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How much value does a garden add to your house post‑coronavirus?

‘Pint of Milk’ test has been downgraded to a ‘Blade of Grass’ test

Before the pandemic, estate agents would often ask whether a house passed the “pint of milk” test. These days, it’s the “blade of grass” test you should be worried about flunking, as a short walk to the local shop has been usurped on buyers’ wish lists by proximity to green space. 

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Being in my garden reminds me of being away. It’s a bit of escapism. I often have fond memories of far reaching places that I have travelled to in the past. This weather has certainly encouraged me to sit in my garden more.

The facts and figures

32% of buyers say the pandemic has made having a garden more important (Source: YouGov)

7% is the national price premium for family homes with south-facing gardens (Source: Rightmove)

50 the average number of days a home with a garden was on sale for if it sold in July (Source: Hamptons International)

26% of buyers are seeking more green space as a result of the pandemic (Source: YouGov)

There has been so much uncertainty about working in the office verses working from home; another COVID19 outbreak; different ways of working.  A garden/outdoor space is now extremely high on the agenda when choosing somewhere to live.  

Whether it’s a balcony, courtyard or large garden, outside space is absolutely top of the list of priorities and normally one of the first things buyers ask about. Buyers are willing to sacrifice internal space for something where they can enjoy a pre-work coffee or a weekend BBQ outside. And in some rare cases buyers have gone for a one-bed home rather than a two-bed, simply because of outside space.

“This basically means that lots of the homes with gardens have sold quite quickly, whereas a lot of the homes without gardens came on to the market before lockdown and have therefore been on the market for some time,” says Alison Blease, head of research at Hamptons International.

As homes with gardens are being snapped up, there are fewer of them to meet this rising demand and homes with gardens/outdoor space are commanding significantly higher prices.

Anecdotally, agents report that alfresco dining features are popular, such as pizza ovens, barbecue areas and undercover, heated patios. Vegetable patches have become fertile ground for buyers and sellers to bond over on viewings. Trouble travelling abroad and going to the gym has also sent swimming pools and tennis courts to the top of buyers’ demands in the countryside, and a home office in the garden is the dynamite combo du jour.

In the city, where space is scarcer, any outside space has become more desirable. One in seven (14 per cent) of buyers say having a balcony or terrace is more important to them than it was before lockdown, and, according to those polled by YouGov, this increases to one in four (24 per cent) 18 to 24-year-olds, who are more likely to live in flats in urban areas than those in other age groups.

Even being near green space — such as parks or areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) — is prized highly nowadays and can significantly increase the price of your property. One in four British buyers (26 per cent) say that living near parks or nature is more important to them now. Access to greenery has meant the most to young, city-dwelling families in particular; 25 to 34-year-olds in London with children aged four and under were the top category for those who said they valued these spaces more after lockdown.

You know it’s the way to go and a real trend when John Lewis get involved in the conversation.

Its chairwoman announced last week that the John Lewis Partnership is venturing into gardening!

Do the right thing and stick to your values or do what is popular?

Often as business owners we don’t want to talk about or deal with controversial issues such as race because they may rock the boat of our customers, clients and staff so we avoid at all cost the conversation. It’s easier. 

Many will have seen the leaked footage yesterday showing moments before George Floyd was pinned to the ground and suffocated. Why did this information have to be leaked? It should have been part of the overall coverage and investigation. It adds a whole new realm of horror to an already devastating situation. Before George Floyd even got out of the car he had a gun pointing in his face. Many black people live with a gun pointing in their face on a daily basis as normal and business as usual. 

Please keep this issue alive through the Black Lives Matter campaign or through any other means open to you. Consider what you and your business is doing to combat racism. Call it out when you see it. It does not have to be as extreme as the clip below for you to take action.

Put it all into perspective

Planning : Biggest shake up of the Use Classes order since 1950

Have planning authorities been too lackadaisical or controlling in the past?  What has brought this on?

NEW PLANNING PD RIGHTS!

The Government is laying before Parliament today new laws which will:

✅  Allow extensions of up to 2 floors on dwelling houses subject to a prior consultation process with neighbours

✅  PD to demolish unused buildings and rebuild to provide new homes

✅  New ‘Commercial Use Class’ to allow fast track change of use from redundant commercial uses in one class to be quickly repurposed for more viable use classes. 

The Government is aiming to bring these new rights into force by 1st September.

What happens to planning applications going through now? Wish I had waited I may not have needed planning permission to put on my porch!

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/757/made/data.pdf

Pinch Punch 1st of the month no return

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As we adjust to the ‘new way’ of working post soft lockdown, many of us may find that we are busier than we have ever been before because we have changed the way we work and things we are doing/offering and subsequently business is actually booming.  

