‘The Parkside apartments are designed to allow the internal layout to change throughout the course of a day – or even the lifetime of the residents’ occupancy. Lifestyle needs change and, today, it is important that our homes are sufficiently adaptable to cope with this.’ comments Adrian Putman, Development Director of Greenwich Millennium Village.

Many apartments include balconies and residents can enjoy the two landscaped courtyards, which offer a combination of hard and soft landscaping and borders planted with shrubs and trees. The ground floor apartments feature private terraces enclosed with box hedging.

The stunning new show apartment, now open, offers visitors a chance to appreciate the flexible space, the show apartment includes some fantastic bespoke pieces, including a glass bed – a must see! Prices for the new phase Parkside start from £199,995 for a one-bedroom apartment.

Many apartments include balconies and residents can enjoy the two landscaped courtyards, which offer a combination of hard and soft landscaping and borders planted with shrubs and trees. The ground floor apartments feature private terraces enclosed with box hedging.

The stunning new show apartment, now open, offers visitors a chance to appreciate the flexible space, the show apartment includes some fantastic bespoke pieces, including a glass bed – a must see! Prices for the new phase Parkside start from £199,995 for a one-bedroom apartment.

CYPRUS THE NEW PROPERTY HOTAPOT FOR UK HOMEBUYERS

Nick Clark, Managing Director of Homebuyer Events, commented: “Cyprus will really make its mark on the European scene when it is enrolled as one of ten new members of the EU, but canny Brits have already latched on to the potential of the island. The number of properties bought by foreigners has rocketed in recent years and is growing every year. An estimated 60,000 British own a property in Cyprus.”

Popular destinations for the more refined tourists and homebuyers include Paphos, which offers stunning sea views from its steep hills, while Protoras has the best beaches on the island. Limassol and Larnaca are also both attractive towns, which prove popular with the English. In the North of Cyprus, the former fishing village of Famagusta is renowned for its miles of sandy beeches.

Property and land is still relatively cheap, especially when compared to the more established areas of Spain and France, with prices across the island ranging from £40,000 to £_million.

CREATIVE HOMES FOR YOUNG CREATIVES

Berkeley Homes has reacted to this trend by building living and working developments like Artisan Quarter in Kensal Green NW10, a scheme of 25 versatile one, two and three bedroom apartments and townhouses. The properties range in size from 847 to 1,760 sq ft and are now ready to move into.

Artisan Quarter is the ideal development for freelance creative professionals and is located in one of London’s up and coming hotspots, which already houses such luminaries as Stella McCartney, Jade Jagger, Eddie Izzard and Bella Freud. Over 40% of the purchasers at the scheme work in the media, music, art, graphic design or public relations industry.

Gavin Stewart, Sales and Marketing Director of Berkeley Homes (West London) Ltd, comments: “We have noticed that an increasing number of professionals in London are choosing to work on a freelance basis utilising home offices in live/work properties.

According to DTI statistics, they estimate that by 2005, approximately 8.3 million people in the UK will be working from home. As a result, the proportion of live/work space within all new or converted homes is forecast to rise from 5% to over 15% within the next five years.”

This gated and secure development is based around a large central courtyard that runs through the entire length of the scheme. The courtyard comprises secure parking spaces and a central landscaped garden.

The apartments and townhouses all have individual features and designs, and enjoy large windows, spacious rooms and generous ceiling heights creating a real sense of space and style. All the homes are also wired for ISDN, telephone and cable/satellite TV.

Prices at ‘Artisan Quarter’ start at £320,000 for the apartments and £399,000 for the houses.

PREPARING THE RENTAL MARKET FOR THE CONSUMER OF THE 21st CENTURY

This will be the message to delegates to the Annual Conference of the Association of Residential Letting Agents, ARLA, in London next month (February 3rd).

However, they will be reassured that ARLA has been working to provide them and their landlords and tenants with all the requirements of the consumer age.

The Association has achieved this through a two-year programme of working with government and government agencies on proposed legislation and by preparing information in plain English to cover the necessities to achieve fair, legal and safe rentals.

Conference will be reminded that on top of the legislation currently before Parliament (covering Houses in Multiple Occupation and the selective licensing of landlords in areas of low housing demand), a new landlord and tenant act is expected to totally reform the whole range of tenancies and is scheduled to reach consultation stage during the year.

Delegates will also learn the details of new FSA regulations covering the sale or introduction through letting offices of insurance for rental guarantees and legal expenses, as well as the traditional house and contents insurance. They will also hear how any complaints against ARLA members are investigated by an independent adjudicator. This is to demonstrate complete transparency and independence.

