Category: General Section

Government urges public to help rough sleepers this Christmas

Housing Minister Grant Shapps has urged people across the country to help solve rough sleeping this Christmas. People are invited to call local 24-hour hotlines if they see someone sleeping on the pavement in their neighbourhood.

Supplementary information on over 9,000 services – hostels, day centres and other advice and support services for homeless people and those at risk of homelessness can be found at Homeless UK. For details of outreach teams in London, visit Homeless London.

  • Coming soon – a national helpline

The government plans to establish a new national single phone number which will provide a central point of contact for people across the country to get help for rough sleepers in their neighbourhood.

Based on London’s No Second Night Out number, this new phone line and website will ensure anyone wanting to get help for rough sleepers in their area will know where to go and who to call.

The Minister for Housing said: in a civilised society no one should have to sleep on the pavement.

Alterations to Listed Buildings and VAT

Legislation and general red tape surrounding listed buildings can often be confusing and open to interpretation by an individual.  The situation with Value Added Tax (VAT), charged by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), is just one of many such complications.

To read more, click here.

Tree root High Court case ruling welcome news to local authorities

 A recent High Court ruling decided the local authority in question was not liable for damage caused by their tree as long as they were unaware the tree posed a real risk to the property in question – a new precedent for future cases and a cause to breathe a little easier for local authorities.

To read more, click here.

Richest buyers costing £1bn in stamp duty Avoidance

Stamp duty avoidance on £1m+ properties could be causing the Government a loss of £1bn in revenue. With pledges from Mr Osborne earlier this year to tackle tax avoidance, many will be pointing to this as an area he should be scrutinising closely.

To read more, click here.

Construction guide – power cables

Every year accidents occur on large and small scale construction sites around the country, when due care and attention is not paid to neutralising the threat of un-insulated overhead and underground power cables. We have provided a guide to help you stay safe, whether you’re constructing a 10 storey block of flats, or merely repairing your chimney.

Read our guide here.

Have your say on the August riots

Inside Housing is offering the chance to win £100 in Marks & Spencer vouchers in exchange for your views on the riots.

Shortly after the riots swept England in August, Inside Housing, the Chartered Institute of Housing and the National Housing Federation launched ‘The Riot Report’ to find out what steps can be taken to help prevent a repeat of the violence. Now they want to know what housing professionals, who work for social landlords operating in areas that experienced riots, think caused the disturbances. What would they like their organisations to do to address the underlying problems?

Have your say here.

New guidance for contractors over timber frame fire risk

Information has been released by the UKTFA (UK Timber frame Association), with backing from the Health & Safety Executive, following a number of high profile inner city building site blazes. Foremost among them was a large explosion at a buidling site in central Bath.

The Association has advised that contractors have a crucial role to play in specifying the right type of system, indiciating that more expensive products are often required, rather than open pannelled timber frame.

To find out more detail on this story, click here for the full article.

Calls for carbon monoxide alarms in new-build houses

Cardiff Building Surveyors

Campaigners are lobbying the Welsh government to amend building regulations to ensure carbon monoxide alarms are installed in new homes.

The Carbon Monoxide – Be Alarmed group say only 38% of homes in Wales own a carbon monoxide alarm.

As well as new-build regulations, it wants landlords to be forced to provide alarms in properties as part of annual gas safety inspections.

The Welsh government has been asked to comment.

Members of the group will meet assembly ministers at the Senedd at an event hosted by Islwyn AM Gwyn Price.

Campaign spokeswoman, Christine McGourty, said: “There are two simple steps we’d like the Welsh Government to take.

“Firstly, building regulations should be amended so that new homes come with alarms already installed.

“Secondly, providing an alarm should be part of a landlord’s annual gas safety inspection.”

Attending the event will be Adele Forbes, from Blackwood, in Caerphilly county, who lost her five-year-old son McCauley and her grandparents in 2005 to carbon monoxide poisoning.

McCauley Thomas, five, had been staying with Patrick Chidgey, 71, and his wife Gloria, 68, at Pontllanfraith, near Blackwood, in October 2005.

A Newport inquest heard carbon monoxide had built up in the house because of a blocked chimney from a coal fire.

An investigation showed the chimney had not been swept and the boiler not been serviced for “some time”.

Ms Forbes said: “We hadn’t got round to putting an alarm into our home, and I now have to live with that forever.

“Too many lives are lost or harmed each year because people don’t realise the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning.

“I want every parent in Wales to buy a carbon monoxide alarm this week.

“Believe me, spending £20 on an alarm is worth it – it can protect you and your family from permanent brain damage and it might save your lives.”

Gwyn Price AM said he hoped the event would be a “significant first step to achieving the campaigns objectives, here in Wales”.

The campaign group claims 1.8m people in Wales are at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning because they do not have an alarm.

It says research shows 74% of people are unaware that carbon monoxide – which has no colour, taste or smell – can kill, and only 15% realise it can cause brain damage.

Find a surveyor near you if you think carbon monoxide might be building in your home. Click here to find your nearest Chartered Surveyor.

Source: BBC website.