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Homes&
Property
Wednesday 14 January 2015
London is
rubbish
with waste
Recycling crisis
Page 14
NO-COMMUTE HOMES P6 CASH IN THE ATTIC P11 MAGIC WITH MIRRORS P18 OUR HOME P26 SPOTLIGHT ON BALHAM P36
Don’t miss
the boat
Docklands homes for
young Londoners
ALAMY
Page 10
London’s best property search website: homesandproperty.co.uk
4
WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Online
homesandproperty.co.uk with
This week: homesandproperty.co.uk
news: London is best for jobs,
good pay and productivity
The lion’s share:
London grabs an
above-average
proportion of
Britain’s betterpaid new jobs
and contributes
more to the UK
economy than
any other region
THE economic “divide” between London and the rest of
Britain is continuing to widen, exclusive new research for
Homes & Property reveals. The capital is scooping more
new jobs and higher earnings than the national average,
while London home owners are seeing the value of their
property race ahead.
The figures, provided by Halifax, show the London
economy outperforming all other UK regions, boosted 20
per cent in four years. The capital’s house prices rocketed
49 per cent in the same period compared with 19 per cent
nationwide. London’s household incomes are 28 per cent
higher than the UK average, and while the capital has only
13 per cent of Britain’s population, it produces 22 per cent
of the national wealth.
Property
search
Trophy buy of the week
the perfect retreat in Putney
£5.25 million: a house like this would be wasted in a rural
backwater where no one could see it. Instead it stands proud
in one of West Putney’s prime avenues. There are four floors
and 5,450sq ft of living space, with six bedrooms, five
decadent bathrooms, a grand drawing room and an openplan kitchen/dining and living room leading out to a garden
terrace and heated pool. The basement has a gym, cinema
room and wine cellar. It’s for sale through John D Wood.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/trophyputney
London buy of the week flats sleek
enough to tame the gipsy in your soul
From £400,000: floor-to-ceiling
windows, wood floors and skylights
are used to full effect at this new
development of two-bedroom flats in
Gipsy Hill, SE27. Each light-filled home
offers a high-spec fit of underfloor
heating throughout, an open-plan
reception room with space to wine and
dine your guests while you cook up a
O Read the full story at homesandproperty.co.uk
renovation: 10 top projects
in and around London
£375,000: Old
All Saints Church,
Langdon Hills,
Basildon, is ripe
for conversion.
Follow the link
below for details
WHETHER you are a first-time buyer or are seeking more
space for your growing family, a renovation project can
be the smart way to make your budget stretch further.
Why not add an extension, spruce up a tired flat, or even
turn a church or barn into your dream home?
storm in the sleekest of kitchens, plus a
decent-size private balcony or garden.
Both stylish double bedrooms are
fitted with generous sliding-door
wardrobes and pale carpets. London
Bridge and Victoria stations are a short
train ride away. Through Foxtons.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/buygipsy
Life changer set sail for a
nautical Hampshire charmer
£850,000: this 18th-century Hayling Island hideaway, near
Langstone Harbour, has walls built from ships beams,
vaulted ceilings, and two cosy reception rooms with wood
burning stoves. There’s a generous kitchen/breakfast room
and a garden room, plus two double bedrooms upstairs. The
gardens include a Koi pond and a barn-style annexe perfect
for a holiday let. Through Jackson-Stops & Staff.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/lifechangerhay
By
Faye
Greenslade
O Find our top 10 projects at homesandproperty.co.uk/proj
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Janice
Morley
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5
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015
News Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Cue snooker ace
Jimmy, hoping for
a whirlwind sale
ÉVETERAN snooker player Jimmy
“The Whirlwind” White, right, has
put his Surrey home up for sale. The
five-bedroom detached house in
Epsom is on the market for £799,950
with The Cairds Estate Agents.
White, who published his
autobiography Second Wind in
November, bought the property when
he was going through financial
trouble. With life back on track it
seems a fitting time to start afresh.
The house’s location is good for
enjoying London, being just over 30
minutes from Victoria station, and for
Ollie’s pad, made
in West Brompton
O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/JimmyWhite for more pictures
By Amira Hashish
Got some gossip? Tweet @amiranews
ÉCELEBRITY BIG BROTHER star Ollie
Locke, right, is selling his bachelor
pad in West Brompton for £649,950.
The two-bedroom ground-floor
apartment, above, will be familiar to
Made in Chelsea fans, as it was used
for filming during Locke’s time on the
hit reality TV series.
Close to Fulham Broadway station,
the 481sq ft flat is as flamboyant as
you might expect, with black and
white-striped wallpaper in the living
room and bedroom. There is also a
patio area and access to a communal
gym and swimming pool.
O See homesandproperty.co.uk/ollie
REX
country weekend walks on the Downs
— once you’ve had the decorators in.
Style queen and
comic sell up as
baby makes three
É MODEL and actress Olivia Wilde
and Saturday Night Live funnyman
Jason Sudeikis, below, are selling
their New York apartment.
Located in the trendy Meatpacking
District, the stylish home, above, is
listed for just under £2.64 million.
The American couple have lived in
the two-bedroom flat for two years
but now that they have an eightmonth old son, Otis, they are looking
for a bigger place. Wilde, who is the
face of H&M’s Conscious Exclusive
collection 2015, put her stamp on the
1,670sq ft apartment, going for cool
white interiors and hardwood floors.
ÉTHE super-rich and
famous are visiting the
ExCeL centre at Royal
Victoria Dock this week
for the annual London
Boat Show. Singer Nicole
Scherzinger, far left, now
starring in Andrew Lloyd
Webber’s Cats at the
London Palladium,
attended the unveiling of
a 92ft Sunseeker
superyacht priced at
£4,763,000.
The motor yacht has
wraparound windows for
perfect ocean views, a
smart marble galley,
wood-panelled suites and
two decks with loungers.
Surely it would make a
suitably glamorous
purchase for Nicole and
her Formula One
champion boyfriend,
Lewis Hamilton.
Princess Anne, left, who
may prefer something
less blingy, is today’s
special guest at the event
which runs until Sunday
— and takes luxury oceangoing holiday homes to a
new level.
FILM MAGIC
REX
A £4.7m superyacht would
make any Cats star purr. . .
6
WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property New homes
homesandproperty.co.uk with
T
From £3.4 million: Merchant Square penthouses, Paddington
HE rising cost of commuting
is a compelling reason to
look for a new home in the
capital, where you can save
on train fares, maybe even
walk to your workplace, and enjoy all
that London has to offer.
Research by estate agency Haart suggests about half of the mortgage savings
that result from a move to a cheaper
property outside London are wiped
out by the high cost of getting to work
by rail. Ticket prices jumped by an
average of 2.8 per cent at the start of
this month. Indeed, season ticket costs
are now so high that some areas —
Oxford and Cambridge among them
— are more expensive for commuters
to live in than London.
Season tickets have increased by
roughly four times more than average
wages over the last five years, according to the Campaign for Better Transport. A Milton Keynes to London
season ticket has jumped 23.5 per cent
since January 2010 to £4,888 now.
Previously, the combination of lower
property prices, reasonable fares and
fast trains made Milton Keynes one of
the best-value commuter locations —
but no longer.
This change comes at a time when
London’s mainline stations, busier
than ever, are at the centre of ambitious
regeneration that is turning the surrounding districts into property
hotspots.
Not since the great Victorian railway
era have mainline stations been such
important commercial hubs. Crossrail
has been a catalyst at Paddington, but
new planning policies and multibillion-
New designer stations make
pound investment have been putting
London’s other mainline stations at the
heart of new mixed-use communities,
with smart new homes, shops and glittering offices changing the skyline and
burying the stigma of living too close
to the tracks.
These much-improved neighbourhoods are popular with twentysomething and thirtysomething career
professionals and those who simply
love London in all its grand variety,
people set to benefit from the 24-hour
weekend Tube service that is being
introduced in September.
It’s wise to check out these areas now,
as their residential values will get a big
boost in coming years.
London’s mainline stations have
become hubs for buyers who see
commuting as a waste of time
and money, says David Spittles
If you are a commuter,
Oxford and Cambridge are
more expensive to live in
than central London
WATERLOO
SHOWROOMS
Battersea T 020 7819 2300
Islington T 020 7354 7000
Surrey
T 020 8481 9588 (featuring the Outlet)
SURFACETILES.COM
A mayoral vision for a revitalised quarter around Waterloo station, London’s
biggest and busiest commuter hub, is
coming to fruition.
Redevelopment of Shell Centre into
877 new homes has been given the
planning green light and is one of several key projects set to transform the
windswept streets around the station,
including a run-down patch that has
not recovered since the Greater
London Council left County Hall more
than 25 years ago. Elizabeth House,
From £895,000: Dover House apartments, Lower Marsh, SE1
a Sixties eyesore in York Road, is to be
replaced with 142 flats and two office
towers for up to 8,500 workers, while
a new public space called Victory Arch
will be created in front of the station
and better pedestrian routes will be
opened up to Royal Festival Hall. The
sprawling station complex extends to
24½ acres and is home to the disused
Eurostar terminal, which will either be
brought back to life for commuter services or be transformed into a shopping
mall.
Coin Street Community Builders,
the influential grass-roots group that
converted derelict Oxo Tower into a
fashionable complex of flats, galleries
and restaurants, is redeveloping land
it owns at Upper Ground, near the
National Theatre. A new headquarters
for the Rambert dance company is
complete and coming next is a 43-storey tower with 355 flats plus a leisure
centre, cafés and a new town square.
Call 020 7021 1600.
Despite its growing cachet, Waterloo
might still be described as a “discount
district”, a good-value Zone 1 address
that is within budget even for many
first-time buyers.
It has a charming urban residential
mix — pretty Victorian terraces such as
those in Roupell Street, charitable and
church housing, cared-for council
estates and small pockets of new apartments, as well as sweeping waterfront
developments.
Dover House, a former hotel and
restaurant in Lower Marsh, which has
a street market and is attracting more
upmarket shops and boutiques, has
7
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015
New homes Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Moments from
the Shard: 37
new apartments,
left, at Melior
Street, London
Bridge. Call 020
3640 7555 to
register
123 apartments in elegant high-rise
blocks with communal roof terraces.
Prices from £990,000. Call 020 3376
6409.
Merchant Square is a cluster of
canalside apartment blocks amid
attractive landscaped areas with
“sculptural” bridges across the water
leading to a garden square, performance space and an innovative “water
maze”.
