Homeowners in the London Borough of Greenwich woke up this morning to the happy news their addresses are now officially ‘royal’.

It has been announced that the Greenwhich  to become a Royal Borough as part  the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations which are due to start later this year. The move celebrates the borough’s links to monarchy, which include the Royal Observatory and its Greenwich Meantime; Royal Arsenal; and Royal Naval College – plus both Elizabeth I and Henry VIII were both born within its borders.

Given the borough’s blue-blooded history, which goes back to the Middle Ages, it’s a surprise royal recognition has been so long coming. But during the ‘interregnum’, as Britain’s brief and bloody republican experiment is known, Cromwell seized crown lands in Greenwich to make way for his family manor house. Memories are long within the royal household, it would seem.

An aerial view of Greenwich including the Thames, former Royal Naval Hospital and Park

Today’s excitement at the name change is focused on the new impetus Greenwich’s recently-stalled gentrification may receive. Although awash with upmarket restaurants and boutiques these days, Greenwich’s property market has endured price slides recently as City bonuses have dried up; a situation not helped by the glut of new homes for sale to the east of the Cutty Sark dock area.

But agents in the borough are hoping that royal endorsement will help propel the area up the popularity stakes again, particularly as it is only the fourth borough to be honoured this way, alongside the Royal Boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, and Windsor and Maidenhead.

“Greenwich has always taken tremendous pride in the borough’s long history of royal connections with Greenwich, Woolwich and Eltham dating back almost 600 years and which continue so strongly right up to the present day,” says Greenwich council leader Chris Roberts.

What do the Duke of Westminster, Kualar Lumpar and Liverpool have in common? The answer is Cesar Peli, one of the world’s leading architects famed for his designs for some of the world’s best-known skyscrapers including One Canada Square in London’s Docklands.

His most recent cloud-tickling structure is One Park West, a large apartment tower under construction in Liverpool’s Albert Docks retail and hotel quarter.

Grosvenor's One Park West development in Liverpool

The development is being masterminded by the Duke of Westminster’s Grosvenor property development firm and when completed the 17-storey building will include 326 apartments from studios to three bedroom units.

And although Peli is probably proud of his latest design, he may be put out that one of his more famous ones – Kualar Lumpar’s Petronas Towers – was yesterday overtaken as the world’s tallest structure by Dubai’s much-vaunted The Burj Khalifa tower – at 825 metres high.

But unlike the £1m-plus apartments for sale at the Dubai tower, properties at One Park West are more affordable starting at £90,000 for a studio and rising to £400,000 for the largest three-bedroom units.

This may account for its apparent success. Grosvenor claims to have sold apartments off-plan worth some £25 million and rented out most of the 123 apartment completed on the project so far – an admirable result given the current economic woes in the region and the UK as a whole.

Building ambitions in Liverpool: The Duke of Westminster

“Demand and new sales struggled during the first quarter of 2009, partly due to the availability of viable mortgage products and potential purchasers being nervous to take the plunge until they saw how the economic landscape was likely to pan out,” says Grosvenor’s Guy Butler.

“But in June we witnessed a change in the market, with an upturn in sales, which has resulted in an average of close to two sales a week since then.”

These figures mask an important point though – almost 70 per cent of sales on the development have been to landlords (rather than owner-occupiers), who have realised that One Park West is one of Liverpool’s few city-centre addresses ideal for upmarket professionals – rents being achieved range from £525 a month for a studio to £900 a month for the larger apartments.

Click here to find out more about the development and see pictures of the apartments.

I’ll let you into a secret: Those things you put in the bath to make them into jacuzzis are rubbish.

They don’t work, they get in the way and you’ll use them once before you get bored. So if you’re going to do something, do it right. Here are some properties that’ll add a little bit of luxury to your bathtime.

London

This one-bedroom flat is not only in a great part of south London (Crystal Palace), it’s in a lovely property too.

And for £149,950 you could certainly do a lot worse.

It’s even got oak floors. But most importantly, it’s got a jacuzzi bath.

I’m tempted by this one myself. I can’t see it sticking around for very long so move quickly if you want to take a look.

Nottingham

This place is pretty spectacular. I know we’re meant to be looking for jacuzzis, and this five-bedroom home in Nottingham has one of those, but it’s also got a swimming pool as well! Hooray!

Sure, it’s not exactly budget friendly, but £300,000 for a five-bed home with all of the fancy trimmings is a very good price indeed. Need anymore convincing? Take a look at that garden.

Bristol

This Georgian styled property is great. It’s not a huge home, so if you were looking for a two-bed place with space for an office or studio, this would work very well.

It’s pretty, in a good area and on the market for £199,950. And that jacuzzi looks lovely too. Brilliant.

Manchester

If you’re looking for a one-bedroom flat that’s perfect for commuting into the city, this Manchester pad could be perfect.

As the flat is part of a complex, you get access to a gym and swimming pool.

You don’t have a jacuzzi in the flat itself, but there is one in the swanky fitness centre. I guess for £137,000 you have to pick your battles.

