Surge in new build property complaints
Following a market survey in February 2024, the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) has reported an increasing number of property complaints from home owners over ...
Nipple rule in while other standards dropped
At this time of year, most of us will have the heating on and the windows and doors tightly shut against the UK’s chilly outside ...
The King’s Speech matters for households, landlords and agents
Each year, ahead of the Autumn Statement, parliament is opened by the monarch who gives a speech outlining the government's priorities for the year ahead ...
Overseas politics on the streets of London
The arrest and imprisonment of former Pakistani Prime Minister, Imran Khan, sparked unrest - not only in Islamabad but also on the streets of London ...
Building homes in cities plan
Amid criticism from developers, proposals to unveil plans for constructing additional homes in cities are set to be revealed. Rishi Sunak and Michael Gove have ...
Plan to abolish leasehold system in England and Wales dropped
The plans to abolish the leasehold system in England and Wales have been abandoned following disagreements between Downing Street and Housing Secretary Michael Gove. Instead, ...
Housing affordability – exploding time bomb or time for a reset?
The 2023 Demographia International Housing Affordability report has been published for the third quarter of 2022. The report measures housing affordability (house prices in relation ...
Labour to force landowners to sell without hope
If the Labour party is elected into office next year, it plans to give local authorities the right to buy land at a fraction of ...
It is time to address Inheritance Tax?
The government has reported an increase of around 24% in the number of estates paying inheritance tax over the last year, largely thanks to rising ...
Gove instills fear after declaring ‘war on landlords’
Has Michael Gove gone too far in his war on landlords? His Renters' Reform Bill has caused Conservatives to fear an exodus of buy to ...
Older people’s housing taskforce launched
The government’s new Older People’s Housing Taskforce has been unveiled as part of its Adult Social Care Implementation Plan. It will be led by professor ...
Ban on forced prepayment meters ends in March
Citizens Advice estimates that 3.2 million people in Britain ran out of credit on their prepayment meter last year, the equivalent of one every 10 ...
NPPF consultation due to close
Nineteen local plans have been delayed or withdrawn since planning reforms were announced in December 2022. The Housing Secretary, Michael Gove, put forward his new ...
Increase in home repossessions as cost of living hits home
The number of mortgage and landlord repossessions for the quarter July to September 2022 have been published by the Ministry of Justice. Despite the fact ...
Autumn Budget 2022 – how will it affect the housing market
The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, delivered his Autumn Statement on 17th November 2022. Home owners and movers may well be breathing a sigh of relief that ...
Your dream home now at the expense of your heirs
A new "creative" type of mortgage is being discussed by the government, that could result in children inheriting their parents' debts. New, ultra-long mortgages could ...
Minimum accessibility standards raised
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is raising the minimum accessibility standards for new properties in England. Current basic standards for accessibility, known ...
Reduce the number of demolitions say MPs
The Commons Environmental Audit Committee has said that demolition and rebuilding adds to climate change and that the emissions created must be reduced to meet ...
Summary of Queen’s Speech and how it affects the property market
The announcements made by Prince Charles in the Queen's Speech this month included several matters that will affect the property market. Planning The government has ...
Flood resilience measures updated
New funding has been introduced by the government through the Build Back Better scheme, which will give home owners the opportunity to claim additional money ...
Spring Budget 2022
The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has been accused of failing to tackle the ‘cost of living crisis’, as the property market begins to react to the ...
Gove says housing developers akin to cartel
Levelling-up and housing secretary, Michael Gove, is unpopular with many of the UK's major house builders after describing them as a 'cartel'. In his address ...
Two thirds of homes need better insulation
The head of the UK's Climate Change Committee, Chris Stark, says we must do more to improve the insulation of our homes. In 2008, just ...
24-hour monitoring still needed in 1,149 London buildings
The London Fire Brigade has described the lack of progress on dealing with potentially unsafe buildings, due to the building materials used in their construction, ...
Gove seeks ‘just deal for industry, leaseholders and the taxpayer’
The housing secretary, Michael Gove, has confirmed that firms have until March to agree how they will help leaseholders living in buildings higher than 11 ...
Telford home buyers get 40% discount
The government's First Homes scheme is being used to offer a discount to first time buyers in England, to help them get on the property ...
Would you take cash to downsize your home?
One of the pressures on local housing stock is the lack of incentive for people living in larger homes to move into a smaller property ...