Penthouses up to 4,308sq ft in size,
with vast “sunset” terraces, have been
launched. Prices from £3.4 million. Call
020 7993 7393.
Right: 142 flats
will be created at
redeveloped
Elizabeth House,
Waterloo
LONDON BRIDGE
While current travel disruption due to
construction work at the station is a
commuter curse, the silver lining is that
London Bridge will be a far better place
when work is completed. The station
is being completely rebuilt and when
finished in 2018 will have the largest
concourse in the country, bigger than
the pitch at Wembley Stadium.
The £6.5 billion Thameslink project
is about “place-making” as much as
transport connectivity, with London
Bridge evolving into a major business
and residential district.
T
Lateral living
near Southbank
culture: flats in
Dover House,
right, a former
restaurant near
Waterloo, start
at £895,000
the living easy — and cheaper
been refurbished and split into nine
lateral apartments priced from
£895,000. Call estate agent JacksonStops & Staff on 020 7664 6649.
PADDINGTON
Once-undesirable Paddington has
turned the corner in terms of residential status. Bustling Praed Street, the
main commercial drag, is improving,
while seedy B&Bs and backpacker
hotels are becoming boutique flats.
The new Crossrail station is eagerly
awaited as the new east-west route will
allow bankers and lawyers to live in
west London from 2018 while enjoying
a quick and painless 17-minute commute to Canary Wharf.
Many travellers who pass through the
station are unaware of Paddington’s
revitalised canal basin, once a closedoff industrial zone but now a convivial
urban quarter of homes, shops, offices
and waterfront bars and brasseries.
Some say it lacks the vitality of neighbouring Bayswater and the charm of
Little Venice, but it has plenty of devotees. The area is on the periphery of
core central London and within com-
fortable walking distance of Marylebone, Marble Arch and Hyde Park.
“There has been a price correction
following an overzealous market last
year,” says Tom Folland of the local
Hamptons International branch, hinting at buying opportunities.
Paddington Exchange, next to
busy Harrow Road, is part of the
80-acre canalside district and brings
HE Shard has cemented the
area’s fast-rising status, and
the objective now is to integrate that tower of riches
with a mainly small-scale
area that includes medieval lanes and
passageways. London Bridge Quarter
is the name of the wider development
zone, which is causing property ripples
in bordering Borough and Bermondsey. City boys and creative types as well
as emigrés from posher parts of southwest London are renting and buying
locally, according to estate agent
Daniel Cobb. Apartment schemes are
continuing to spring up, some in
slightly off-pitch locations where values
are lower.
The Valentine, in Long Lane, has 19
flats priced from £680,000. Call 020
7357 0026.
Crest Nicholson has three projects on
the go, including redevelopment of
Brandon House, which will bring 100
homes, including flats and townhouses.
Another scheme, in Melior Street,
moments from the Shard, has 37 flats.
To register, call 020 3640 7555.
8
WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Stamp duty
£250,000: a two-bedroom top-floor Catford flat (homesandproperty.co.uk/vicpub)
Will it be a flat in
a grand old pub…
T
HE number of first-time
buyers rose by 22 per cent
to 327,000 last year,
making it the busiest year
since 2007 when the figure
was 360,000. Under new stamp duty
rates there will be even more
incentive for first-timers to go home
hunting. There will be no tax on the
first £125,000 of a property’s price.
Between £125,000 and £250,000,
two per cent will be charged and
between £250,000 and £925,000,
five per cent.
The new progressive system means
small increases in price won’t trigger
huge hikes in stamp duty fees. Lucian
Young London
first-time buyers
have been thrown
a tax lifeline, says
Ruth Bloomfield
Cook, director of residential research
at Savills, believes it will take some
pressure off. “First-time buyers will
make savings that they can put
towards a deposit, and there will be
more property for them to choose
from just above the £250,000 mark.”
FIRST-TIME BUYERS: WHAT AND WHERE TO BUY
CATFORD, SOUTH LONDON
Why? Buyers priced out of Clapham
and East Dulwich are turning their
attentions to good-value Catford.
There are trains to London Bridge in
22 minutes, and an annual season
ticket costs £1,472. Local schools are
all high achieving, uniformly
receiving “good” ratings from Ofsted.
Why not? The housing stock is good
but the town centre is drab and
grimy. There is, however, some
council-planned regeneration.
How much? Richard Wells, director
ABBEY WOOD
SOUTH-EAST LONDON
Why? Already fantastically handy for
Canary Wharf, this area is a slightly
overlooked beneficiary of Crossrail,
which will give it fast trains to the
West End and Heathrow, too. It’s an
incredibly mixed property area with
Victorian and Edwardian period
conversion flats, ex-local authority
blocks and a few modern
apartments.
Why not? There is no café culture as
yet, and SE2 nightlife revolves
around a few jaded pubs. Many
properties were converted to flats in
the Seventies and Eighties on 99-year
leases, so some available now are on
uncomfortably short leases.
How much? Tony Murray, sales
manager at Robinson Jackson, says a
two-bedroom conversion would sell
at Hunters estate agents, says the
Corbett Estate, a grid of Victorian
terraces just east of the town centre,
is the place to look. First-time buyers
could invest £250,000 in a twobedroom flat, or pay £400,000 to
£425,000 for a three-bedroom
house. Five- to six-bedroom
properties sell at about £650,000.
For sale: a two-bedroom top-floor
flat (pictured top) within a grand
Victorian pub conversion, is on the
market for £250,000 with Acorn. See
homesandproperty.co.uk/vicpub
at about £230,000, while ex-local
authority flats are a budget option at
about £165,000. Families will need
between £310,000 and £320,000 for
a three-bedroom Victorian terrace.
For sale: this three-bedroom end-ofterrace house, below, in need of
updating, priced at £269,995, is on the
market with Edwards. Visit
homesandproperty.co.uk/abwd
! !
! ! ! !
9
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015
ALAMY
Stamp duty Homes & Property
Under an hour from the City: the charming Essex market town of Saffron Walden
…or a cosy thatch
an hour away?
SAFFRON WALDEN, ESSEX
Why? this medieval market town is
absolutely charming, full of lovely
timber-frame cottages and plenty of
traditional tea shops and pretty pubs.
London commuters can be in the
City in less than an hour. Saffron
Walden County High School is rated
“outstanding” by Ofsted.
Why not? This is not London — you
must leave the nightlife behind.
How much? From about £125,000 to
£130,000 buys a two-bedroom
purpose-built flat, according to
Kevin Moll, director of Kevin Henry
estate agents. A three-bedroom
Seventies house would be priced at
about £220,000.
Character houses in Saffron Walden
town centre are expensive but Moll
suggests going just a mile south of the
BISHOP’S STORTFORD,
HERTFORDSHIRE
Why? This is a good spot for families
seeking out solid schooling.
Hertfordshire and Essex High School,
for girls, is rated “outstanding” by
Ofsted, while Bishop’s Stortford Boys
School gets a “good” rating.
This is a good-looking market town
surrounded by beautiful countryside.
Trains from Bishop’s Stortford to
Liverpool Street take a speedy 38
minutes and an annual season ticket
costs £4,832.
Why not? The town centre is dull
but Cambridge is close for nights out.
Homes on the east side of town suffer
from Stansted airport noise.
How much? William Wells, a
director of Mullucks Wells, says the
entry price is about £165,000 for a
one-bedroom purpose-built flat. A
two-bedroom Victorian semi costs
about £225,000 to £235,000, and
modern three-bedroom houses start
centre where you can pick up a
three-bedroom Edwardian house
in Pleasant Valley for about
£300,000.
For sale: this picture-book thatched
cottage, above, with three bedrooms
and half an acre of garden, is on the
market for £250,000 with Cheffins.
See homesandproperty.co.uk/saff
at about £300,000. Period houses
start at closer to £400,000.
For sale: a two-bedroom period
detached thatched cottage in a village
just outside the town is on the market
with Intercounty for £250,000. See
homesandproperty.co.uk/bish
STAMP DUTY:
THE WINNERS
Price
Oldrate
Newrate Saving
£200,000
£225,000
£250,000
£275,000
£300,000
£325,000
£350,000
£375,000
£400,000
£500,000
£ 2,000
£ 2,250
£ 2,500
£ 8,250
£ 9,000
£ 9,750
£10,500
£11,250
£12,000
£15,000
£ 1,500
£ 2,000
£ 2,500
£3,750
£ 5,000
£6,250
£7,500
£8,750
£10,000
£15,000
£ 500
£250
£0
£4,500
£4,000
£3,500
£3,000
£2,500
£2,000
£0
Source: Savills
10
WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property First-time buyer
homesandproperty.co.uk with
T
HE East London line’s Overground service has made
Surrey Quays a fantastically
handy location for anyone
who works in Canary Wharf.
This excellent Zone 2 transport link has
helped to trigger impressive house
price growth in an area that largely
missed out on the great Docklands
boom of the Eighties and Nineties, with
an average property now approaching
the £450,000 mark.
Happily, housing association L&Q has
a more affordable option for those keen
on life in the Quays. Greenland Place
is a development of 95 shared-ownership homes with prices starting at
£80,000 for a 25 per cent share in a
one-bedroom flat. It is estimated that
Affordable option: shared-ownership
homes, Greenland Place, Surrey Quays
You haven’t missed
the Docklands boat
New flats at Surrey Quays are within reach
of first-time buyers, says Ruth Bloomfield
the monthly costs, including rent,
mortgage and service charge, will come
in at £1,149.
A 25 per cent share of a two-bedroom
flat will cost £110,000, and the monthly
costs here total £1,449.
The first tranche of 40 homes
launched late last year, while another
55 will be put on sale early this year.
This second tranche will also include
some three-bedroom homes.
Every property at the development
has a private balcony or terrace, and
first priority will be given to buyers
who currently live or work in Bexley,
Bromley, Greenwich, Lewisham or
Southwark.
The development is named for Greenland Dock, once at the heart of London’s shipping industry, which is just
a few minutes’ walk to the north. Today
it is home to the Surrey Docks Watersports Centre, where activities include
sailing and kayaking.
Other local attractions include Surrey
Docks City Farm, with an amazing
backdrop of Canary Wharf. Southwark
Park is half a mile away and has football
pitches, free tennis courts, and a
café.
Olivia Scrimshaw, assistant director
of marketing at L&Q, says the area’s
green space is one of its highlights. “It
From £80,000: for 25 per cent of a one-bedroom flat, or £110,000 for 25 per cent of a two-bedroom flat at Greenland Place
also has a charming Docklands appeal
and it is an area which not many people
have discovered,” she says.
