Drowning St.
The old method of recarpeting roads is affecting property by lowering the plinth level of houses and shops and thus their value, writes Kanchan Vasdev
The recarpeting of roads without bothering about the plinth level by following age-old methods is having a detrimental effect on the value of property in Punjab. The plinth level of houses is decreasing day by day as new layers of road are laid over the existing ones every time recarpeting is done.

LIQUID ASSETS: A waterlogged house in Ludhiana. — Photo by Sayeed Ahmed

Tax tips
Prime plot and punishment
Q. I am a widow aged 72. I sold my share of agricultural land within the municipal limits for Rs 20 lakh in January, 2008. The long-term capital gain earned by me in this deal was Rs.10 lakh. The LTCG tax, therefore, comes to Rs 106000 at the rate of 10.6 pc. I have not invested the LTCG to save tax etc. and my gross annual income is about Rs.81,000 without claiming any deduction.

POUND OF PLUSH
Indians to spend £15 b on buying British homes: study
Fuelled by the country's rapid economic growth and increasing number of high net worth individuals (HNWIs), residential investment by Indians in the United Kingdom is likely to touch a whopping £15 billion over the next 10 years, says a report. "Indians could potentially own 20,000-30,000 UK residential properties over a 10 year horizon and UK-India cross-border investment is all set to grow to £10-15 billion by 2018," the latest Jones Lang LaSalle's report titled 'UK-India Cross-border Residential Investment' says.                               Taranpreet Kaur

GROUND REALTY
Treadmill
Vitrified tiles are fast becoming the favourite flooring material in India. Marble flooring almost wiped out terrazzo flooring during the last two decades. Now, vitrified tiles are replacing marble. This trend is quite evident in metros and advanced cities. Commercial buildings and modern offices have completely switched over to vitrified tiles. Residential buildings are also using vitrified tiles because of the lesser time involved in providing this flooring as no polishing work is involved.