Helensburgh Parish Church, Colquhoun Street, Helensburgh, G84 8UP Saturday 17th March 2018, 10am – 2pm Brendan O’Hara MP and The Listed Property Owners’ Club (LPOC) are proud to host the first Listed Property Owners’ Forum in Scotland. This Forum, which aims to help current and future owners of listed buildings deal with the challenges of looking after the nation’s historic properties, is hosted by the MP for Argyll and Bute Brendan O’Hara and in partnership with The Listed Property Owners’ Club; the UK’s only membership organisation for owners or prospective owners of listed buildings and regular campaigning force for changes to
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An LPOC member recently wrote to their MP, Neil Parish, and they were happy for us to share the content of their letter with you. Mr Neil Parish MP House of Commons SW1A 0AA Dear Neil Parish MP, Thank you for taking the time to visit us recently; it was an extremely welcome surprise and a great opportunity to show you our home. Firstly I have to apologise for not writing sooner, we have indeed been working all hours here. Either East Devon District Council (EDDC) must have found out you were on site or the divine intervention from our
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Another six MPs have joined the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Listed Properties: Robert Courts Conservative MP for Witney with 3352 listed buildings. Geoffrey Cox QC Conservative MP for Torridge and West Devon with 3674 listed buildings. Philip Dunne Conservative MP for Ludlow with 3278 listed buildings. Brendan O’Hara SNP MP for Argyll and Bute with 1983 listed buildings. Nick Herbert Conservative MP for Arundel and South Downs with 2784 listed buildings. Stephen Kerr Conservative MP for Stirling with 1475 listed building
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The European Court of Justice has ruled that a reduced 5% VAT rate on installing energy saving materials for properties is illegal. The decision claims that the reduced rate breaks VAT Directive and should be reinstated at 20%, for both products installed and supplied in housing. The 5% rate is currently paid on a range of products including draught insulation, controls for central heating, solar panels and heat pumps. The ruling conflicts with the government’s promise not to raise VAT, and if complied with, will increase the cost of effectively insulating homes. There was no immediate response from the government on whether they will recognise this change. Critics argued
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Financial secretary to the Treasury David Gauke wrote to us in response to criticism that the government’s decision to scrap VAT relief was based on insufficient evidence. The junior minister described the rationale behind the changes as “twofold”, stating confusion for HM Revenue and Customs; and the prevention of an anomaly caused by repairs and maintenance being standard rated, while pre-approved alterations were zero rated. Mr Gauke claimed that a reduction for renovation and repair to 5% would cost the government £2 billion per annum, so therefore “has no plans to introduce support for the sector in the way you propose.” There
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The political parties declared their position on a VAT reduction on approved alterations to listed buildings during the Heritage Alliance’s Heritage Day, which LPOC attended. Ed Vaizey said the Chancellor was “not able to secure a VAT reduction in the Autumn statement”, but insisted that the Government “remains open minded and interested about reducing VAT on repairs and alterations”. The Minister stressed the importance of the Heritage sector providing clearer evidence to the Treasury about the cost of reducing VAT. Mr Vaizey also said “VAT is a matter for the Chancellor”, and described a reduction in VAT on alterations and repairs as “a very live issue.” The Minister also acknowledged the importance of preserving traditional skills used on
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Dear Mr Osborne, I write to you as the Director & Founder of the Listed Property Owners Club (LPOC) to feed in some of our priorities ahead of the forthcoming Autumn Statement. Over the past two years Listed Property Owners have had to deal with rising costs in order to maintain their property to required legal standards. This has been due in part to the raising of VAT on approved alternations to buildings from 0% to 20% at the 2012 budget. While this did remove an anomaly whereby alterations were zero-rated but repair and maintenance were standard-rated it has also
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LPOC Founder, Peter Anslow, made a slideshow presentation to an audience of MPs, parliamentary researchers and Peers, highlighting a number of issues that custodians of listed property face as part of our campaign for owners. He addressed the common misperception that listed buildings owners are affluent despite 50% of owners being in the lowest socio-economic groups C1, C2, D and E. Furthermore he showed that the cost of owning a listed property have become so exorbitant for some they have had to move out which puts our listed property heritage at risk. This has been largely due to the rise
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