On the downside this is an area
which, as Scrimshaw puts it, is “still
O See lqgroup.org.uk/greenlandplace
First-time buy: a 524sq ft one-bedroom
flat in immaculate condition is for sale
through Kinleigh Folkard and Hayward
in the smart Baltic Quay development.
It’s 10 minutes walk from Surrey
Quays station and has a water view.
Offers over £335,000. Visit
homesandproperty.co.uk/baltic
Eat: enjoy a cracking home-cooked
breakfast or brunch at Mudchute
Kitchen, the excellent café attached to
the local city farm.
Drink: clamber aboard the Wibbly
Wobbly, a pub on a boat moored at
Rope Street, where you can enjoy a
pint and a barbecue on the pontoon
on summer weekends.
Shop: pick up anything you could
possibly want in the way of sports
gear, from running shoes to road
bikes, at Decathlon Surrey Quays. Or
try to spot the next big contemporary
artist at The Agency Gallery in Evelyn
Street.
Walk: Surrey Quays is handy for
Southwark and Deptford Parks, but its
unique selling point is its proximity to
the Thames Path for riverside strolls.
THE KNOWLEDGE: SURREY QUAYS
Past: Greenland Place earned its
name from Greenland Dock, London’s
oldest riverside wet dock. Dating from
the 17th century, the dock was
popular with whaling ships but closed
in the Seventies and was filled in.
Future: developer British Land is
spending £38 million revamping
shabby Surrey Quays shopping centre
this year and is also set to redevelop
the 14-acre former Associated
Newspapers printworks site with
homes, shops and offices. A planned
£60 million complex for King’s College
London students should bring a buzz.
Trivial pursuit: Surrey Docks was the
first London Blitz bombing victim, on
September 7 1940.
What homes cost: an average home
in Surrey Quays costs £445,633, up
almost 12 per cent year on year, and
an average flat costs £411,767, says
Zoopla property website. For renters,
an average one-bedroom flat costs
£1,407 per calendar month, with a
two-bedroom flat coming in at £1,889.
Landmarks: possibly Britain’s
coolest library, a bronze hexagonal
building designed by architect Piers
Gough of CZWG, opened overlooking
Canada Water in 2012. Of a somewhat
older vintage is The Mayflower, a
traditional riverside pub on the
spot where the Pilgrim Fathers set
sail for the New World almost 400
years ago.
Bermondsey, it has not yet had that
gentrification. But it is the next area in
line,” adds Scrimshaw.
being refined” — by which she means
it is short on café culture, interesting
shops and nightlife.
“It is not yet of the same stature
as places like Canada Water and
LIME WALK
+,
LAUNCH WEEKEND SAT 24TH & SUN 25TH JANUARY
LIME WALK COMPRISES A CONTEMPORARY
COLLECTION OF 1, 2 & 3 BEDROOM APARTMENTS
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11
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015
Money Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Cash in your attic — and on your drive
Charging to store someone else’s belongings or let them park off-road at your place is a growing trend, finds Steve Lodge
D
O YOU have a driveway
that’s rarely used? Is there
room for a few more boxes
in your attic? Renting out
your unused parking space,
or storing someone else’s belongings,
offer potentially easy ways to earn
extra income from your home. With
parking and storage at a premium in
London, some households are pocketing hundreds of pounds a month from
such arrangements.
Home owners in central postcodes
or close to London’s airports or train
stations can earn more than £2,000 a
year from letting a private parking
space, according to JustPark.com, an
online marketplace for parking.
Its website, which lists more than
10,000 driveways, garages and parking
spaces for rent in London, says that
even in less sought-after locations,
households are making £500 to £1,000
a year from their parking lettings.
Nice little earner: Saha Habib lets
out her Golders Green driveway for
£5 a day or £3 an hour via JustPark
WHAT YOU COULD EARN
FROM SPARE SPACE
Monthly rental of a parking space, to a
commuter, for example, typically
yields up to £200 — more in some cases
— while properties near major football
stadiums such as Wembley, Chelsea or
Emirates can earn £25 a car for letting
their driveways on a match day.
Meanwhile, Londoners who rent out
space in their homes or garages for
storage via the Storemates.co.uk
marketplace make an average of £100
a month, according to the site. Some
are said to earn £200 a month.
Thousands of private London parking
and storage spaces are let through
online marketplaces, while some home
owners find renters directly, including
those who put up handwritten signs
offering parking in Wimbledon when
the summer tennis tournament is on.
For renters, these spaces can be much
cheaper than the commercial alternatives. According to consumer website
Moneysavingexpert.com, it is possible
to find private parking spaces on marketplace sites that are half the price of
local NCP car parks. Listing your rental
DANIEL LYNCH
MATCH DAY MONEY MAKERS
Making his home pay: Jan Rees earns
up to £200 a month renting out the
spare space under his roof for storage
space with a marketplace is usually
free, with the website charging commission if the listing attracts bookings.
Commission can be 15 to 20 per cent,
though some sites charge the renter
rather than the owner of the space.
Generally, websites provide contracts
for bookings or have rental agreement
documents that can be printed off and
filled in. Moneysavingexpert, which
has an online guide to parking rentals,
recommends that home owners letting
a parking space have a written contract
stating they are not responsible for the
vehicle and its contents. It is also worth
checking your home insurance for
cover in case of damage or disputes.
Many online marketplaces also handle
rental payments, meaning driveway
owners can make money from shortterm parking without having to be
around to meet drivers.
‘EASIER THAN HAVING A LODGER’
Ross Jezzard of south London estate
agency Jezzards, who is a board member of the Association of Residential
Letting Agents, says that while parking
marketplaces “work brilliantly for
short-term lets”, home owners may get
a better deal from a traditional agent
for letting a garage.
He says Jezzards will list a garage for
rent on property websites Rightmove
and Zoopla, do viewings and collect
rental payments for about eight per
cent commission — half the cost of
many marketplace sites.
When storing someone else’s belongings in your home, you will need to
agree access arrangements, and online
marketplaces advise compiling an
inventory of stored items. But according to Jan Rees, who lets out storage
space in the attic of his Victorian house
in Ealing through Storemates: “Compared with having a lodger, this is a
low-maintenance, low-headache way
of making some extra money. ”
Rees, who has also backed Storemates
via a “crowdfunding” investment, says
he earns £150 to £200 a month for storing 30 to 40 boxes of household items
for several individuals, charging “about
£1 a box a week”.
“Some people are going away travelling or working abroad. They might
store their stuff and then I don’t see
them for a year,” he says. Rees adds
that while he agrees a notional value
for stored goods with owners, he uses
a rental contract which states no insur-
O A private parking space close to
Wembley, Chelsea or Emirates
football stadiums: £25 a match, or
£30+ for very convenient locations
O Driveway in Wimbledon during
summer tennis tournament: £25
per car per day
O Typical off-street parking in
Zone 4: £4 per day
O Parking space in King’s Cross:
£150 to £180 a month
O Secure parking space in
Hammersmith: £150 a month
O Garage in Putney: £170 to £210 a
month
O Storing 40 boxes in the attic of
a house in Ealing: £150 to £200 a
month
Sources: JustPark.com; ParkLet.co.uk; Storemates.co.uk
ance cover is provided, and claims
there have been no problems in the two
years he has let space.
O Online marketplaces for parking
places and/or storage space include:
JustPark.com; ParkLet.co.uk; YourParkingSpace.co.uk; ParkOnMyDrive.com;
Storemates.co.uk; StoreNextDoor.com,
and ShareMyStorage.com.
12
WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Homes abroad
B
RITISH skiers in Switzerland
generally keep close to
Geneva and its French-speaking resorts such as Verbier
— but don’t ignore the Alpine
resor ts around well- connec ted
Zurich.
Graubünden in south-east Switzerland has glitzy resorts including St
Moritz and Davos, but also lesser stellar
names. A new cable car linking Arosa
with Lenzerheide created Switzerland’s
fourth largest ski area last winter, with
140 miles of sunny slopes. This is where
tennis ace Roger Federer has his family
ski chalet.
New flats at Arosa Haus Ratia, three
low-level buildings in the village centre
close to the ski lifts start from £448,000
for one to four bedrooms through
Investors in Property. These comfortable, well-built homes have open-plan
layouts and sleek white kitchens.
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Permission to buy
is highly prized
SWITZERLAND only issues 1,400
permits each year for non-residents
wishing to buy property. These
permits are divided between all 26
cantons, or regions, which each have
their own rules on who can and cannot
own property. Generally it is easier to
buy in the south west, including Valais,
Vaud and Bernese Oberland, while the
town of Zermatt has never allowed
non-resident foreigners to buy.
Non-Swiss buyers can only buy in
tourist developments. They can own
only a single property at any one time
and it must be no larger than 2,150sq ft.
Some cantons restrict foreigners from
reselling their property within a certain
time limit, generally five to 10 years.
It’s great for families
From £341,000: Hohegarten Residence apartments, Laax. Call 020 8905 5511
TAILORED DEALS
Travel company Powder Byrne is selling
Chesa Arosa, nine two- and three-bedroom flats between two of Arosa’s lakes.
The thoughtfully designed homes of up
to 1,356sq ft start from £646,000 and
include good storage, communal gym,
sauna and steam rooms. Powder Byrne
will organise every part of the buying
process and also rentals for timestrapped owners.
A SWISS CELEBRITY
Lenzerheide and its outlying villages
are better known than Arosa and property prices are higher. Newly com-
The magic of Swiss villages
Cathy Hawker finds new homes in well-connected Alpine resorts
pleted Haus Corona in the centre of
Lenzerheide has 20 two- to five-bedroom apartments — 12 are sold — priced
from £831,300 through Investors in
Property. These are cosy, well-built
homes with fireplaces, good storage,
chalet-style wooden beams and fabulous Corian kitchen worktops.
ALPINE DESIGN
At the top of Laax among the trees,
Hohegarten Residence is one of the
most striking and intriguing projects in
the Alps. Eighty new flats spill gradually
down the mountainside, all hidden from
each other. Owners look out over their
neighbours’ green roofs, snow-covered
in winter. One- to three-bedroom apartments start from £341,000 through
Investors in Property.
O Investors in Property: investorsin
property.com (020 8905 5511)
O Powder Byrne: powderbyrne
properties.com (020 8246 5306)
CAMERON and Matt Alexander live and
work in Zurich. Two years ago they
bought a two-bedroom apartment at
Hohegarten in the ski resort of Laax,
where they spend weekends and
holidays year round with children
Poppy, three, and Felix, two.
