Real Estate & Projects Newsletter

April 2025

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Welcome to the inaugural publication of our Real Estate & Projects Newsletter. In each edition, we will keep you updated with topical and insightful updates. In the accompanying Vlog, David Bullock, talks us through the details and interviews a number of colleagues to get their take on things.

This month, we have focussed on:

The new SDLT rates for residential property
The Commonhold White Paper and proposed abolition of leasehold flats
Launch of the new Temporary Accommodation Network by Campbell Tickell and Devonshires
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
NHBC housing warranty changes
Spring Statement and £2bn investment for Affordable Housing

We hope you will enjoy the content and find it useful.

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New SDLT Rates from 1 April 2025

Well-telegraphed changes to Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) came into force in England and Northern Ireland on 1 April 2025. Conveyancers were busy as buyers rushed to complete before the end of March, in order to take advantage of the savings represented by the ‘old’ rates. In this article, we discuss the recent changes and how they affect your transaction.

Stavrina Tofallis

Partner

020 7880 4420

Lale Safaoglu

Associate

020 7065 1809

Ben Halsey

Knowledge Development Lawyer

020 7065 1898

A new Commonhold 2.0 and the abolition of leasehold flats

In March, the Ministry of Housing published the Commonhold White Paper which seeks to make landmark reforms on the leasehold sector. This article gives an overview some of the proposed changes.

Jonathan Corris

Partner

020 7880 4305

Ben Halsey

Knowledge Development Lawyer

020 7065 1898

Mark Foxcroft

Partner

020 7065 1861

Launch of the new Temporary Accommodation Network (TAN) by Campbell Tickell and Devonshires

Campbell Tickell and Devonshires have brought together an alliance of organisations from across the housing sector to address the UK’s escalating TA crisis. This article discusses the TAN, its purpose, and next steps.

Jonathan Jarvis

Partner

020 7065 1810

Samantha Grix

Partner

020 7880 4307

Leo Stevens

Partner

020 7065 1899

Government publishes The Planning and Infrastructure Bill

On 11 March, the Government introduced the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to Parliament. The Bill embodies the means by which the government plans to build 1.5m homes, drive economic growth and make Britain a clean energy superpower - as such it proposes various reforms, including to compulsory purchase orders (CPOs), strategic planning and development corporations. This article discusses the key takeaways from the Bill.

Hannah Langford

Partner

020 7880 4450

Positive change to NHBC Buildmark Choice housing warranty policy to cover deposits

In a welcome development, the NHBC have confirmed that they will be updating the insolvency cover in their Buildmark Choice policy from 1 April 2025 to once again, cover deposits released to a builder before land completion. This article discusses the policy in further detail.

Triya Maicha

Partner

020 7065 1805

Philip Evans

Partner

020 7065 1807

Rachel Reeves announces additional £2 Billion Investment in Affordable Housing

As we have reported, the Chancellor has announced an injection of £2 billion to the Affordable Homes Programme with the aim of delivering up to 18,000 new social and affordable homes. We discuss the announcement in more detail in this article.