Breaking News
Set back for right to buy
The House of Lords yesterday voted in favour of a crossbench ammendment to the Charities bill that could see Government plans to extend the right to buy to housing association tenants being scuppered. This is definately a seback for the Tory government who made clear their plans in the election party manifesto, even though the…
Allen Walkey
Sellers returning
According to new research by online estate agents HouseSimple.com the numbers of houses coming on the market for sale has increased by 7.1% in the last month compared to the previous, in the same period 67% of major towns and cities across the UK have seen a rise in the number of new instructions. These…
Allen Walkey
The Property Ombudsman expels Allen & Crane Estates for two years following landlord complaint.
Allen & Crane Estates, a sales and lettings agent based in Burnham near Slough, has been expelled from membership of The Property Ombudsman (TPO) for a minimum of two years after failing to comply with numerous elements of the Code of Practice for Residential Letting Agents and subsequently failing to pay an Ombudsman’s award made…
Christopher Walkey
New series on housing fraud
This week we see the start of a series of 5 programmes on BBC1 showing how frontline housing officers are dealing with local authority and housing association fraud, “Council House Crackdown will run all week starting at 9.15am each morning. Tenancy fraud in now a criminal offence and carries with it if convicted heavy fines…
Allen Walkey
Legal action may happen
Legal action may be the only way forward for Housing Associations if the Government extends right to buy to their tenants, said the former head of the Civil Service. Sir Bob Kerslake, the chair of Peabody Housing and secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government reportedly said “We haven’t ruled out the possibility…
Allen Walkey
Chief Executive of FCA resigns
The head of the Financial Conduct Authority Martin Wheatley has resigned as chief executive with effect from September 12, this comes on the back of him reportedly learning that his appointment to the FCA Board would not be renewed by the Treasury, it is a requirement to be a member of the board to hold…
Allen Walkey
Interest rate warning from Mark Carney
The Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney has put out a warning that interest rates may rise soon, saying that they could rise within the next couple of months. Interest rates have remained at a record low of 0.5% since March 2009. Has the period of ultra low mortgages come to an end?…
Allen Walkey
Rents rise higher faster
According to a recent buy-to-let index rents in the private sector in England and Wales have hit an all time high of £789 a month on average. Adrian Gill, Director of Your Move and Reed Rains reportedly says, “The pedal is pressed to the metal in the rental market. Not only have rents hit an…
Allen Walkey
“Money Laundering” concerns
Money laundering through the London Property Market is now such a concern that an early day motion has been sponsered through Parliament to deal with the matter. Primary sponsor is Mark Durkan, Social Democratic and Labour Party for the constituency of Foyle, in all 23 sponsors have signed up to this motion. The motion stated:…
Allen Walkey
Housing Market “picks up”
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) says the UK housing market is picking up, following on from a quiet Spring, homeowners took out 49,000 loans in May that is up from the previous month and the highest number since December last year. Paul Smee, Director General of the CML said “House lending in May was…
Allen Walkey
Wealthy Chinese look to UK property market
In recent weeks the Chinese stock market has seen quite alot of turbulence with a drop of 20% recorded since mid June, this has had the effect of causing wealthy Chinese to start moving their money out away from stocks and shares in their own market to other investments, UK property is reportedly an alternative…
Allen Walkey
Strong demand for Canary Wharf development
Canary Wharf has to be one of the most desired places to live in the capital, in close proximity to central London, an array of pubs and restaurants and close to main underground station and what will be crossrail, no wonder when a new development of appartments came up for sale a couple of weeks…
Allen Walkey
How tax changes may affect landlords
Landlords may see a drop in their profits as changes that will limit the amount of tax relief they can claim on mortgage costs were announced in last weeks budget, relief will be restricted to the basic rate of income tax at 20%, to be phased in over 4 years from April 2017. Tax experts…
Allen Walkey
“Property Millionaires”
Zoopla the property company revealed through their research that the number of British homeowners with a property worth £1 million or more now stands at 524,306, an increase of 8.3% in the last year as property prices rise. In Britain there are now 10,958 streets where the average house price exceeds £1 million, 43% of…
Allen Walkey
MT Properties Central Limited Expelled from The Property Ombudsman for 2 years.
MT Properties Central Limited (MTPC), a sales and letting agent which operates in Birmingham, has been expelled from membership of The Property Ombudsman (TPO) for a minimum of two years after failing to comply with parts of the TPO Code of Practice for Residential Letting Agents. MTPC also failed to co-operate with the Ombudsman’s investigation…
Christopher Walkey