“We wanted to be within 90 minutes of
Zurich on easy roads. We are five
minutes from the centre but right up in
the trees with deer outside the window.
There are slopes in front and good walks
behind,” says Cameron. “The Swiss love
Laax but it is not known in the UK. It has
a cool snowboarding vibe and is great
for families with excellent children’s day
care.” Cameron runs Laax Treetops
property rentals and says demand in the
year-round resort is strong.
O laaxtreetops.ch
O alps-rentals
THE VIEW IS
EVER CHANGING
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13
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015
Shopping Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
1 SURFACE TILES
1
Alabastri porcelain tiles, down
25 per cent from £122.40 to £91.80
a square metre. Until January 31
2
3
(surfacetiles.com)
2 VIADUCT
Hiroki dining table by Philipp
Mainzer for e15, with white
lacquered base and white Carrara
marble top, down 70 per cent
from £4,788 to £1,435. Until
January 24. Viaduct, Summers
Street, EC1 (viaduct.co.uk)
3 HOLLOWAYS OF LUDLOW
(IN LONDON)
David Trubridge’s coral pendant
bamboo lights are down from £390
to £273 (large) and from £280 to
£196 (small). Until January 31. Online
and at Shepherd’s Bush Road, Brook
Green, W6 (hollowaysofludlow.com)
4 UNIQUEANDUNITY.CO.UK
Orla Kiely Sixties Stem Liquorice
floor lamp, down from £315 to
£221. While stocks last.
5 HEAL’S
Bounce chair by Naughtone in
pastel pink, down from £295
to £206. Until Sunday. Heal’s,
Tottenham Court Road, W1
(heals.co.uk)
5
6 FIRED EARTH
Code tiles from the Graphix 3D
range, down from £124.76 a square
metre to £62.38. Until mid-
February (firedearth.com)
Design
Desig
esign
esi
ign new
ig
ne
n
news
ews
ws
s
at the sales
By Katie Law
6
4
14
WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Cutting waste
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Suit your pocket:
built-in separated
waste bins, far
left, in a kitchen
by luxury firm
SieMatic at
nicholas-anthony.
co.uk (020 7486
7615). Stackable
Sortera recycling
bins, left, £6 each
at ikea.com
Right: built-in
Wesco Trio recycle
bins, £114.95 at
johnlewis.com
(03456 049 049)
London is
rubbish at
recycling
The way we deal with waste differs in each of
London’s 33 boroughs, causing chaos and
confusion. Barbara Chandler is shocked
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+88)))))55)+8+/7-9
A FRESH
SOLUTION
LONDON firm
Joseph Joseph,
founded by twins
Antony, right, and
Richard Joseph,
has just launched
the Totem
Intelligent Waste
range of kitchen
bins.
The bins,
pictured, have
dividers for waste
separation and
recycling, plus
odour filters, and
come in two sizes
and colours. They
cost from £175 at
josephjoseph.
com and at
johnlewis .com.
OUR GARDENS ARE TIPS
CHARLIE BETTINSON
)!5+/),+8-))/+-/))//)++9/
close on Sunday. As for the rest of the
year, every borough has a different
policy and system when it comes to
waste collection and recycling — just
look at the variety of bins and
different-coloured bin bags on the
city’s streets.
Services can differ even within the
same borough, depending on
whether you live in a house, tower or
low-rise block.
London’s landlords are generally
lazy about enforcing recycling and as
more than 50 per cent of young
Londoners rent, that can be a lot of
wasted waste. Renters, meanwhile,
on the move from borough to
borough, find recycling systems
confusing. In shared housing it takes
only one person not to care and the
whole system fails.
NYONE who tried to get
their local council to take
away their Christmas tree
after 12th night last week
will know how arbitrary
and chaotic the rules covering
disposal of waste can be in London —
with each borough dancing to a
different tune. If you live in Islington,
for instance, you’ve still got two days
left to get your tree collected, and
Merton’s “dedicated tree collection
crews” continue their patrols until
January 25.
Some councils demand trees are
cut up to fit fully inside your organic
waste bin. Others operate depots for
you to drop off your tree, including
Westminster which has 23 collection
points operating until tomorrow
week, while those in Enfield’s parks
A recent Twitter poll confirmed the
huge differences in how and when
London councils collect waste.
Mixed collections of paper/glass/
metal/plastics are the norm, and
tweeters complain of being plagued
by foxes and squirrels. Many front
gardens are now — literally — tips.
From the beginning of this year, all
councils are legally obliged to collect
metals, plastic, paper and glass
separately. In practice, however,
they can simply claim this is not
“technically, environmentally or
economically practicable”.
For example, pollution from extra
refuse vans might cancel out any
environmental value of separated
waste, or kerb sides may not be big
enough for separate containers. So
experts say the near future is not
likely to bring significant change.
15
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015
Cutting waste Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
MANY householders hate the small bins councils supply for
collecting food waste. This chute with stainless steel liner from
bespoke kitchen maker Smallbone of Devizes goes straight
into a pull-out collection drawer below the worktop to catch
peelings and other waste. Smallbone’s flagship showroom is in
Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, SW3. Call 020 7589 5998 or
visit smallbone.co.uk. Complete kitchens cost from £40,000.
DEMONSTRATING that building waste separation into your
new kitchen can be a sleek affair, these bins were created for
a Smallbone client who was keen to comply with the local
London council rules and requested special slide-out undercounter units with pop-up lids, allowing separation of four
types of waste — general household, mixed recycling, glass
bottles/jars, and compostable food etc (smallbone.co.uk)
Waste not, want not: recycling is a way of life for Sarah Johnson, Max and Milly
All the family’s on a waste-cutting mission
WE’RE GETTING WORSE
As a nation we recycle about 43 per
cent of our rubbish. But the average
figure for London is only 34 per cent,
and that level is getting worse in
some boroughs, recent government
figures reveal. On the downward
slope are Newham, Havering,
Wandsworth, Richmond and
Lewisham. Councils say shared
housing is to blame. But Harrow,
Haringey and Southwark recycling
rates have increased, with Bexley
topping the table at 55 per cent.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
London households each bin food
worth £660 a year, while the national
average is £572. About 75 per cent of
London households recycle paper
and cardboard but this falls to 37 per
cent for food waste, despite the food
“caddies” now supplied by many
councils. These figures come from
the Association of Manufacturers of
Domestic Appliances which, not
surprisingly, suggests waste disposal
units would help. They cost from
about £70 up to £350, plus fitting.
HELP AND HINTS
O Your local council is first resort for
waste disposal and recycling.
O Ask what your local charities will
take — some welcome furniture and
even electrical equipment.
O Don’t cut fire labels off upholstery
—it renders furniture unusable.
O Enter your postcode at
recyclenow.org for local suggestions.
O For clothes recycling tips, go to
loveyourclothes.org.uk.
O To save and store more food, visit
lovefoodhatewaste.com.
SARAH JOHNSON, mother of Milly,
nine, and Max, five, is a recycler par
excellence, with an eco-design
degree from Goldsmiths. She and
her partner, Jason Allcorn, founded
the [re]design social enterprise to
encourage sustainable products,
lifestyles and strategies.
They produce recycling craft
books, run exhibitions and
workshops, and renovated a VW
camper van with sustainable
materials. Home is a 1959 end-ofterrace house in Croydon, where
they keep two bins for paper and
other recyclables, with three more
under the kitchen sink — one for
metals, plastic, glass and Tetra
Pak, a second for more paper and
cardboard, and the third for nonrecyclables. Even Max uses the
correct council-supplied bins. A
council plastic food caddy has been
upgraded to a metal one, outgrown
toys and clothes go to friends, and
worn-out items to charity.
O redesigndesign.org
18
WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Interiors
Make a hallway seem wider, lighten
a room or double the impact of a
beautiful view. That’s the magic of
mirrors, says Barbara Chandler
homesandproperty.co.uk with
1
2
T
HINK of mirrors as the magicians of modern interiors.
They conjure up space and
light, Londoners love them
and glass is cheap. . . until
you get into designer territory. But like
all the best tricks, you have to know
how to work them.
Most important of all is what will be
reflected in your mirrors. You don’t
want to be always looking at yourself
when relaxing on the sofa, and mirrors
that picture you eating with friends — or
worse, eating your breakfast — are a
definite no-no.
In hallways, full-length mirrors work
well, lightening, lengthening and
widening the space, while a mirror
between two windows in any room can
give the impression of a third opening.
Mirro
Mirror,
ror
or, mirror
or
or
Some eye-catching designs are divided
into “panes” and arched, to heighten
the illusion.
A chest with a lamp and an elegant
vase on top and a well-proportioned
mirror behind creates a feeling of space.
Mirrors behind bedside tables can give
the same effect. A mirror opposite a
window will reflect light and a view,
which is great news if the view is beautiful, sad if it’s dingy. A mirror at right
angles to a window does the same, and
of course the view is different.
Mirrors in alcoves are a given and
mirrors above fireplaces should be big,
preferably covering the whole chimney
breast, and finished off with a handsome bevelled edge. Buying mirror
from a builders’ merchant, or a glass
6
supplier who will cut it to your required
size and will often come to your home
to fit it, is a cheap way of creating great
effect. And buying old picture frames
for little money at junk shops or small
auction houses, then fitting glass into
them, works out a whole lot cheaper
than buying an “antique” mirror.
If you rent your home and are not
allowed to fix a mirror, lean a tall one
against a wall — but make sure it is
secure.
Round convex mirrors have an
intriguing fish-eye effect, while a sunburst mirror is eternally splendid.
Currently many artists are experimenting with mirrors to beautiful effect —
find collectors’ pieces at the Vessel
Gallery in Holland Park, for example.
ON REFLECTION
1
Group mirrors of different shapes for
alluring “broken” views — you could
mix new and second-hand, but the
ones pictured are from Laura Ashley,
and include the Sophia scallop mirror
at £85, the Rochelle scalloped design,
£250, and a set of three hanging mirrors at £40. Flagship stores are at Westfield Shopping Centre, W12, and in
Harriet Street, SW1. Call 0871 223 1422
or visit lauraashley.com for more
details and to book a design consultation.
2
David Roy of James Gorst Architects
in Clerkenwell lined a bathroom in
an apartment in Belgravia’s Eaton
Square with a clever collage of mirrors
that relect the leaves of London’s glorious plane trees. Says Roy: “You can use
mirrors in period or modern properties
— after all, Sir John Soane used mirrors
around a skylight to bounce light down
into his Georgian house in Lincoln’s
Inn Fields. But beware, mirrors used
opposite each other will reflect ad
infinitum anything ugly.” Visit jamesgorstarchitects.com.
