Category: General Section

As Energy prices rise more than 10%, can they be justified and what is the solution? Depends on who you ask…

What's behind the energy price hikes?

Consumers have in recent weeks been hit by price rises of up to 11.1 per cent – equating to between £100-200 extra per year on the typical household’s fuel bill. A number of the “Big Six” energy firms have claimed that the increases are because of rising wholesale prices, but recent data doesn’t support this.

Statistics released from Ofgem, the energy regulator, suggests that wholesale prices rose by only 1.7 per cent over the last year – a mere fraction of the levels energy companies are attempting to justify. The figures will undoubtedly prompt fury across the country as homeowners prepare for winter and questions are aksed as to what the real reason is for these rises?

We look into the issues, the real reasons and potential solutios here…

Have you heard about Smart Cities? Set to be a £400bn industry by 2020 and a big part of all urban lives

A new report published in October values the smart cities industry at more than $400 billion globally by 2020, with the UK expected to gain a 10% share ($40 billion). This comes as the Government announces the creation of a Smart Cities Forum.

A smart city uses intelligent technology to enhance our quality of life in urban environments. Cities can use the data in a variety of ways; to save money, minimise waste, measure domestic water usage and manage transport routes. An upcoming computer game – Watchdogs – will explore the possibilities of a software integrated city, with wifi provided free in every location and software programmes operating everything from traffic lights to crime prediction systems.

Read on here…

Are you one of the est. 1,400,000 landlords not paying their full tax liability?

HMRC wants property landlords to declare all property income and capital gains and to pay what’s due to the government before the January deadline. For the UK’s 500,000 landlords already registered with HMRC this is business as usual. But estimates put the real number of landlords at between 1.4-1.9 million.

Why the big deficit and what tax mistakes are all too common? Read on here…

Foxes, hares and rabbits all in decline – but deers boom

www.PropertySurveying.co.uk

urban foxes - a dying breed?Despite frequent tales of the deviance and destruction wrought by urban foxes and a strong media presence concerned with explaining, educating and protecting against their impact, a new study in the European Journal of Wildlife Research has shown that numbers in the UK are actually down by 20% in the last two decades.

This is despite the hunting ban of 2004 . Deer numbers, on the other hand, are exploding – with 181% growth for Reeve’s muntjac and 89% for fallow deer.

Is nostalgia fast becoming a luxury we cannot afford?

A recent report from London Councils, a body representing all 33 of London’s local authorities, has suggested that only 250,000 new homes will be delivered by 2021 in the nation’s capital – a long way below the target of 800,000 they believe is required to maintain London’s future as a global city.

In which case, do contruction companies need to be incentivised to take a very serious look at alternative technologies and construction techniques – moving towards faster erection times over meeting Design Quality Indicators?

Read the whole article here…

Property Price Watch

After a period of relative calm when it comes to property and land prices, new growth and renewed optimism is throwing up stories from across the UK of fresh booms and inflating prices. We look at three items we have selected from land and property in an article published in our monthly newsletter for September.

Read the whole article here…

DECC records 22% rise in ECO installations

PropertySurveying.co.uk – In a bout of good news for the industry, the Department of Energy and Climate Change has released figures indicating a 22% monthly rise in installations under the Energy Companies Obligation (ECO). 33,765 measures were installed in May, taking the total to 115,723 since the scheme started in January.

Much of that success, particularly with hard-to-treat cavities, has been down to Chartered Surveyors – many of whom are members of our network of independent professionals.

If you need a Chartered Surveyors Report for HTT cavities, EPCs or any other form of work under ECO; contact us now – 0800 880 6264.

Worthing Council takes back Car Parks but faces £600,000 law suit

worthingsurveyor.co.uk – After a ten year agreement with NCP that had handled all of Worthing’s car parks, Worthing Council has now ended the relationship and seeks to gain back control.

It claimed that parking prices had “more than doubled” since NCP took on the contract in 2003, but annual parking revenue for the council only increased from £880,000 to £1m in that time. NCP are suing for alleged breach of contract to the tune of £600,000.

 

A Property Owning Democracy?

What was Thatcher’s True Property Legacy?

On the day of her public funeral, we issued a special, single-article edition of our newsletter, analysing through editorial comment the legacy the late Baroness Thatcher leaves to the UK property market.

Baroness Margaret Thatcher’s death has prompted vigorous debate on the matter of her controversial political legacy. In the wake of the passing of a woman described as “the most admired, most hated, most idolised and most vilified public figure of the second half of the 20th century”, we analyse the indelible mark she left on the British property market…

Read the rest of this popular article at this link.