The issue of whether or not Britain should be attempting to build its way out of a recession is the crux of a significant debate in the British media and property industry. In this article, we look at some of the key arguments and give you the opportunity to voice your own opinions.
The response so far has been fantastic; join the debate by having your say at the bottom of the article.
Norwich Crown Court has this month reached a decision on a case concerning a landlord in Brent, London who converted a house into 12 flats without the appropriate planning consent. He faces well over £1.4m in fines.
£500,000 of this will be due to Brent Council and the total of £1.4m constitutes the largest damages order ever seen for an incident of this type – reflecting the earnings Mr Ali illegally made from renting out the properties.
Follow this link or the one above to find a surveyor in London if you are planning on purchasing property or converting property to flats. A Chartered Surveyor will be able to advise on planning implications and meeting Building Regulations.
Nottingham Surveyors – A first day on site for a Nottinghamshire labourer near Worksop, ended with the employee hit by a falling excavator bucket. The result was the loss of one eye and part of his scalp, a punctured lung and a two week coma. The case has recently been brought before Mansfield Magistrate’s Court and resulted in 250 hours unpaid work and £300 towards legal costs for the excavator driver.
The case has been referred to the Crown Court for further sentencing of the construction company itself. It highlights the importance of Health and Safety and effective project management. To instruct a qualified professional to manage a project, click here.
Bristol Building Surveyors – Bristol City Council has recently released a map which you can use to check your property’s suitability for solar panels. A user can simply type in their address and see a graphic of their property and the surrounding area, revealing an estimated potential for solar generation between ‘limited’ and ‘very good’.
Further details are listed, including estimated system size, electricity generation and CO2 savings.
derbysurveyors.co.uk– Kier Partnership Homes has been appointed as the development partner for the old Manor and Kingsway Hospital site in Derby, comprising a deal worth £100 million over 10 years.
The HCA and Derby Council chose Kier – whose proposals include a business park to support 450 jobs – after preparing the site for development. Of the 700 homes to be built, ‘a number’, yet to be disclosed, will be affordable.
Kier will now work with the healthcare service providers on the site to ensure the new scheme meshes with the provision of essential services. Works are planned to start on site in Autumn 2012.
More information can be found here, on the Inside Housing Website.
The Government has released a consultation concerning new draft statutory guidance on social housing allocations for local authorities in England. Grant Shapps MP, Minister for Housing, hopes the guidance will help do away with the ‘injustice’ associated with the social housing system.
To read the full article, click here.
A new case provides an excellent example and warning to landlords and solicitors that when issuing notices to tenants, strict procedures and checks must be in place to eliminate the risk of crucial errors.
To read the rest of this article, click here.
Two prominent MPs, David Davis (Conservative) and Frank Field (Labour), have put together a report suggesting that the Government go further with their proposed changes to the Right-to-Buy scheme – providing the opportunity for potentially another 1 million tenants to get on the property ladder.
To read the full article, click here.
PropertySurveying.co.uk – With the Government currently consulting on proposals to increase the maximum discount under Right to Buy (RTB) to £50,000, fears are growing around local authorities that new homes will not be assured as a result.
The consultation’s wording reiterates the Government’s commitment to replacing every social housing unit sold with another affordable home. Some councils, however, are arguing that the borrowing caps their financial resources are governed by restrict them from being able to raise the necessary capital for this goal. With unit values as low as £70,000 in some areas, some councils could be looking at receipts as low as £20,000 to build a new affordable house – something which the Communities and Local Government Department itself believes will cost £40,000 – £50,000 per unit.
surveyorsbarnet.co.uk – The Council for Barnet in London has put forward plans to restrict tenants aged 18-25 to just two year tenancies as part of a shake up of its housing allocation policies.
The tenancy agreements would also be conditional upon unemployed tenants taking part in skills development, training or education which could lead to employment. They would, of course, be reviewed every two years; allowing the council to reallocate housing away from those, for example, not deemed to be trying hard enough to find gainful employment, and towards those deemed to deserve greater support.
Additionally, new tenants over the age of 25 would be offered a five year tenancy agreement, the minimum outlined by the Government.
Both measures are part of a wider exploitation of the powers gained through the recent Localism Act, with additional moves towards prioritising social housing for servicemen and women and towards tackling under occupation.
More information on under occupation and underused homes can be found here.