3
Choose from a huge selection of
mirrors at Graham and Green, on
the web at grahamandgreen.co.uk and
in the west London showroom at The
Perfume Factory, Wales Farm Road,
W3. Mirrors pictured here include,
(front), the Piet Abstract, £215; the
19
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015
Interiors Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
5
Artist/craftsman Tom Palmer combines silvered glass and poured
translucent tinted resin, then adds an
overlay of glass, for an ethereal depth
of reflection similar to handmade Venetian glass. Prices start from around
£4,000. Available through guilded.
co.uk — call 01747 440 726. Contact
Palmer on 07738 710922 or visit
tompalmerstudio.com.
3
6
Mirrored furniture adds sparkle but
should reflect a well-ordered room.
This curved mirrored chest, £275, is
from a large selection at Out There Interiors. Call 020 8099 7443 or visit outthereinteriors.com.
Sunshine, framed by splints of wood,
£225 (far left), and the Cubist (far right),
£195, to hang sideways or lengthways.
4
Play your music in the bathroom
through this mirror’s Bluetooth
connection. Mirrors that won’t steam
up come in four sizes in Ideal Standard’s new Dea range of bathroom fittings, designed by Dick Powell. There
are also models with built-in LEDs activated by a motion sensor. Prices start
at £384. Find stockists at ideal-standard.co.uk or call 01482 346 461.
4
5
20
WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Interiors
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Rubens
in his
home
N
OBODY has ever painted
skin the way 17th-century
Flemish Baroque artist
Peter Paul Rubens did, so
that you can see the blood
coursing beneath it; or used colour —
particularly rich, glowing red velvets
and silks — in the same dramatic,
voluptuous way. He was the most
versatile, brilliant and prolific artist
and the Damien Hirst of his day.
Rubens delighted, innovated and
shocked, using a studio of talented
painters including Anthony van Dyck
to help produce work that was sent
across Europe, including to England.
He painted the glorious ceilings for
the Banqueting House in Whitehall.
Done in his Antwerp studio in 1634-5
on vast canvases, they were rolled
and shipped to London to be fitted.
Rubens’s Antwerp was a bustling
port with a magnificent harbour,
beautiful, gabled guild buildings in
Market Square, and the soaring
Cathedral of our Lady with its 400ft
tower, for which Rubens would paint
famous altarpieces. All these are still
there — but in other respects,
Above: Rubens’s Pan and Syrinx,
1617-19 (Museumslandschaft Hessen
Kassel, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister/
Ute Brunzel)
How did the artist live?
As an exhibition opens
in London, Philippa
Stockley visits his
historic Belgian house
Antwerp was very different from
today’s easy-going city. Throughout
the artist’s long life from 1577 to 1640,
religious wars flared up. His father,
Jan, a Calvinist, had fled Flanders for
Germany before Rubens was born to
avoid persecution, and Rubens only
went back when he was 10, to what
was then the intensely Catholic
Spanish Netherlands. He went to a
Catholic school, before being
apprenticed to learn his trade,
becoming a master himself in 1598,
aged 21. From 1600 he travelled
widely in Italy and Spain, returning
in 1608. His talent had been noted
and he was made court painter in
1609 — the year he married 18-year-
Far left: a self-portrait of the Flemish
master, whose Michelangelo-inspired
arched stone screen stands at the rear
of the Antwerp home he rebuilt, left
old Isabella Brant, who lived round
the corner. The couple bought a twostorey brick house, which Rubens
proceeded to redesign and rebuild.
ITALIAN-STYLE RICHNESS
The grandeur of the house and
gardens that Rubens created was
meant to mirror his success and
importance, and the house has been
restored based on late 18th-century
floorplans, along with two small
17th-century engravings.
Rubens designed it in the style of an
Italianate Renaissance palazzo. As
well as court painter he was a
successful international diplomat. His
clients were nobles and monarchs,
DISCOVER
EMERALD GARDENS
EXCEPTIONAL VILLAGE LIVING
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and the house had to reflect that. He
added a gabled top storey and a huge
studio that was separated from the
main house, with tall doors to get
paintings through. In this workshop,
artists including Van Dyck toiled at
scores of paintings that Rubens
sketched, and to which he then
probably added finishing touches.
The house’s imposing street front of
brick dressed with stone, with
leaded, shuttered windows, is fine
enough, but it is the back that
astonishes. Here, he made a
courtyard and separated it from the
stylised Baroque garden by a bold,
arched stone screen inspired by
Michelangelo, with Mercury, god of
painters, on top holding a palette and
brush. Inside, the house was equally
imposing, from its black-and-white
marble hall floors to quarry tile floors
laid out in red and black patterns
elsewhere.
The exposed timbers of the ceilings
combined with embossed leather
wall coverings and profusely carved
dark furniture, all lit by the gleam of
fire and candelabra, to make a rich
background to Rubens’s large
collection of paintings and books.
The artist also designed a circular
marble sculpture gallery for his
collected sculptures and busts. The
carved, curtained beds the Rubenses
slept in look short to our eyes
21
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Interiors Homes & Property
Read more: visit
our new online
luxury section
HomesAndProperty.co.uk/luxury
because it was conventional to sleep
propped up, to aid digestion.
Rubens painted Isabella into much
of his work, as well as doing portraits
of her. She died of the plague in 1626,
leaving three children. That same
year he painted her movingly as Mary
Magdalene in his massive work, The
Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
DRESS
YOUR
HOME TO
IMPRESS,
JUST LIKE
RUBENS
Above: the walls of the artist’s lobby
are lined with expensive leather
Grand style: exposed ceiling timbers
and a carved, curtained bed, right
A RUBENESQUE MUSE
couple lived in Rubens’s house and
had five children, and in the decade
before his death, Hélène inspired
many voluptuous female figures that
now epitomise the term Rubenesque.
In 1630 at 53, Rubens married again,
to Hélène Fourment, just 16, to whom
he was related by marriage.
Considered the most beautiful woman
in Flanders, she was the daughter of a
tapestry dealer, for whom her
husband created some designs. The
O Rubens and his Legacy runs from
January 24 to April 10 at the Royal
Academy of Arts, Piccadilly W1. More
information at royalacademy.org.uk.
O For details of Rubens’s house, visit
rubenshuis.be
O Antiqued brass light, above:
£1,756.08 at lighting-by-gabrielli.co.uk
O Narrow Dutch-style bricks: Wiener
berger.co.uk. Use in herringbone
pattern on pathways, for 17th-century
style
O Bespoke iron door hinges:
wroughtirondesigner.com
O Bespoke leaded windows: leadwindows.co.uk
O Hand-carved stone fire surround:
£48,000 from westlandlondon.com
':
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High specification, super-connected living
with outstanding residents’ facilities.
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26
WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Our home
homesandproperty
Space and light: the opened-up dual-aspect ground floor, where once were tiny windows and a yard door
F
OR most Britons, the new
stamp duty rates mean paying
a bit less of this hated tax,
which can only be a good thing.
But in London, where lots of
pretty ordinary houses and flats are
valued above £1 million, the new rules
mean paying more when you buy. The
10 per cent rate is payable above
£925,001, and on a property valued at
£2 million, stamp duty will now be an
eye-watering £153,750.
So why move, and give all that cash to
the taxman, if you can stay put and use
the money to turn your present house
into the home you really want, with far
less upheaval and stress?
LET THE MAKEOVER BEGIN
This is what the Westcott family did last
year with their tired, dark, badly
designed, stuck-in-the Sixties three-bed
room brick townhouse in Notting Hill.
They spent just over £150,000 including
architect’s fees on the house, which is
now worth about £2.9 million. For that,
they got nearly 20 per cent more space,
a new basement, a new glazed extension
to the garden, a roomier kitchen, an
extra bedroom, a cinema/games room,
two extra bathrooms and a muchimproved roof terrace.
Eye surgeon Mark Westcott and his wife
Sandrine, who have two sons, bought
the house in a back street in 2012. It was
not one of those pretty Notting Hill
powder-coloured terraces, but a brick
Welcoming family home: the transformed house in Notting Hill
Instead of buying a larger home and paying painful stamp duty, this couple
spent a similar amount on their house, creating the extra family space
they needed with a fabulous new extension, says Philippa Stockley
What a lot we
got for £151,000
upended oblong, with a yard, again in
brick, as well as a dark half-basement
used as a utility room at the back.
Inside the front door was a poky lobby,
a small, dark kitchen, and then a few
stairs down to the main living area, by
way of a strange, galleried space with
teak handrails that was neither a proper
room nor useful. At the rear were small
windows and a door to the yard.
The first floor had two bedrooms and
a bathroom, while the top floor held the
master bedroom with a bathroom jutting
into it, and there was a small door and
window to a roof terrace. A friend
introduced the Westcotts to architect
Peter Morris. The property was very
dated, he says, and the ground floor was
“not welcoming, and not really used.”
The couple wanted to create a contemporary, welcoming family home. “They
had about £150,000,” Morris says,
“which is relatively low. But good design
is about spending in the right places. You
could spend it all on a kitchen but if you
want to. you can get something pretty
special with that amount.”
Once hired, Morris did a survey of the
whole house. He thought it was odd that
the basement only went halfway under
the property so, bearing in mind that
money was tight, he had a few exploratory holes made in the wall. What he
found surprised everyone. Under the
front half of the house was a room-sized
hole, with an earth floor.
FAMILY CINEMA ROOM
Morris knew that, subject to planning
permission, he could turn this into a
proper, extended basement. And since
the family are movie buffs, they ended
up with a cinema and games room, a
spare bedroom and a bathroom.
Upstairs, they took out the pointless
lobby, and knocked the kitchen right
through into the odd dining platform,
creating a big, open ground floor with
front-to-back light and a friendly kitchendiner leading directly to the living area.
On the back of the living area, using permitted development rights, Morris put
a small extension with bi-folding doors
and a roof light, which draws the small
yard and the living space together, and
brings even more light into the house.
There is also glass set into the floor here,
sending light down to the basement.