This adjudication process began as a pilot scheme last October and is expected to be fully on-stream as an independent body by the end of March.
With government abandoning their backing of the national Tenancy Deposit Scheme last summer, Conference will learn how ARLA is to pre-empt pressure for mandatory bureaucratic schemes with this new deposit resolution scheme.

Again, this will exceed any future government requirements for transparency and independence. The objective is to scale up the new scheme so as to take the place totally of the old scheme and then make it a requirement of ARLA membership within the foreseeable future.

Delegates will be told that ARLA member letting agents should be encouraged to stock the whole new range of ARLA literature for the consumer.

This includes "Trouble Free Letting - What every Landlord and Tenant Should Ask", "Lets Make it Safe" - covering safety guidance, "ARLA and Your Money" - including information about the ARLA Bonding Scheme, deposits, client accounts and tax, and the newly revised "ARLA Code of Practice".

Conference will be reminded to use the ARLA Tenancy Agreement, the result of consultations with the OFT that lasted nearly two years.

Said Adrian Turner, Chief Executive of ARLA, "We are reaching the end of a two-year programme to give ARLA member letting agents the information and the tools to look after landlords and tenants. This will be to a degree that will far exceed any government legislation or pressure group demand. We have invited the acknowledged experts from the Law Commission, the FSA and the legal profession to the Annual Conference to ensure that our members know what is to be expected of them."

LONDON NEW HOMES TOP £300,000 BUT SOUTHERN SLOWDOWN STARTING

The price homebuyers are willing to pay for a property in London reached £300,423 – its highest point to date. However the month-on-month increases in the capital and the south were the slowest in the country, indicating that the widely-predicted southern slowdown has begun.

Apartments proved the most popular property type with 46% of searches compared to 39% for detached houses, a reversal of the figures from last year when houses were a more popular choice. Other property types remained steady although the price of penthouses rocketed further, up 4.5% since November to £329,863.
Homebuyers continue to avoid the high prices and fast living in London and the south east, with the East and West Midlands also experiencing a dip in popularity. Homebuyers moving out of these regions are searching for new homes in rural areas such as the south west, Wales and Yorkshire.

David Bexon, Chief Executive, Smart New Homes, commented: “The findings of this month’s index look likely to set the pace for the property market in 2004.

HOME INFORMATION PACKS AND THEIR IMPACTS ON UK HOMEOWNERS

Peter Bolton King, Chief Executive of the NAEA, warned, “Extra costs, delays and confusion will become standard parts of the house buying process if the Government continues to push ahead with these controversial proposals.”

Preparation of the packs, set to include legal documentation such as title deeds and local authority searches, must be completed before a house can be put on the market. Individuals and agents could face tough penalties for selling properties without a HIP in place and will have to be cautious of unwittingly marketing their properties prior to this point. The cost of preparing the Pack is likely to be £1000 in London and in excess of £600 across the remainder of the country, costing consumers over £300million extra each year. A major new cost will be the Home Condition Report (HCR), a new compulsory type of survey which must be included in all packs.

The HCR will be carried out by a specially qualified inspector, a minimum of 8,500 of who will be needed to cope with the demand. However it is estimated that only 5,000 will be in place by the time the regulations are introduced, resulting in even further delays as sellers wait for overdue inspection reports.

Once a HIP has been finalised, there can still be even further costs as some aspects of information will be particularly time-sensitive and will need to be updated if a property is on the market for a longer period of time.

Homebuyers are not likely to fare any better in light of the proposed changes. The information packs will be available at the start of the house buying process, but buyers will have to wait some time for properties to be officially ‘on the market’ whilst owners prepare a HIP. Similarly, there will be a lack of supply of housing as many potential sellers are put off marketing their property by the costs of the HIPs.

Although the responsibility of discovering information about the property is shifted from the buyer to the seller, many sellers will not trust a pack prepared by the seller. As a result it is expected that many buyers will commission their own survey, at further cost.

“We are very keen for the house buying process to be reformed, but the current proposals will not solve the real problems,” said Peter Bolton King. “The packs will not reduce gazumping or speed up buying a property, as they will merely move the current delays to the start of the homebuying process. In addition they will cost British consumers an extra £300 million a year and reduce the number of houses on the market.”

