03/28/2018

Both the working day and the working environment are ever evolving concepts. Vail Williams partner David Thomas discusses where work is going. The working day has changed considerably in the last 30 years. From getting into your Ford Escort to travel to work for your 9-5 job, surrounded by rows of typing pools and telex machines in your naturally ventilated office, to travelling to work in cars that have more technology than the average computer had 20 years ago! Nowadays, our agile,

03/13/2018

There are just days left before the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) start to come into effect. Vail Williams partner, David Castle, explains how this affects the interested parties in a property, from landlord to tenant - and even some of those less directly involved. If you haven’t already heard about MEES here's some information about what they are, what to do to prepare for them, and by when.   The new standards will directly affect tenants, landlords, investors and developers, as

03/07/2018

Nigel Hewitson, planning partner at BrookStreet des Roches, weighs up whether prime minister Theresa May's comments about developers during her March 5 speech on the planning reforms were entirely justified. We are regularly told that, as a country, we are not building enough homes. There is widespread acceptance that, to meet demand, the UK needs to build about 300,000 new homes a year. Yet for years we have built, at best, half that number. The result is ever higher property prices which

03/06/2018

Steve Head, business space partner at Hicks Baker, describes deals which have defied the trend for Permitted Development.   Despite recent changes in the tax regime, designed to dampen aspects of the buy-to-let residential market, there has been no tailing off of demand for the conversion of existing office buildings to residential under Permitted Development (PD) Rights. However, as a number of recent deals transacted by Hicks Baker illustrate, the change of use to residential is not

02/27/2018

Linda Staker, business rates partner at Vail Williams, illustrates why it is more important than ever to know what businesses can do about minimising what they need to pay.   According to statistics published by Government in December, the number of business rates ‘checks’ lodged by Thames Valley businesses have dropped by a huge 97 per cent, compared with the previous revaluation in 2010. Despite boasting some of the country’s leading organisations, businesses in the Thames Valley are failing

04/19/2018

The professionals behind Oxfordshire’s thriving property sector were rewarded when hundreds gathered to celebrate the best in the industry. The Oxfordshire Property Awards was the finale of the day-long Oxfordshire Property Festival on Wednesday, April 18, organised by UK Property Forums, along with strategic partner, OxLEP. A total of 250 attended the evening while 130 were at the conference earlier in the day. Both events were sold out. A day that featured walks through the city and talks by

04/18/2018

Contemporary office space has been created in the centre of Oxford after a major ‘defurbishment’ of a series of buildings in St Aldates. Vantage Asset Management has now completed the work at 58 – 60 St Aldates which included stripping back the interior, creating ‘feature’ ceilings, installing LED lighting, new air conditioning and state-of-the-art breakout areas to create modern Class A office space. Agents VSL & Partners reported high demand from both existing and new tenants. Tom Barton,

04/18/2018

Director of business space at Hicks Baker, Stephen Head, has taken an additional role where he will help decide appeals from students at University College of Estate Management (UCEM). Mr Head has been appointed to the Independent Appeals Board (IAB) for the UCEM which is based at the University of Reading. The role of the IAB is to consider appeals to academic bodies relating to students’ admissions, progression, assessments and awards which remain unresolved after any internal appeals