But there was still money left. On the first
floor, which the boys took over, the main
THE FACTS AND FIGURES
WHAT IT COST
The family paid £2 million for the house
in winter 2012
Money spent: £151,200 of which
£16,200 was the architect’s fee (ex VAT)
Value now: estimated at £2.9 million
Architect: Peter Morris at
petermorrisarchitects.com
GET THE LOOK
Builder: TR Properties Ltd at
trproperties.co.uk
Ground-floor flooring: walnut from
the Natural Wood Floor Company at
naturalwoodfloor.co.uk
Bi-folding doors: supplied and fitted
Romantic: a poorly sited bathroom made way for a glass door to the roof terrace
by pmwindows4you at pmwindows4you.
co.uk
Kitchen appliances: from Elan Kitchens
in Fulham at elankitchens.co.uk
Oxford Antracita ceramic woodeffect bathroom floor tiles: from
Porcelanosa at porcelanosa.com
Ona wavy bathroom tiles: from
Porcelanosa, as before
Bathroom white goods: from the
Bathroom Discount Centre, Fulham, at
bathdisc.co.uk
White paint throughout: Linet at
dulux.co.uk
Sound system throughout the house:
by Sonos at sonos.com
NEW STAMP DUTY
RATES
Stamp duty is paid by home
purchasers. When you buy, these are
the stamp duty bands you’ll fall into:
Value of home
£0-£125,000
£125,001-£250,000
£250,001-£925,000
£925,001-£1.5 million
£1.5 million-plus
Tax rate
0 per cent
two per cent
five per cent
10 per cent
12 per cent
Photographs: Sophie Mutevelian
27
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015
Our home Homes & Property
ALL PICTURES BY SOPHIE MUTEVELIAN
y.co.uk with
bathroom got a revamp, and the older
brother got his own en suite bathroom.
For the parents on the top floor, the
clumsily placed bathroom was moved,
which created space for a romantic picture window and glass door out to the
roof terrace. The house is completely
different now. Three bathrooms, more
light, and space that works in the way
the family wants it to, particularly on the
opened up dual-aspect ground floor,
plus the amazing basement, is a lot of
Food for thought: the family-friendly
kitchen-diner, above, leads straight on
to the living area, while the extension
with bi-folding doors and a roof light,
above right, draws the outside space
and the living space together
bang for their buck. The basement even
went through planning permission with
no problem because hardly any excavation was needed. So if you’re on the horns
of a stamp duty dilemma, ask yourself: is
moving really the answer?
O There are a few places left for New
London Architecture’s Don’t Move, Improve!
free open day on Saturday January 24 in
Store Street, WC1, where you can have a
chat with an architect. For full details visit
homesandproperty.co.uk/improve
29
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015
Outdoors Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Give your Sad
winter garden
some shimmer
MIX SILVER, WHITE AND ICE PINK
With less architectural punch but with
even more sheen to its rounded foliage
is Convolvulus cneorum, but this popular sub-shrub needs free-draining soil
and a sunny spot in the garden to thrive.
It is the ideal, but little-used, choice for
a winter window box where you want
to add a little sparkle. A perfect partner
to underplant would be baby cyclamen,
with silver-marked leaves and white or
ice-pink flowers.
Use large, glossy-leaved evergreens to
catch the light and create impact. During this mild winter, Fatsia japonica’s
showy cream flower clusters are still
Silvery foliage and
white blooms lift the
mood until spring’s
colours burst through
ALL PICTURES BY MARIANNE MAJERUS
S
EASONAL Affective Disorder,
or Sad, hits gardens as well as
people at this time of year but
there are ways you c an
brighten the gloom on a grey
winter’s day. Chief of these is to use
plants with light-reflecting leaves,
which is why the shimmery foliage of
an olive tree — today’s equivalent of
yesterday’s silver weeping pear — is a
great asset to the winter garden.
You don’t need to spend a fortune on
an ancient, fat-trunked tree. A young
specimen, planted into the ground or
in a container, looks beautiful and will
grow quickly. In a fierce winter it might
lose its leaves, but they will return in
spring. Just plant in well-drained soil,
so the roots don’t get waterlogged.
Astelias, similar to blade-like phormiums but with shiny, metallic foliage, are
the secret weapon of every gloomy basement, courtyard or stairwell. Aptly
named Astelia Silver Spear will brighten
the space immeasurably, so this is a case
for buying a good-size specimen — three,
if space allows. Happy in a container as
well as in the ground, astelias form a
large, handsome clump of elegant
sword-like silver leaves.
Pattie
Barron
intact, providing another reason, aside
from those huge, palm-shaped leaves,
to make this underrated shrub a frontgarden focal point. On a fence or wall
that faces the house, give yourself a view
to lift light levels as well as your spirits,
by planting winter-flowering Clematis
armandii Snowdrift, which has a double
whammy of large, glossy, oval leaves
and almond-scented white flowers that
will appear any day now.
There are other ways to lift light levels
permanently, especially relevant for
small, dark spaces that see little sunshine, even in summer. Don’t overlook
the obvious — simply scrubbing down
a wall with soap and water can cheer
up the view. Kick light into gloom by
painting walls a pale colour, but avoid
glaring bright white, and instead
choose a vanilla shade, or possibly soft
pink or pale lemon, which both make
plant-flattering backcloths.
USE METAL AND MIRRORS
A cement basement or patio floor could
be transformed with a covering of lightcoloured paving stones, while a dark
part of the garden could be effectively
lightened by laying down a bed of
cream pebbles over weed-suppressing
membrane. The pebbles can be positioned around plants, or you can plant
through it by pushing the pebbles
aside, scoring a cross in the fabric,
tucking under the four triangles to
leave a square planting hole, and
replacing the pebbles afterwards.
Steel is a great way to bring light into
an outside space. No need to carry it in
by the sheet — instead just invest in a
few large polished metal planters that
will do the job with pizzazz as well as
add a crisp, contemporary note.
The obvious ploy to reflect light is
mirrors, but use with caution. A small
one will just look as though it’s there
for a lipstick check, and a large panel
might just reflect people, not plants,
as well as provide a potential crashlanding for birds mistaking it for a
through route. Instead, copy the
garden designers’ nifty trick of using
Clockwise from top: Convolvulus
cneorum in white terrazzo containers;
the showy flower clusters of Fatsia
japonica brighten dull days; the foliage
of astella and olive tree reflect light
panels of acrylic mirror — safer and
weatherproof — and fixing large-grid
trellis on the top, so that you get a
great 3D effect as well as reflected
light.
30
WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property New homes
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Smart
S
mar
mart
a m
By David Spittles
A choice
of two
fine cities
History-loving golfers
can live in style
OUTER LONDON is ringed
with golf courses that
seem a million miles from
the city’s heart — and few
can claim such an
impressive architectural
legacy as Sundridge Park,
in the Bromley suburbs.
Here, a Grade I-listed
Nash mansion stands in
grounds laid out by
eminent landscape
designer Humphry Repton
(1752-1818). Edward VII
attended shooting parties
on the estate, before a
private golf course was cut
out of the valley. The
mansion later became a
successful hotel and
conference centre, which it
remains today, though it is
to be converted into
homes. Hampton Grange
is a redevelopment of a
listed convent in 10 acres
of parkland bordering the
golf course. Eleven fivebedroom detached houses,
a lodge house and cottages
are being built in the gated
grounds, along with new
and refurbished flats.
The Eton show home is
pictured above. Houses are
up to 3,000sq ft with
manageable gardens and
double garages. Prices
from £1.45 million. Call
Bellway on 0845 257 6062.
Coming later this year is a
scheme of prestige flats by
developer Millgate within
the golf course grounds.
E
ASY travel to Paris will be
one of the benefits of living
at St Pancras Place, right,
a scheme of 61 flats and
houses a short walk from
the Eurostar terminus.
The scheme lies to the south of the
huge station complex, on the border
with Bloomsbury and the Lloyd
Baker Estate, a delightful enclave of
early 19th-century houses.
Construction is under way and the
architecture is restrained yet
modern, with mellow brick blocks
and terraces lining a central
landscaped street.
Prices from £635,000. Call Regal
Homes on 020 7328 7171.
60% Already Sold
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)8'-)3)7#'&0'"-'3+28,'),' %&' Computer generated images of Putney Plaza. Prices correct at time of press. Travel times approximate only.
www.putneyplaza.co.uk
31
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015
New homes Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Wow! New apartments in
the heart of Covent Garden
DEMAND for homes
consistently outstrips
supply in Covent Garden.
For many people, the
district is the real heart of
the capital. Lively, quirky
and individual, without the
rough edges of Soho, it
buzzes with the excitement
of opera, theatre and street
entertainers, while its
fashion and restaurant
scene has variety and
colour.
Homes overlooking the
piazza and covered listed
arcade are the most
For more superb
homes, visit our
new online luxury
section
HomesAndProperty.co.uk/luxury
prized, and more are
coming on stream as part
of the plan from Capco, the
area’s main landowner.
The Beecham is the
latest project, with nine
apartments, left, above a
handsome former banking
hall on Henrietta Street.
Tasteful, open-plan highceiling interiors have
classic-contemporary
design, while two duplex
penthouses have spacious
roof terraces. Prices from
£1.65million. Call CBRE on
020 7420 3060.
FARM LANE-FRESH BUY MARKET
FARE — AND A HOME IN THE SQUARE
THE enthusiasm in London for
farmers’ markets has unlocked a
fresh address in Fulham, where a
scheme of 40 Georgian-style
townhouses has been built around a
new private pedestrianised garden
square with communal gardens.
Rainsborough Square, right, has
been created on the site of a former
industrial estate at Farm Lane, and
on January 24 will host an artisan
food market, with an open invitation
to Fulham locals to buy produce and
view the show house. It is a gated
development and a traffic-free zone.
Residents’ cars are parked in
underground garages with direct
access to the houses.
These homes, by award-winning
developer London Square,
incorporate several interesting
architectural design features. Each
includes a staircase in an an openplan core, along with a spacious
family room and kitchen area
opening on to the garden.
Prices from £3.65 million. Call 0333
666 2737.
Brought to you by
...CLOSER THAN YOU THINK
Rent a 1 - 4 bed home in the former Athletes’ Village
Find out mor e at eastvillagelondon.co.uk
36
WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Property searching
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Spotlight
Balham
Sought after: Nightingale Square in the Nightingale Triangle
Shopping to suit everyone: stalls near Balham High Road
Revived by
the march of
the yummy
mummies
Bistros, boutique shopping, great schools, skips
outside the Victorian terraces — this yuppie
village is booming, says Anthea Masey
A
Let’s do brunch: café and shops in family favourite Hildreth St
CCORDING to C QuillSmith, Balham’s bard in a
famous Peter Sellers 1958
spoof travel documentary,
the London suburb of
Balham is the “Gateway to the South”
and “Lies foursquare on the Northern
line… a rose-red city half as gold as
green”.