There’s a lot of aspects of city living that are brilliant. There’s no doubting the fun, vibrant atmosphere. And being able to get Chinese food at practically any time of the day will always be a bonus as far as I’m concerned. But if you’re living in the centre, you’re probably going to have to miss out on a garden. But there’s got to be some green-fingered options out there, hasn’t there?

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is a stunning city and it’s got a great whack of pretty scenery all on it’s own. But it’s an old town, so the properties in the centre are often listed building. If you’re lucky enough to find a garden property like this one, I’d snap it up, there won’t be many of them in the city centre. Offers are in excess of £395,000, so for a central flat, that’s not too bad.

 
Newcastle

Would you consider a communal garden? Newcastle isn’t very abundant with green space in the city, but if you lived here, I’m pretty sure you’d be able to cope. Stunning isn’t it? Granted you might not be able to grow your own veg, but think of the garden parties you’ll have. It’s got three bedrooms and it’s on the market for £750,000. A bargain, I think.

London

Finding secret green spaces in London isn’t as hard as you’d think. But finding one that’s actually more then two foot square is another matter. So have a look at this place. Yes, that is a hot tub you can see just in the corner. The koi pond is just out of view. Extravagant? Moi? A tad. But it’s central, and £1.15 million isn’t so bad for such a swanky pad in Baker Street. Honestly.

Manchester

It rains rather a lot in Manchester, but at least that’ll give all of your pretty flowers a chance to grow (hey, I’m looking at the upside here, OK?) I’ve been assured that not only does this central Manchester penthouse has a roof garden, it’s also got a hot tub. And, it’s also got that view, which makes it all worth while.

I’m tempted to get the gardening gloves out now.

If you’ve been looking at properties in Scotland, you’ll have noticed that they follow a different buying system than the rest of the UK. They ask for “offers over” the asking price. So if you’re ideal home is £200,000 in England, you could put an offer in at that price. In Scotland, you’d have to go in over that mark. And here’s the clincher: You don’t know how much more another buyer has offered. You could lose the home you want by bidding too low, which means that the power stays with the seller.

Depending on the property market, you’re expected to pay around 10-20% over the starting offer. Quite a large amount more. The good thing about this, is that this does work in favour of the buyer – if the market is bad, you can offer less. It’s a very strange system indeed.,

But it certainly makes the Scottish property market stronger. English buyers tend to ‘over bid’ which drives the property market inflation up. The Scottish property market isn’t in nearly as sore a state as the rest of the UK. There’s good reason for it. You might still find that some properties are sold at a fixed price and this is a direct correlation to how well the property market is doing. If the majority of the properties are sold as ‘offers over’ then the market in that area is in pretty good shape. ‘Fixed price’ and you’re looking at a shaky market, one where the buyer can take control and get themselves a great deal.

There are pros and cons to the ‘offers over’ system, as at first glance it appears to favour the buyer. But the pitfalls put the strength back into the hands of the seller. It might take a while longer to find your dream home in Scotland, and you could lose out on a couple you really like, but you get a much better idea of the property market and how best to bid for the house you want. That information is priceless.

If you’re keen to buy a home in a safe neighbourhood, where there’s a low risk of flooding, burglaries or criminal damage, then help could be at hand. Virgin Money Home Insurance has revealed details of the safest places to live in England and Wales.

According to the findings from Virgin Money Home Insurance, homeowners in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea can breathe a sigh of relief, as they’re living in the safest place (and also some of the most expensive properties in London). Next up in the safe ranks are Dudley, in the West Midlands and Poole in Dorset, which were both noted for having a low number of burglaries. The news isn’t quite so cheery for those living in Doncaster, as the researchers claim that the South Yorkshire town is the least safe place to own a home.

The findings were based on a rating system that measured the riskiness of various factors for the major towns and cities in England and Wales. Places were ranked, for example, in terms of the amount of criminal damage reported, the number of burglaries committed, the risk of flooding and the amount of protection on offer from local police and Neighbourhood Watch schemes.

Along with Doncaster, the next two cities on the not-so-safe list were Sheffield and Nottingham. They all suffered from higher risks of burglary, flooding and criminal damage. Despite doing well overall in the survey, it was noted, however, that Kensington and Chelsea does have a high risk of burglaries.

Anyone looking for a lovely three-bedroom house in a cobbled mews? Alex, one of our SEO guys, is selling his delightful property in Hove – and yes, since you ask, it is for sale on Primelocation.com!

“Nine happy years of cobbled life,” said Alex wistfully, when we asked him for a quote. “Oh, and did I mention it’s really close to Hove train station and right by a 24-hour bus route? Location is everything, you know.”

We know, Alex. We know.

(Is nice, oui?)

Does anyone reading this know a lottery winner, Russian oligarch, wealthy ageing rockstar or similar? If so you should let them know that according to the Daily Mail, a handsome little village called Linkenholt is up for grabs for the meagre sum of £25m, which is roughly what they would have spent on a two-bed semi in Sloane Square anyway.

 Seriously. Your OWN VILLAGE.

It’s a nice thought, no?

