Breaking News
Councils struggle with RTB scheme
Councils are struggling to replace houses sold through the right-to-buy (RTB) scheme, according to analysis of provisional figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) it would appear that just one home has been built for every nine sold through the right-to-buy scheme, this is not at all what was pledged by the…
Allen Walkey
TPO announces new Property Ombudsman, Katrine Sporle CBE.
From 1 November 2015, Katrine Sporle CBE will take up the role of Ombudsman at The Property Ombudsman, taking over from her predecessor Christopher Hamer, whose nine year term comes to an end on 30th November. Previously, Katrine Sporle was Chief Executive of the Planning Inspectorate for England and Wales (2003-2011), which involved being responsible…
Christopher Walkey
£20bn mortgage lending in August
According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) they reported £20bn of mortgage deals went through in August, this was slightly down on July’s lending total of £21.7 billion, but 12 per cent higher than August last year, when loans totalling £17.8 billion went through. A mortgage price war between lenders, with many slashing the…
Allen Walkey
Zoopla Property Group appoints Goodstuff
Zoopla Property Group the digital media business that owns and operates some of the UK’s leading online property brands including Zoopla and PrimeLocation, has appointed Goodstuff to handle their media planning and buying business worth £15m. The ZPG marketing team has seen a number of changes of the last few months as they look to…
Allen Walkey
Comments on BTL regulation
According to Stefatheno Silvestrin, senior economist at the the Nationwide Building Society who was speaking at the the Financial Services Expo (FSE) London on Wednesday, the curbing of tax relief on interest-only buy-to-let mortgages for landlords by George Osborne is unlikely to have a major impact on activity in the sector. Silvestrin said the decision…
Allen Walkey
Rent controls..good or bad?
Private rents are becoming increasingly more expensive across the UK, that is a statement of fact, would the introduction of rent controls solve the problem though? Figures recently released by the Office for National Statistics suggest that rents paid to private landlords in the UK have increased by 2.5 per cent over the last year, …
Allen Walkey
World’s Biggest Coffee morning
Its always a pleasure to highlight any agents who organise or take part in any charitable event, this time it is Ellis Winters & Co a Chatteris estate agent and their charity is Macmillan Cancer Support. They will be holding a coffee morning on September 25 to raise funds for the charity, the event is…
Allen Walkey
LSL Property Services / Acadata HPI August
LSL Property Services / Acadata ( England & Wales ) House Price Index for August House prices see biggest monthly boost for a year. Average house prices across England and Wales jumped £1,900 in August, the fastest rise seen for past twelve months. This takes property values to eighth peak this year, standing at £282,816…
Allen Walkey
ONS house price index July
The Office for National Statistics today releases it’s statistical bulletin: House Price index for July 2015. UK house prices increased by 5.2% in the year to July 2015, down from 5.7% in the year to June 2015. House price annual inflation was 5.6% in England, 0.3% in Wales, 7.4% in Northern Ireland and -1.3% in…
Allen Walkey
Property listings down further
According to Housesimple.com the online estate agents, property listings in July were down across the UK by 13.2%, August saw the situation worsen with a further fall of 6.6% in new listings. The capital saw some of the worse figures with listings dropping by 24.8% from June to August research by Houseimple showed, in fact…
Allen Walkey
Rent rises moderate across UK
According to the latest findings from the HomeLet Rental Index, rent rises slowed in every region of the UK over the 3 months to August 2015 compared to the previous 3 months, however rents are still rising at double figure rates on an annual basis and now stand at 10.5% higher than a year ago….
Allen Walkey
Corbyn and Social Housing
The result of the labour leader contest was announced on saturday, against all the odds we saw the selection of Jeremy Corbyn, most commentators and many inside his party are dubious as to whether the right person was selected. This major swing to the left has suprised many, how will it affect those moderates in…
Allen Walkey
Landlords and tenants in despair as Oliver Knights shuts shop.
Landlords and tenants are in despair as a London letting agent, Oliver Knights, is thought to have closed down, owing thousands of pounds in unpaid rent and holding deposits. Landlord Action had been instructed only weeks ago to recover more than £10,000 for one landlord and £8,000 for another, but with signs the company has…
Christopher Walkey
Waterfords celebrates 20 years as a leading local estate agent.
On Tuesday 1st September, Waterfords turned 20. To celebrate this special occasion, the Waterfords team spent the week in Camberley town centre running competitions, raising over £400 for local homeless charity, Step by Step, and catching up with happy home owners. From Monday 31st August to Sunday 6th September, the Waterfords team set up home…
Christopher Walkey
Private sector rent controls in Scotland
Nicola Sturgeon is an advocate of rent controls, she has outlined plans in the Scottish Parliament to introduce them through a Private Tenancies Bill, personally I have always thought some form of rent control would be the most sensible way of keeping a cap on private sector rents, however this method of controlling rents should…
Allen Walkey