And for those of a certain age,
“Honey’s off, dear” — the punch line of
this skit on Rupert Brooke’s poem The
Old Vicarage, Grantchester — still raises
a smile.
Today, it is Balham that has the last
laugh. Once derided for being ugly and
poor it is now a south-of-the-river
yuppie enclave known by estate agents
as South Clapham. House prices there
have almost doubled in 10 years and
are now almost on a par with nearby
favourites Clapham and Wandsworth,
while good local schools abound. This
once-neglected corner of south London has undergone a remarkable
revival with bistros, boutiques, cultstatus Italian pizzerias — and skips
heaving under the weight of unwanted
dividing walls as young families move
into their Victorian terrace homes,
seriously enlarge their kitchens to
incorporate the side returns, and
create garden rooms.
The Heaver Estate, built at the end of
the 19th century on a greenfield site
between Balham High Road and Tooting Common, is now recognised as one
of south London’s finest. It is named
after Alfred Heaver, the prolific south
London house builder who created it.
Starting life as a carpenter, his was a
rags to riches story that ended in tragedy. He described the Heaver Estate as
his greatest achievement but having
made his fortune he was living in Westcott, a Surrey village, when, on the
morning of August 4 in 1901 he was shot
dead on his way to church by his
brother-in-law, who held a grudge
against him.
WHAT THERE IS TO BUY
Balham has roads of attractive Victorian and Edwardian family houses.
There are also purpose-built Victorian
maisonettes and converted flats.
The most popular areas are the Nightingale Triangle, the Heaver Estate and
Hyde Farm. The Nightingale Triangle
has terraces of large Victorian houses
in a variety of styles, in Nightingale
Square and roads such as Endlesham
Road, along with terraces of smaller
Victorian cottages.
The Heaver Estate is characterised by
its consistent architectural style of red
brick with terracotta details and
wrought-iron balconies. It offers a mix
of terrace, semi-detached and detached
Ooodles of green
space: Maryam
McAuley and her
daughter Laila
enjoying a stroll
on Tooting Bec
Common
To find a home in Balham, visit: homesandproperty.co.uk/balham
£1.8 MILLION
£749,950
£515,000
£425,000
A VICTORIAN five-bedroom house in Malwood
Road, SW12, with this spacious entertaining
space. Through James Pendleton.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/malwood
A SPACIOUS three-bedroom house with a private
garden in a neat terrace in Bushey Down, Balham,
for sale through Foxtons.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/busheydown
A THREE-BEDROOM flat with a private garden in
the sought-after Nightingale Triangle in Balham is
available to buy through Marsh & Parsons.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/nightingale
THIS well laid-out one-bedroom house in popular
College Gardens, SW17, has lots of storage space
and a private garden. Through Barnard Marcus.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/collegegard
37
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015
Property searching Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
double-fronted houses. The Hyde Farm
area between the western edge of Tooting Common and Cavendish Road has
three- and four-bedroom Victorian
houses and maisonettes.
Balham High Road is home to Du
Cane Court. Built in the late Thirties,
this Art Deco block at the time had
nearly 700 flats, reputedly the largest
number under one roof in Europe.
Today, studio flats there start at about
£240,000, with one-bedroom flats
from £350,000.
The area attracts: estate agent Paul
Herring from the local Kinleigh Folkard
& Hayward branch says Balham attracts
first-time buyers who either work in
the City or who are buying with help
from their parents. The smaller Victorian houses are popular with young
families who, if they can afford it, move
to the Heaver Estate in their late thirties
or early forties. Balham is still seen as
a more affordable option than Battersea and the area between Wandsworth
and Clapham Commons.
Staying power: those who can’t afford
to trade up from a flat to a house will
move down the Northern line to Tooting or into the suburb of Furzedown.
SHOPS AND RESTAURANTS
Central Balham has branches of Sainsbury and Waitrose and an independent
butcher, Chadwicks, that sells organic
and high-quality meat and offers an
online delivery service. Postmark card
shop is part of a small chain with other
branches in East Dulwich and Chiswick. In Bedford Hill, Whippet is a gift
shop with a mid-century vibe.
Favourite independent cafés include
Bertie and Boo on the corner of Balham
High Road and Ramsden Road, with
another branch, boasting a popular
soft play area, opposite Du Cane Court.
M1LK in Hildreth Street is a favourite
with Balham’s hip brunch lovers.
Lamberts and Harrison’s Brasserie
are the best local restaurants. Harrison’s has recently been refurbished
with a speakeasy-style bar in the basement. The White Eagle Club is an established Polish club with a restaurant.
A Saturday farmers’ market is held in
the playground at Chestnut Grove
School.
Sip, eat, shop: Lucy Palmer and Lizzie
Gimblett at Lavish Habit, a family-run
“boutique café” in Bedford Hill, Balham
■WHAT HOMES COST:
LEISURE AND THE ARTS
owned swimming pool is at Balham
Leisure Centre in Elmfield Road.
Travel: Tooting Bec, Balham and Clapham South London Underground stations are all on the Northern line.
Tooting Bec and Balham are in Zone 3
and an annual travelcard to Zone 1 costs
£1,508; Clapham South is in Zone 2 and
an annual travelcard is £1,284.
Balham also has a train station with
frequent services to Clapham Junction
and Victoria.
Council: Wandsworth council is
Tory controlled and Band D council tax
for the year is £681.77.
The Bedford pub in Bedford Hill is
home to Banana Cabaret, a leading
comedy club. The nearest council-
Photographs:: Graham Hussey
OPEN SPACE
Balham is surrounded by greenery, with
three nearby commons — Tooting Common, which has an athletics track, a
horse riding arena and a lido, and
Wandsworth and Clapham Commons.
RED
@SileMurphy @HonestItalian is
seriously delicious pizza — a little gem
in the neighbourhood
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
What do comedians Tommy Trinder
and Arthur Smith have in common
with this fine comic actress?
Find the answer at:
homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightbalham
@steffweff #Balham @m1lkcoffee
great brunch with queues to prove it.
@Camdencoffee do an excellent flat
white for my Tube ride each day
@bessjg Hildreth St is fab —
@VolkerandQuinn deli, @m1lkcoffee
@PetalsofBalham. @lavish_habit does
the best Monmouth coffee. @Lamberts_
Balham is a lovely restaurant
@bessjg love the mix of young
families & hipsters — keeps it
interesting. And obviously the
wonderful @TootingCommon is on
our doorstep
@MrCBell Bucci’s in Balham is great for
home-cooked Italian food, it’s extremely
popular so you’ll need to book a table
@Hamptons_Balham we have had a
vote in the office and it is decided that
there isn’t anything better than a
weekend breakfast at M1lk
NEXT WEEK: Ealing. Do you
live there? Tell us what you
think @HomesProperty
BUYING IN BALHAM
(Average prices)
One-bedroom flat £404,000
Two-bedroom flat £562,000
Two-bedroom house £606,000
Three-bedroom house £951,000
Four-bedroom house £1.12 million
Source: Zoopla
RENTING IN BALHAM
(Average rates)
One-bedroom flat £1,634 a month
Two-bedroom flat £2,019 a month
Two-bedroom house £1,903 a month
Three-bedroom house £3,392 a month
Four-bedroom house £3,147 a month
Source: Zoopla
GO ONLINE FOR MORE
HAVE YOUR SAY: BALHAM
@steffweff the best of #balham
@TheGroveBalham pub, the excellent
@winetastingshop, #Postmark card
shop and the Ski Lodge pop-up
CHECK THE STATS
@mpwatson Balham is brilliant. For
fabulous wines try @winetastingshop
O The best schools in and around
Balham
O The latest new local housing
developments
O Where to find the cheapest and
the most expensive homes
currently on the market in
Balham
O The most sought-after streets in
the area
O How Balham compares with the
rest of the UK on property prices
O Smart maps to plot your home
search
For more about Balham, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightbalham
F
42
WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Ask the expert
homesandproperty.co.uk with
How can we silence noisy neighbours?
Q
Q
A
A
Fiona
McNulty
WHAT’S
YOUR
PROBLEM?
IF YOU have a
question for
Fiona McNulty,
please email
legalsolutions@
standard.co.uk
or write to Legal
Solutions, Homes
& Property,
London Evening
Standard, 2 Derry
Street, W8 5EE.
We regret that
questions cannot
be answered
individually but
we will try to
feature them
here.
OUR LAWYER ANSWERS
YOUR QUESTIONS
MY SON recently bought a
ground-floor flat but
having moved in, he finds
the noise from the
upstairs flat unbearable. He can
hear all their conversations and
every footstep. This is because
their flat has wooden floors. He
wants to remain friends with his
neighbours and doesn’t want to
sell. So what can he do?
YOUR son should look at the
terms of his lease. All the
leases for the various flats in
the building are likely to be
on similar terms and contain similar
covenants and restrictions.
Modern leases often include
covenants stating that flats must not
have wooden floors unless they are
insulated to a very high specification,
or that floors must be covered in
carpets or some other soundinsulating material that prevents
noise travelling. There is also likely to
be a covenant regarding noise and/
or nuisance.
As your son is keen to remain on
good terms with his neighbours, he
should contact them and explain the
situation — perhaps inviting them
down to his home while getting
someone to move about or talk in the
upstairs flat, so the neighbours can
hear for themselves how easily the
sound travels. He should invite them
to either cover their floors with
carpets or to install sound-insulating
materials, and explain to them that
they are in breach of the terms of
their lease. If your son is really keen
to resolve matters amicably and can
afford to pay a contribution to the
cost of soundproofing the floor
between the flats, he could offer to
do so.
If the neighbours refuse to resolve
the situation your son should ask his
landlord to enforce the covenants
against them. If he decides to sell, he
will have to disclose the noise issue to
prospective buyers.
More legal
Q&As
Visit: homesand
property.co.uk
WE BOUGHT a Grade II-listed building which
came with an indemnity policy for work
carried out without documented approval
some years ago. One of the features listed on
the policy is a porch that is falling apart and needs to
be torn down and replaced, ideally with more durable
material. It is made from wood and would have to be
replaced by a brick-based construction.
If we replace the porch with something that looks
the same but in different material, will the indemnity
policy still stand? We can’t apply to the local authority
for permission as this would make the policy void.
LISTED building consent is needed for demolition,
alteration or extension of a listed building and for
any work which affects its character as a structure
of special architectural or historical interest. If you
now apply for consent, a listed buildings officer is likely to
inspect the property, realise consent wasn’t granted
previously and could require you to reinstate the building
to its original form. Your policy is unlikely to cover you in
such circumstances and is also likely to be void.