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) is the UK’s leading professional body for estate agency personnel, representing the interests of 9,500 members who practise across all aspects of property services both in the UK and overseas. These include residential and commercial sales and lettings, property management, business transfer and auctioneering. The National Association of Estate Agents is dedicated to the goal of professionalism within high street estate agency. Our aim is to reassure the general public that by appointing an NAEA member to represent them they will receive in return the highest level of integrity and service in both sales and lettings. Each NAEA member is bound by a vigorously enforced Code of Practice and adheres to professional Rules of Conduct. Failure to do so can result in heavy financial penalties and possible expulsion from the Association.

SUCCESFUL LAUNCH OF THIRTY ONE THREE INDICATES LIMEHOUSE E14 IS NEW LONDON HOTSPOT

Limehouse has previously been overlooked in favour of neighbouring Wapping and the Isle of Dogs, despite its convenient location and desirable leafy suburban atmosphere.

The four, two-bedroom duplex apartments, remaining for sale, span the third and fourth floors and each boast large private roof terraces leading off the main living area and fantastic views.
The Thirty One Three development comprises a stunning conversion of the historic 19th Century former church mission building, opposite the famous St. Ann’s Church. Each of the apartments is individually designed and come with a variety of original features including double height windows, reception rooms and decorative columns.

This impressive scheme with its grade II listed terracotta façade comprises 18, one and two bedroom apartments, each with individual stacker parking and just a short walk from Westferry Station and the River Thames.

The duplex apartments are priced from £310,000.

GREEN LIGHT FROM PLANNERS AND PURCHASERS FOR UK’s TALLEST RESIDENTIAL TOWER
A dramatic new £150m 47-storey glass tower, the highest living space in the UK – including a new five star Hilton hotel, has been given the green light by Manchester City Council.

The spectacular and beautiful addition to the city’s skyline will take apartment living in the UK to new heights. Beetham Tower at 301 Deansgate combines residential apartments, quality office space and a five star hotel.

North West developer Beetham Organization has been granted planning permission for 185,000 sq ft of residential space, a 230,000 sq ft hotel and 70,000 sq ft of office space at the crossroads of Deansgate, Great Bridgewater Street and Liverpool Road.

Designed by Ian Simpson Architects, the development will feature a striking, slender glass tower - the tallest structure in the city centre at 157m high with a glass ‘blade’ increasing the height of the building to 171m.

Currently the tallest building in Manchester is the CIS building, which stands at 118m and the tallest residential building in the UK is the Barbican in London, which is 128m.

Already 207 of the 219 apartments and penthouses from floors 25 upwards have been sold, leaving only 12 of the penthouses still available for sale.
Prices in the residential tower started from £100,000 for a studio, with a range of one, two and three bed apartments and penthouses, the latter starting from £700,000 rising to £2.5m for the top floor penthouse.

The tower will also feature a 285-bed, five star hotel to be run by Hilton International, who own and operate almost 400 hotels throughout the world. As part of the development, Hilton will provide a destination ‘sky bar’ on the 23rd floor, which will be the first in the city and will offer magnificent views across Manchester and beyond. There will be underground car parking for residents and hotel users. The development includes conference and function facilities, incorporating a 650-person ballroom within the Hilton hotel, a health and fitness centre, shops, restaurants, a café and bar facilities.

Stephen Beetham said: “We are delighted with this decision and having worked closely with Manchester City Council, English Heritage and CABE, we can ensure that this scheme will be one of the most prestigious in the UK.

“This is a project of major international significance for Manchester’s continued development and will help push the city to the top of the European league.”

Work is planned to begin on site in February 2004.

LPC LAUNCH LUXURY SKY-LEVEL PENTHOUSES
The latest luxury sky-level penthouse and duplex apartments have been launched in Merseyside by LPC Living.

LPC (Legendary Property Company) recently sold all 132 studio, one and two bedroom apartments in the converted flats on Conway Street, Everton on the day they were released.

Buyers were so keen to get their hands on one of the stylish apartments within this successful scheme known as View 146, that many queued for days to secure one.

Now the stunning 14 sky-level penthouses, which include two of the split-level duplexes are available to view by appointment.

The superb spec includes a secure a lift allowing secure access to only residents and guests up to the sky-levels on the 15th and 16th floors.

All penthouses have large balconies on which to enjoy the magnificent views of the Liverpool skyline, including The Liver Building, the two Cathedrals and the River Mersey.

As with all the apartments, buyers will have membership to the private gymnasium, which will be located on the ground and first floors, complete with a steam room and Jacuzzi.

Due to the exclusivity of these fabulous penthouses, with prices starting from just £140,000, interest is expected to be very high.

Chairman of LPC Warren Smith says “The redevelopment of View 146 has been extremely successful and we expect the penthouses and duplexes to be as equally well received as the apartments.”