I have come to the realisation that I cannot juggle so many balls and something has to give before I drop them all.

It’s the administration, book-keeping, research, booking meetings, templates, posting on social media and design elements that are all too time consuming. 

For a good few months I have been saying I need a VA but actually had no time to look for one.  That came to a head last week when I was kicked into action from admin overwhelm.  At that moment I was introduced to the amazing Isha, VA/PA extraordinaire.

So tell me what you want, what you really really want….VA or PA?

Ladies and gentlemen – I’m proud to introduce you to Isha Webber. Isha is a History and Sociology graduate with almost a decade of administrative experience from the media communications and charity sector. Isha believes she can ‘take tasks off your hands so you have more time to execute the vision’ – proudly telling anyone who would listen that she enjoys administration. During our first conversation, it was clear that Isha understood her strengths and was interested in finding out about my own working style – suggesting ways that we can work together in order to make the working relationship an enjoyable and mutually beneficial one.

The beauty of hiring a VA (but in my case a PA because I needed that physical contact) is their availability to tailor to your needs on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Many VA’s have multiple clients and so don’t have much down time but have learnt to prioritise the urgent and important tasks first. A good VA remains flexible in terms of the when, as they know what works best for them and their client.  

If you have not considered a VA – what’s stopping, you? He or she will expand your capacity giving you space to work on strategy, direction, offering, delivery etc. 

Are you looking for a VA or maybe you have just found one and would like to share the experience. I’m interested to hear how it’s working.

Inquiry Inquiry Inquiry – yes another one!

You will have heard it time and time again over the last couple of weeks that Black Lives Matter and I make no apology for raising it again. It matters.

The Government’s attempt to address this issue of racism is by way of yet another public Inquiry.  Over past years we have had no less than 7 Inquiries none of which have ever concluded with all the actions and outcomes being enforced.

Is this just an excuse to kick the issue back into the long grass for more information gathering meanwhile this generation continued to be oppressed and for the rest of us Blacks it is business as usual.

How many Inquiries do we need before we actually take action and CHANGE?

My message is clear.  I would rather the government and those in positions of power and influence start with three things. I do not claim to know it all and I am just one small voice, however my ACE plan to start scratching the surface of this systemic problem is this:

Apologise

  • Apologise for paying off the owners of slaves to the tune of over £20m up to 2015
  • Apologise for killing so many black people solely because of the colour of their skin
  • Apologise for turning a blind eye for decades to inequality and discrimination 
  • Apologise for the failure of no plan. Accept and Agree one now

Communicate 

  • Talk Talk Talk about the issue.  Place it on every agenda
  • If families, businesses, networks have not covered the issue because they believe this campaign is not talking to them now is the chance to come forward and be vocal about it. 
  • Communication should not just be amongst white people only but all races, denomination, creeds and colours 
  • If you fail to talk about it, you fail to do the right thing for yourself, your children and your children’s children. Question why you would allow an injustice to continue to take place when you could have been part of fixing the problem.

Educate

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Photograph: Christopher Jones/Alamy

The radical in me would say take down the statues and the relics that represent slave traders and people that profited from slavery.  Place them in a museum with a carefully curated display highlighting their part in the British Empire where slavery was normal.

Those that feel strongly enough about them can go pay to look at them.  Many may say, rightly or wrongly – our history is our history.  The reverse of that however is that, that same history caused our great grandparents to be burnt alive; hung in masses publicly; sexually and physically abused; tortured and degraded.

Therefore, the only solution is to ‘educate’ our country but not only from the prism of a white middle-aged male historian but from the paradigm of a black working-class family whose ancestry lived in chains.

This education needs to be placed on the curriculum not only in UK schools but in schools across the world. A global shift. 

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Photograph: Ben Birchall

The statue of the 17th century slave trader Edward Colston was hauled to the ground last week in Bristol.  Many would say this act of violence was appalling and should be punished. Including the Home Secretary herself.

For me this was a cry for change.  The Berlin Wall springs to mind!

Many including our younger generation may not know even after the events of last week that he was responsible for 84,000 Africans being enslaved and 20,000 of those were lost at sea. Yes, he was acknowledged for giving money to good causes and schools, but would that have been blood money? 

The Bright side 

On a positive note Sadiq Khan, has set up a commission to review all of the landmarks in the capital. More than 100 Labour councils have pledged to review monuments and statues on public land to ensure they represent local people’s values.

9 out of 15 books sold over the last couple of weeks have been Anti-racist books talking about anti-racism.  It is positive that people want to learn and research more into the subject.                 

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This image stuck in my head for all the right reasons …. I am sure it will go down in history. 

A protester carried an injured counter-protester to safety. ‘He came to hate but he was carried away with love…’

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