Ask the insurers whether they are prepared to agree to
you approaching the council for listed building consent.
Ask a surveyor specialising in listed buildings to advise on
the extent of the work that was done without consent,
whether retrospective consent is likely to be granted, and
also if consent is likely to be granted for work you want to
do. If it is feasible, you may need to proceed in that way —
obtaining listed building consent for the work you want to
do, and retrospective consent for the previous works.
O These answers can only be a very brief commentary on
the issues raised and should not be relied on as legal advice.
No liability is accepted for such reliance. If you have similar
issues, you should obtain advice from a solicitor.
44
WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Inside story
MONDAY
You could be forgiven for thinking the
property market slows over the winter
months but the last six weeks of last
year showed a high level of sales, in fact
the second strongest period in the
whole year. Today starts with the usual
analysis of the week’s sales, viewing
numbers, web hits and new applicants.
Spotting trends and patterns is what
enables us to give honest, up-to-date
advice — not always what people want
to hear, but always appreciated at the
end of the process.
Once the figures have been submitted
it’s time to follow up the viewings from
the weekend. With a new house
recently launched in Barrow Road, one
of the premier streets in Cambridge,
it’s going to be a busy day.
TUESDAY
The Barrow Road sale has really kicked
into gear, with all interested parties
jostling into position and trying to gain
a competitive edge. The market in
Cambridge is incredibly active and
when opportunities like this come up,
the safest and fairest way to bring this
kind of sale to a close is a “best and final
bids” process. The date has now been
set for Friday at 5pm.
I turn to focus on a few other agreed
deals which seem to be stalling. Access
issues on one sale are causing some
concern, as the plot is being split. This
is where knowledge of the title and the
previous planning applications is
invaluable and we manage to agree a
plan of action which satisfies seller,
buyer and lender, and explain the
homesandproperty.co.uk with
House hunters
don’t mind the
resident ghost
Diary of
an estate
agent
scenario to the team. To paraphrase
Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s
Founding Fathers: “Failure to prepare
is preparing to fail.”
WEDNESDAY
We are taking on a house today that’s
well known — and not for its exemplary
architecture. Strange goings-on have
been reported at Queens House over a
number of years and I know the sceptics among you would dismiss the idea
of a haunted house out of hand. However, for these stories to hold no truth
would have involved an elaborate
prank between an entire family,
numerous professors from one of the
world’s greatest universities and more
than 100 historical figures from the
locality over a period of 20 years. Not
surprisingly, there is no rush of volunteers to carry out viewings here. That
said, a good house in the right location
at the right price will always sell, and
Queens House should prove no exception. Photographs have been taken —
examined carefully by us for orbs and
unexpected figures in the windows — a
short, sharp factual text has been written for the brochure, and the details
are ready in time for tomorrow’s ad in
the local paper.
THURSDAY
The Cambridge News is out, and a
strong showing from Strutt & Parker
confirms that we are securing great
instructions in good areas in the city.
Queens House has captured the imagination, with a number of viewings now
booked in.
One of the more challenging sales we
have agreed is nearing exchange, but
we have been hit with a downvalued
survey. This isn’t uncommon in a
market growing this quickly — it can be
challenging for surveyors to keep up
with recent sales. I call the purchaser to
reassure her that all is not lost, but her
#
#
#
!
"
#
Call Stubbings Property Marketing
to register your interest on
01628 482276 or visit us on
www.brentfordlockwest.co.uk
CGI for illustrative purposes only.
confidence has been knocked. Then I
call the seller, who concedes that the
offer was considerably above the asking
price. The house is a one-off and it could
be six months before we see another
one anything like it. Six months in this
market could mean eight per cent
growth, and the survey has not highlighted any major structural issues — so
with some further comparable sales
provided and a small agreed reduction,
we manage to exchange.
FRIDAY
To say I’m excited about the best and
final bids on the Barrow Road house is
an understatement. The phones soon
start ringing with hopeful buyers trying
to work out where their offers might
need to be to secure the house. All I can
do is tell them to put their best foot forward and make sure they have no
regrets. As 5pm passes, there are eight
bids on the table. The first envelope is
opened and I do a double take at the size
of the figure. Whatever the next seven
envelopes contain, I am going to have a
happy client. Delivering the news is
immensely satisfying, not just because
of the price achieved but because selling
this family home has been an emotional
experience for the vendors.
Now it’s 7pm, the viewing schedule
for the weekend is confirmed, the
doors are locked and I’ve my own
family to go home to.
O Cameron Ewer is the head of
Strutt & Parker’s Cambridge office
(01223 459501).
46
WEDNESDAY 14 JANUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Letting on
S
EVEN per cent of British
adults are now part-time
landlords, according to new
figures from one insurance
provider, and most of them
have “accidentally” ended up in that
position, as opposed to having
deliberately invested in a buy-to-let
property.
Insurance company LV= Liverpool
Victoria says 55 per cent of these
landlords are letting properties they
once lived in, either because they
have relocated for work, or after
moving in with a partner.
I ended up as a landlord back in the
Eighties when I relocated and couldn’t
sell my flat. Even if selling is an option,
if you can afford to hang on to a
property and you are sure the rent
will cover the mortgage and
maintenance costs, plus the cost of
finding tenants, keeping it seems like
the sensible thing to do, given that
over the long-term the place is likely
to increase in value.
However, you do need to reckon on
spending at least five per cent of the
annual rent on repairs and general
upkeep, and ideally you should have
enough left over from the rent to
cover the mortgage in case the
property is empty between tenancies.
Also, you need to be aware of all
your legal obligations — even if you’re
using a letting agent, because they
won’t necessarily tell you everything
you ought to know. And even if you
have let a property in the past you
should still check the latest rules and
regulations because they are likely to
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Joining the
landlords’ army
is a minefield
Britain’s two million private landlords need to
bone up on their legal responsibilities to their
tenants, warns Victoria Whitlock
The
accidental
landlord
have changed. LV= says many parttime landlords break the law through
ignorance. For instance, more than a
quarter — that’s 500,000 — haven’t
had, or are not sure whether they
have had, a gas safety check within
the past 12 months. Not only could
they be fined up to £20,000, they are
also playing Russian roulette with
their tenants’ lives.
Another insurance company, Saga,
found that one in 10 landlords doesn’t
bother to protect tenants’ deposits,
which is also illegal. If a tenant finds
out and complains to the authorities,
the landlord could be forced to pay
them up to three times the value of
the deposit as compensation.
Come on people, don’t give us
accidental landlords a bad name.
Make sure you know what your
responsibilities are to your tenants.
If you are thinking of becoming a
landlord, there are lots of websites
giving free advice. I would start by
visiting https://www.gov.uk/privaterenting/your-landlords-safetyresponsibilities.
You could also join one of the
professional landlords associations
for further guidance. Both the
National Landlords Association
FIRST PHASE R EGENER ATION
ABBEY WOOD, LONDON SE2
FROM £275,000†
FREE FURNITURE PACK
& L E G A L F E E S P A I D **
C RO S S Q UA R T E R I S A N I N N OVATI V E M I X E D - U S E
D E V ELO P M E N T T H AT W I L L D E L I V ER . . .
£475 a week: in Sutherland Street, SW1, John D Wood has a period conversion
two-bedroom, two-bathroom flat with a patio garden available to rent.
O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/suther for more details
(NLA) and the Residential Landlords
Association (RLA) offer advice and
training, and, just as importantly,
will keep you up to date with all the
latest legislation.
I expect that if you’ve only got one
property and don’t think of yourself
as a “professional landlord”, you
may not think it’s worthwhile joining
either association. I certainly didn’t
bother when I started out. But now I
think you might as well sign up as an
associate member of the NLA, not
least because it is free. You get access
to approved tenancy agreements and
sample forms and letters which you
might need during the tenancy. You
can find these elsewhere on the
internet, but using the NLA’s will
ensure you follow best practice.
You will also get regular emails
about all the latest regulations. It
only takes a couple of minutes to sign
up — so why not do it? Then if you
need further help or advice, you can
always become a full member later.
Really, it’s a no-brainer.
O Victoria Whitlock lets three
properties in south London.
To contact Victoria with your ideas
and views, tweet @vicwhitlock
Find many more homes to rent at
homesandproperty.co.uk/lettings
CROSSRAIL TIMES
ABBEY WOOD
LIVERPOOL STREET
1 min*
BOND STREET
18 mins#
CANARY WHARF
25 mins#
FARRINGDON
11 mins#
20 mins#
FRASER & CO
11 WESTCLIFFE APARTMENTS
1 SOUTH WHARF RD
PADDINGTON LONDON W2 1JB
S U P E RB TR AN S PO RT
LI N KS VIA CRO S S R AI L
(F RO M 2 018)
81,0 0 0 SQ . F T.
SAI N S B U RY ’ S
22 0 R E S I D E NTIAL U N IT S
5,0 0 0 SQ . F T.
CO M M E RCIAL
& R E TAI L
53 mins#
EXCLUSIVE LAUNCH OF 32 ONE,
TWO & THREE BED APARTMENTS
5PM – 9PM
TUESDAY 20TH JANUARY 2015
£ 8 5 M I LLI O N
R E G E N E R ATIO N O F
AB B E Y WOOD
HEATHROW AIRPORT
• 50 metres* from Abbey Wood Crossrail
(Opens 2018)
• First phase of £85m
regeneration scheme
• Developed by Development
Securities, a leading FTSE listed
regeneration specialist
SELLING AGENT
PLEASE CONTACT US ON
[email protected]
020 7725 4278
• Superb transport links to
The City, Canary Wharf,
West End & London City Airport
• 999 year lease & 10 year NHBC
new build structural warranty
• Car parking available
• Direct overground train to
London Bridge - 23 minsΔ
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
© 2015 Fraser & Co. CGIs used in the advert are for indicative purposes only. # Crossrail journey times stated
are approximate from closest Crossrail station (Abbey Wood), crossrail.co.uk Overground journey times stated
are approximate from Abbey Wood station, tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey * Walking times/distances sourced from
googlemaps.co.uk † Price advertised is correct at time of going to press. ** Furniture pack & legal fees paid
offer is on selected units only and subject to terms and conditions set by the acting agents. The accuracy of
these details is not guaranteed and they do not form part of any contract. Purchasers must themselves check by
inspections or otherwise the accuracy of this information prior to signing a contract.
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