housing crisis
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Regulation & Law
Calls grow for huge clampdown on holiday lets and second homes
Brighton's community is demanding action is taken against holiday lets and second homes which 'serve no purpose.'
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Latest property news
Five ways that landlords, governments and agencies could work together
Scotland’s affordable homes budget has been slashed but Glasgow’s Rosevale Letting boss Riccardo Giovanacci says the housing crisis can be eased.
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Latest property news
Former lettings boss leads controversial ‘housing crisis’ campaign
Polly Lamb, who is now a town councillor, is behind a move to tackle rocketing rents in Frome, Somerset.
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Latest property news
Politicians are failing nation over housing crisis, say 60% of Brits
Despite the government's best effort to tackle housing, Ipsos Mori survey discovers three quarters of British think we're in the middle of a housing crisis.
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Features
Is the tenant fees ban our fault?
Politicians and journalists should, says Frances Burkinshaw, stop blaming the lettings sector for the housing crisis!
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Latest property news
As Article 50 trigger looms, RICS says a hard Brexit will damage property sector
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors says a hard Brexit may lead to 176,500 EU member state construction workers being forced to leave the UK, or 8% of the total building industry workforce. As the government prepares to trigger Article 50 and steer the UK towards an exit from the European Union, RICS argues that for Brexit to succeed “it is essential to secure access to the EU Single Market or put alternative plans in place to safeguard the property and construction sector”. Research by RICS also revealed that 30% of the construction professional it surveyed believe hiring non-UK workers was important to the success of their business. “Unless access to the single market is secured or alternative plans are put in place, we won’t be able to create the infrastructure needed to enable our cities to compete on a global stage,” says Jeremy Blackburn, Head of Policy at RICS (pictured). “We have said before that this is a potential stumbling block for the Government, which is working to deliver both its Housing White Paper and Industrial Strategy.” A recent report by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan shows that a significant majority of these EU construction workers are based in…
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Latest property news
Minister’s controversial ideas to beat housing crisis
Gavin Barwell, the Housing Minister has been airing some interesting views about the UK’s housing crisis and how it can be resolved.
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Latest property news
Right to Buy worsens housing crisis
The Government’s commitment to build a replacement for every social rented home sold through the Right to Buy scheme is not being fulfilled, new figures show. The latest published data from the DCLG reveal that almost 50,000 council owned properties have been acquired by tenants in the UK since the Government’s Right to Buy programme was relaunched in 2012, but the Government is failing to meet a pledge for a one for one replacement of homes sold off from under the scheme. Local authorities in England have replaced just one in 10 of the homes sold through Right to Buy since discounts were increase four years ago. Official figures reveal that there have been 49,573 sales since the scheme was reinvigorated, but only 4,594 homes have been started onsite or acquired by councils. An estimated 3,250 homes were acquired by tenants in Q4 2015, up from the 2,941 during the previous quarter, while only 396 homes were started onsite or acquired by local authorities during the same three-month period. Council tenants can currently get discounts of up to £77,900, rising to £103,900 in London, under the existing Right o Buy initiative. More than 2 million council homes have been purchased…
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Features
Housing crisis – can we fix it?
The Government wants more new-builds, but can we build enough new homes to resolve the housing crisis? Marc Da Silva reports.
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Housing Market
Office-to-resi changes made permanent
Changes to permitted development rights enabling offices to be converted in to residential dwellings are to be made permanent, as part of a wider package of Government measures to address the housing crisis the Housing and Planning Minister Brandon Lewis has announced. In moves unveiled under the Housing and Planning Bill, the temporary change introduced in 2013 and due to expire on 30th May 2016 will become permanent after 4,000 conversions were given the go-ahead between April 2014 and June this year. The Housing Minister made clear that the new permitted development rights will also permit the demolition of office buildings and new buildings for residential use as well as enabling the change of use of light industrial buildings and laundrettes to new homes. Furthermore, those who already have permission will have three years in which to complete the conversion that will end the “potential uncertainty for developers” caused by the current regime. The rights will, however, be subject to limitations and prior approval by the Local Planning Authority, full details of which are yet to be provided. Planning specialists at Daniel Watney LLP have welcomed the move designed to give housebuilding a boost, but added that it wants to…
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