On the evening of 16th November, Harrow College saw a full house when Asian Voice organised the Property Investors Meet, sponsored by Metro Bank and Galliard Homes, a British residential property developer, in collaboration with Sow & Reap, a specialist property investment company.
The evening started with an introduction to the central theme, “Tax: a perfect storm or a navigable headwind?”, by Suresh Vagjiani, Founder of property specialists Sow & Reap, and the moderator for the evening. This was followed by a Panel Discussion with five experts from the field, and then a Q&A with the audience.
As Suresh Vagjiani explained the theme, in the current property environment there is a situation where stamp duty has become onerous and costly, and property incomes are facing attacks. This has massive knock-on effects and is changing the landscape drastically as the property industry has been hit with radical, negative tax changes and reforms in the last few years. A call for greater transparency is on the rise. Richard Margrave, local director (Harrow branch, Metro Bank) gave his opening remarks on the event on behalf of Metro Bank.
This was followed by a statement from David Galman, Sales Director, Galliard Homes. Galman presented an overview of property investment and why it is still a solid, long-term investment. He spoke about the available opportunities in the current time of unfavourable property environment.
Simon Farrell QC, Three Raymond Buildings, and Ellis Sareen, Barrister, Foundry Chambers, spoke about the legal aspects of new property schemes on offer by UK banks. They discussed tax strategies to legally minimise leakage, and ways to avoid attractive but risky tax planning schemes.
Jay Sanghrajka, Partner at Price Bailey Chartered Accountants, in his remarks, advised the attendees on property tax planning. He is also a specialist in advising on the government approved Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS).
Roshan Patel, Local Director at Metro Bank (Slough Branch) and Ali Pirbhai, Regional Commercial Banking Director, Metro Bank, spoke about the various ways in which Metro Bank was customer-centric when it comes to property buying.
The audience Q&A were advised on their queries regarding buying student-housing properties and property laws on inheritance, among others. Attended by investors, bankers, property lawyers, among others, this event was a prequel to the Asian House and Home magazine, due to come out in December.