If I was to snap this baby up, I would have a few key questions for the estate agent.

1. Will I be allowed to rename it? Linkenholt is very nice, but I was thinking something with a bit more chutzpah, something a bit more modern and relevant and spectacular. Something that shows we’re down with the kids. Hogwartstonville, perhaps, or Russell-Crow-on-the-Wold. Or New HighschoolmusiCaledonia.

2. Can I kick people out if I don’t like them? For £25m, I don’t want some concrete-faced neighbour telling me to turn my music down. I am a fair person, however, and am willing to implement a three-strikes-and-you’re-out policy.
 

3. Can I make some new local laws? Nothing unreasonable, obviously. Just off the top of my head, perhaps it will be illegal in New HighschoolmusiCaledonia to work on snow days, or to walk slowly on the footpath when someone is walking behind you, or to leave the plastic covering on your furniture after you’ve bought it, or to leave your car engine running while you’re parked.

4. Can I have a Bank holiday in my name? Just in the village, of course, not all of the UK. Although everyone will be welcome to celebrate Jessica Townsend Day if they feel inclined. We will have a parade of floats through the centre of town, and everyone will dress up like me and we will dance to Kylie Minogue all night. Tra la la.

Thanks to Mike from Winging It for pointing us in the direction of this Bargain of the Century!

Over to you, then. What would you name your village? Any laws you’d introduce?

There are in the region of 373,000 listed buildings in the UK and many are oozing with their own charm and quirky features. Although many people love the idea of living in a listed building, they’re sometimes put off by the thought of dealing with it (thanks to horror stories about people trying to do alterations and not being allowed to do the work) and the extra paperwork and implications involved. If you’re wondering about the reality of coping with a listed building, then here are the facts!

1. When a building is called listed it means it’s regarded as being of special historic or architectural interest and is on a national register. The listing protects the whole of the building – outside and inside, plus surrounding areas – and any owner has a duty to keep the building in good repair.

2. As an owner of a listed building, you have to contact the conservation officer at your local district council if you ever wish to alter, extend, change or demolish any part of your building in a way that might affect the character or setting. You need to gain Listed Building Consent from the council – similar to planning permission, but no fees involved – before you can start any work.

3. Alterations or changes that require Listed Building Consent include: changing the roofing material, removing internal walls, changing fireplaces or staircases, changing windows, painting over brickwork, putting up aerials or satellite dishes, and removing external surfaces.

4. It takes about eight weeks for the results of applications for Listed Building Consent to be considered and decided upon. If your proposal is turned down, you will have six months in which to make an appeal.

5. If you go ahead and alter a listed building without first gaining consent, then it is regarded as a criminal offence and you could be fined or even imprisoned. The council will also insist the property is returned to how it was.

6. If you’re buying a listed property, you need to ensure that any previous work carried out has been authorised. If it hasn’t, you could be held responsible – even though you had nothing to do with it – as you will inherit the problems.

7. In England and Wales, the authority for listing is granted by the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 and administered by English Heritage. In Wales and Scotland there are different organisations involved, namely CADW in Wales and Historic Scotland in Scotland.

8. A limited number of grants are available from local conservation officers to help with repair and upkeep on listed buildings.

9. Statistics indicate that 92% of all listed buildings are grade II listed (of special interest), 5.5% are grade II* (particularly important buildings) and 2.5% are grade I listed (exceptionally important buildings). 38% of all listed buildings are used as domestic dwellings.

10. The older and rarer a building, the more likely it is to be listed. Properties built before 1700 and which have survived well, are very likely to be listed and any properties built before 1840 may well make the listed grade. It’s not just older properties though – some exceptional modern buildings built after 1945 are known to have listed status too. In addition to age, buildings that are of particular architectural interest or associated with key events or historical figures may have a listed status too.

To find listed property for sale, head over and search on Primelocation.com (typing ‘listed’ into the keyword search field).

Q. My partner and I are looking to buy a repossessed property at auction as they are more affordable in the area we live in. My query is how do we obtain a mortgage on an auction property?

A. Buying property at auction is different to a conventional sale as the deal is binding at the fall of the hammer, where you are expected to hand over a 10% deposit. In a traditional deal, you are free to withdraw even if you have made an offer which has previously been accepted. If you fail to complete on an auction property with a 28 day period, you will lose your deposit.

I suggest that you contact several lenders well in advance of the auction date and ensure that you have satisfied their lending criteria and that they are willing to loan an appropriate sum of money “in principle.” Even if you do this, the offer will always be subject to a satisfactory survey by the lender so be prepared to have your intended auction property surveyed at your expense in advance of auction date. The risk with this is that even if you are able to borrow and the lender lend, you could still lose the property on auction day itself which would also mean you forfeit the cost of the lender’s valuation survey. Subject to the terms and conditions of the lender, you could also be liable for a hefty mortgage arrangement fee so check this aspect carefully with any potential lender. Good luck!

If you need further advice on obtaining a mortgage, take a look at our Mortgages & Finance centre on Primelocation.com.

Got a property question? Leave it in a comment and Barry will give you an answer.