Budget funding to build on brownfield sites and transform neglected spaces
In his recent budget, the Chancellor announced investment in housing of almost £24 billion, to be released over a period of several years. Here are ...
Planning reforms under review
The proposed planning reforms announced a year ago are officially being reviewed. In his speech to the Conservative party conference in October, the Prime Minister ...
Council advanced £151 million to billionaire buying property
Warrington Borough Council's audit and finance committee reported in July that it had advanced over £150 million to an investment company, and was five times ...
Countryside springs leasehold trap
An investigation began in 2019 to investigate leaseholds, after millions of leaseholders faced massive increases in ground rents and the cost of buying the freehold ...
Eton mess – when it’s gone it’s gone
The elitest of England’s public schools has sparked outrage by proposing to build 3,000 houses in rural East Sussex. Eton’s propaganda eulogises a new town ...
Stop this vandalism and create new routes for cyclists and walkers
The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has stopped work being carried out on 69 bridges along disused railway lines, having learned of plans to block dozens ...
First Homes trial discount scheme for first time buyers
Some of the key factors of recent elections have been making home ownership more affordable for more people, particularly those wanting to purchase first homes, ...
Spiralling cost of affordable homes
The cost of building affordable homes in London has tripled, according to the mayor's office, which blamed Brexit and the cladding crisis for the failing ...
Leaseholders and tenants won’t be protected from fire safety costs
An attempt by the House of Lords to force the government to pay for fire safety work on buildings with unsafe cladding before reclaiming the ...
Budget March 2021 – will it help homeowners?
Thanks to the coronavirus, no budget was delivered in the autumn but it is hoped that on 3rd March 2021 the Chancellor might deliver a ...
Empty property grants in Wales
Wales has been operating a pilot scheme of empty property grants for home buyers. The scheme promises to help tackle some of the problems associate ...
Capital Gains Tax could cost buy to let property sellers and renters
The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has recommended changes to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) that could result in costly implications for buy to let property ...
First Homes Scheme consultation response published
The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government has published a summary of responses to its consultation on the delivery of the proposed First Homes ...
Rogue estate agents still at large
In April 2018, housing reforms were announced that would crack down on rogue estate agents and leave greater transparency. However, these reforms are yet to ...
Mortgage prisoners still banged up!
In October 2019, mortgage affordability rules were reformed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to enable mortgage lenders to help mortgage prisoners, by allowing them ...
Second home owners exploiting small business grants
The government's Covid-19 small business grants, in which businesses have been able to claim a £10,000 government grant, is being exploited by greedy second home ...
Homes England demands couple buy access to property they already own
Homes England has demanded £750 from a couple living in the town of Redditch in Worcestershire, to formally procure their garden hedge and part of ...
New scheme available to help Scottish home buyers
The Scottish government has announced a new First Home Fund shared equity scheme. The pilot scheme will release £150 million for first time buyers in ...
Homeowners to use care funding to keep their homes?
Two thirds of the households in England that are headed by someone aged 65 or over are owned outright, that is 6.5 million homes, and ...
What housing policies might we expect from Boris’s new government?
Boris's government has in recent months announced a number of housing policies designed to help home buyers and renters. So, now he can act, who ...
Homes, flooding and insurance – we look at Flood Re
The Flood Reinsurance Scheme known as 'Flood Re' began in 2016 and is designed to ensure that households in areas at high risk of flooding ...
Ready to embrace MMC?
A report from Parliament has said the government must 'embrace modern methods of construction or risk missing its target of building 300,000 new homes in ...
RICS calls on government to view housing market as a whole
The government's apparent focus on increasing the level of property ownership without consideration of the resulting squeeze in the lettings market is likely to raise ...
New regulator for estate and letting agents
The government has published its proposals for a new independent regulatory body with mandatory qualifications and a code of practice, to oversee estate and letting ...
Urgent calls for Stamp Duty changes
There are growing demands across the country to slash stamp duty charges in order to free up the stagnant housing market. New prime minister, Boris ...
Homelessness Reduction Act increases homelessness
The Local Government Association (LGA) has revealed that the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act has led to more people being placed in temporary and ...
Housing market halted by stamp duty changes
How has the SDLT rate hike affected the property market? An Inflation Report from the Bank of England says that recent increases in Stamp Duty ...