Breaking News

Right-to-Rent pilot scheme

 

A report out yesterday from the Express and Star,  publication covering towns throughout the “Black Country” highlights how the scheme to prosecute landlords for letting to illegal immigrants is working or maybe “not working that well”. The scheme was introduced in the towns of  Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Dudley,  Walsall and Birmingham by the government as a…

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Allen Walkey

City Hall responds re 25% cap

 

Last friday Property Week Magazine claimed that the London Mayor, Boris Johnson is planning to set a new cap of 25% for affordable homes in key housing zones and opportunity areas, this if introduced would effectively block local authorities from negotiating up from that threshold. A response from City Hall has played down such reports…

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Allen Walkey

Interest Rate held at 0.5%

 

UK interest rates have been held at 0.5% again by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). Yesterday saw for the first time the release of inflation report, policy decision and minutes on the same day. In its latest inflation report, the Bank said the outlook for inflation was “muted”, leading some economists to…

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Allen Walkey

Repairs and Maintenance for rented properties.

 

The Fixflo report for 2015 out at the end of July makes very good reading and confirms how essential it is for Letting agencies to have a repair and maintenance management system in place. Research into the first 70,000 reports through Fixflo in 2015 showed: Busiest times for repairs being reported are between 9am-10am weekdays,…

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Allen Walkey

Halifax reports house price drop in July.

 

According to the latest survey by the Halifax, UK house prices fell 0.6% between June and July, with annual house price growth down to its lowest since December 2014, this was despite the stock of homes available for sale falling  to new record lows. Growth in UK house prices dipped to 7.9% for the three…

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Alex Evans

Poorest priced out of Oxford.

 

The National Landlords Association (NLA) is requesting that Oxford City council  changes its homes in multiple occupancy licensing scheme (HMOs) and make it easier for landlords to operate them, this comes on the back of claims that strict rules for renting out shared houses is pricing some of the poorest tenants out of Oxford. NLA…

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Alex Evans

Corbyn backs campaign against RTB

 

The labour leadership contest is probably not of that much interest to anyone involved in the property industry at the present time, most people are just happy that Labour and their property unfriendly policies were  squashed by the Tory win in the recent election. However a surprise candidate for the leadership of the Labour party…

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Alex Evans

OnTheMarket.com achieves record breaking month in July

 

OnTheMarket.com is pleased to announce another record breaking month of traffic for July with more than 5.2million visits – an increase of 18% on the previous month of June.* It also attracted more than 2.4million unique visitors which was an increase of 17% on June’s figure of more than 2million. Ian Springett, Chief Executive of…

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Allen Walkey

Council clampdown on renting out unsafe buildings

 

Landlords who rent out unsafe outbuildings in the Borough of Redbridge are being given a strong message that it will not be tolerated, Redbridge Council has taken action to close 93 outbuildings which have been illegally rented out as accommodation. The authority said many of the outbuildings did not comply with housing safety standards or…

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Allen Walkey

Council to buy homes outside of borough

 

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has created a £10 million fund to buy up homes for temporary accommodation in cheaper parts of the country, it has indicated that the money will be used to purchase a significant number of high quality homes in and around London, M25 area and southern counties of England….

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Allen Walkey

Private rent rises cause concern

 

Official figures show that private rents have risen across England by an average of 2.5% in the last year, this has caused a reaction by Housing campaigners to push the government to act to stem such rises. The Office for National Statistics index of private housing rental prices show the biggest rise was in London…

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Allen Walkey

House prices up in July

 

According to the Nationwide house prices rose  on a month on month basis by 0.4% in July, that was in line with with forecasts and followed a fall of 0.2% the previous month of June. Annual growth was also up from 3.3% in June to 3.5% in July. Nationwide economist Robert Gardner reportedly said “After…

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Allen Walkey

New Halifax mobile tool for customers on the move.

 

Halifax has announced today that it has launched a mobile Agreement in Principle (AIP) tool which enables customers to receive an instant lending decision while they are on the move in less than fifteen minutes. This new tool will provide a simpler and more efficient way that customers can get an agreement in principle, they…

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Allen Walkey

Interest rate decision time again thursday.

 

Interest Rate decision time again, this thursday the Bank of England will announce whether interest rates rise or remain the same. New analysis by estate agency Hamptons suggests that a quarter-point jump in rates could add £20 a month to the average UK mortgage; but wide variations in house prices mean that would translate into…

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Allen Walkey

Landlords to face jail who rent to illegals.

 

Illegal immigrants are the focus of a new governemnt crackdown shortly to be included in a forthcoming  Immigration Bill, landlords who fail to evict migrants who do not have the right to live in Britain could be jailed for up to five years. Stronger powers will be given to Landlords who will be able to…

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Allen Walkey