Following our blog post back in February, the Government Debt Respite scheme, or ‘Breathing Space’, has now come into force. This new prescribed Section 8 notice will offer greater legal protection, benefitting an estimated 700,000 individuals in the first year.

The two separate ‘breathing spaces’ are standard, and mental health crisis. Standard is available to give legal protection from creditor action for 60 days to those struggling with debt. Mental health crisis is available for the duration of relevant treatment, plus 30 days.

At any given time, 25% of the adult population are looking to move within the next 12 months. Are you one of these, checking and rechecking the online portals for your dream home, the right upsize or downsize, somewhere nearer to what (or who) is important to you? If you have not yet found what you are looking for, it could just be that it is waiting in the wings for you.

As you may have read from the April issue of The Magazine, there have been numerous changes and updates at Orchards over the last few months. Three of those are our new recruits, Emma, Emily, and Carla. With the increase in demand for moving home, they are welcome additions to our thriving team, continuing our focus on passion for property, and customer service for our clients. Not only have we added to our staff, we have also upsized our physical office space in order to accommodate them.

The lender “Accord” have been the first to announce details of their new 95% loan to value deal.

First-time buyers with just a 5% deposit will receive a boost from tomorrow (Wednesday) as they become the first lender to return to the 95% LTV market. They are launching a five-year fixed rate mortgage - exclusively to first-time buyers. The new product has a fixed rate of 3.99% and comes with a £995 fee and free standard

As the clock ticked ever closer to the deadline of the 31st of March, calls for the Stamp Duty Holiday to continue have been answered – with a three-month extension until the end of June, according to The Times. With the Chancellor’s Spring Budget taking place in a matter of days, the much-anticipated, but relatively short-term, extension, is speculated to feature, allowing a backlog of transactions to push through.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak will extend the stamp duty holiday deadline until the end of June - a three month extension.

The lead story in tomorrow’s Times newspaper says the extension - granted after a fierce campaign by agents, and many property commentators and economists - will be announced in the Budget on Wednesday of next week. The article is written by the newspaper’s well-connected political editor Steven Swinford.