The announcement that Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is to be charged at a flat rate of 18% means a tax break for second home owners. CGT is a tax on the difference between what was paid for an asset and what it is sold for. For properties barring the primary residence, CGT is currently 40% for the first three years of ownership, falling to 2% per year to a minimum level of 24% after a decade. From April, when the flat rate of 18% is introduced, the amount second home owners will be asked to pay when they sell will therefore be dramatically less. Liam Bailey from Knight Frank said: 'This will help to underpin demand for second homes and prices of second homes. However, the second home market prices are very expensive in most parts of the UK, and affordability is the key to demand.' The only short term effect which could be seen as a result of this discovery is that people previously intending to sell this year or early 2008 may decide to wait until April to maximise the profit they will make as a result of this change.
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‘Though she be but little, she is fierce’: Everything you didn't know about sparrowhawksScourge of the bird feeder and a master of ‘shock and awe’ assassinations, the sparrowhawk pursues its quarry with such tenacity and unpredictability that it often blindsides its prey.
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The house 'where Anne Boleyn took Henry VIII as her lover' is up for auction at £295,000In the heart of Windsor, a maisonette is up for sale within the 16th century house in which Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII are said to have met up for their romantic trysts.
