of mechanical failure imaginable – throttle cable breakage, cambelt failure, gearbox implosion (which we fixed!) and finally a very embarrassing fuel shortage after a big hold up on a stage. 2019 saw the worst crash I have had in my life – I came off the track at speed and hit a tree on my side, which took some time to recover from, and my co-driver broke his foot. The event didn’t run in 2020 due to Covid, and in 2021 I finally had my first hill rally finish.

This year, I asked an experienced female Norwegian navigator to join me via Instagram. I was thrilled that she accepted my offer, and booked her flights to Manchester that day.

I felt a lot of pressure to finish the event, with Anette coming so far and at considerable cost. It’s an expensive weekend once entry fee, accommodation and fuel is factored in. One of the harsh truths of the hill rally is that mechanical failure is very likely. The event comes at the very end of the season, when the cars have been raced all year and are due some TLC. Expecting them to then finish the equivalent of 3 comp safaris in one weekend is therefore pretty ambitious!

car hill rally

Anette and I were the only all-female team entered, so I was aiming for a finish so that we could win the women’s award. It was freezing cold, and a few miles into the first stage we were soaked through from water flooding into the car through one of many water splashes. We made a good team, and were climbing up the leaderboard as the day progressed.

The last stage of leg 2 was amazing – very fast, open, and with amazing views (not that I was looking anywhere but ahead!). We were about three quarters of the way round when suddenly the oil pressure light came on and the dial dropped to 0. Generally this is a sign of imminent engine failure. I backed off but could not feel or hear a change in the engine, so decided it was potentially a faulty sensor. We continued for another 5 miles at race speed without issue.

During the break between Leg 2 and 3, we agreed that we may as well carry on and risk engine failure, because the engine is rebuilt every winter in any case. The third leg on day 1 runs into the night, so we put our lights on, stuck some duct tape over the oil pressure light and headed out. The car was running so well, so it was absolutely devastating when I started to hear an ominous clicking sound as we navigated a technical quarry section. It started to lose power, and then came the smoke, and we knew it was time to pull over before it blew up.

anette and jasmine

Where we parked up was beautiful, but on the top of a hill and absolutely freezing. We had to wait for the stage to finish before enduring the tow of shame back to the pits.

It is hard to know where we would have finished, but we were in 18th (out of 49) at the end of stage 3. Only 29 competitors finished the event, which makes me feel a bit better!

I am hoping to upgrade my car entirely over the winter to a brand new version of what I already have, with a faster engine. Next year I will also be competing in 4 European Bajas in the Excite car – hopefully Spain, Portugal, Poland and potentially Greece, alongside comp safaris in my own.

I’m so grateful to Durrants for their support this year, and am thrilled that they have offered to sponsor me again for 2023.

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Make Do

make do
Let’s face it, we are all trying to find ways of making a pound stretch a little further these days.
 
For home sellers the best way is to make their properties worth more. That might sound like an expensive exercise, but it really needn’t be.
 
To add more value the first thing you need to do is to find more room. So, make some more room. Declutter. Everything you don’t need in your home that isn’t beautiful, useful or valuable is hiding extra space from a potential buyer. Put another way, everything you take out in a pre-sale declutter can make your property more attractive to a purchaser.
 
Now for the hard work. But it still won’t cost you anything apart from a bottle of Mr Muscle or two (other products are available). Clean your house as if our late queen were coming for tea. Clean all of it – every corner, nook and cranny – especially the kitchen and bathroom. Clean and polish your property as if achieving the best price depends on it – because it does.
 
It will take a week or two to do all this properly, but it will be worth it.
 
Once that’s finished, if you have a friend who is good with interiors invite them around and pick their brains. Don’t be embarrassed; an amateur interior designer likes nothing more than primping someone else’s cushions. Your property has become a business in which you happen to live. Choose a highly experienced estate agent who will also be delighted to make some buyer-friendly suggestions. You want to get the best price, so listen to good advice.
 
Now take a look at your freshly polished home. If you are so thrilled that you think it belongs to someone else or you are tempted not to sell at all but stay put, then you know you have done a great job and that viewers will be impressed.
 
You could add a loft extension, build a fabulous rear room with bi-fold doors to the garden, dig out a basement room, re-fit the kitchen and bathroom, engage a firm of professional cleaners or hire stagers. But self-cleaning and de-cluttering is always the most cost-effective way to get more for your property. And remember, with many more houses and flats coming onto the market, your home will be lining up in a competitive race to the completion line.
 
In WWII, there was a phrase, make do and mend. If you are selling your property in these straitened times a phrase for now could be, make do and polish.
 

Find out below why Durrants is different and how we are the perfect fit when it comes to selling your home.

Book a valuation today

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Durrants at the heart of Halesworth Christmas Lights

halesworth christmas lights

Saturday 19th November was Halesworth’s annual Christmas Lights switch-on.

The event is organised and run by Durrants’ very own Mother Christmas, Teresa Walsh.

The evening saw the Leiston Royal British Legion band lead Father Christmas and the parade through the packed streets. The lights were turned on, as is tradition, outside our Durrants Halesworth office to much applause and cheering.

A huge thank you from Durrants to Teresa and all the team for all their hard work and effort in making the evening such a success.