Housing White Paper
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Features
Fixing our broken housing market
The UK housing market has very grave issues, affordability, supply, location… we have a housing crisis and we need urgent action to confront those issues and resolve them. The Housing White Paper: ‘Fixing our broken housing market’ was published on 7th February, introduced in Parliament by the Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid. The response from the housing industry was, in the main, lukewarm.
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Features
The Housing White Paper
Hugh Richards, a planning barrister at No 5 Chambers, translates the Housing White Paper.
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Latest property news
Housing White Paper: building great expectations?
There’s a sense of excitement, The Housing White Paper lands in my inbox; will it give a Spring bounce to our housing market? The screen goes grey as 104 pages flip past, am I missing something? A new thought, idea, plan or action? Theresa May, Prime Minister, couldn’t be in Parliament today as she is busy with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, which is understandable, she cannot be everywhere, and her Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government is qualified to present this hugely important document. Mrs May says, “Our broken housing market is one of the greatest barriers to progress in Britain today. Whether buying or renting, the fact is that housing is increasingly unaffordable – particularly for ordinary working class people who are struggling to get by. “Today the average house costs almost eight times average earnings – an all-time record. As a result it is difficult to get on the housing ladder, and the proportion of people living in the private rented sector has doubled since 2000. “These high housing costs hurt ordinary working people the most.” All fine and well, but what is the grand plan? It isn’t grand, it doesn’t even seem to be a…
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Latest property news
Housing White Paper: Is this the week when everything changes?
The Government’s much-anticipated housing White Paper is due out this week and already several government sources including housing minister Gavin Barwell have indicated that a radical shift in policy is to take place. After nearly forty years of preferring and supporting home ownership over renting, several Whitehall sources as well as ministers have indicated they intend to tackle the rental market to make it a more secure housing option. Communities secretary Sajid Javid (pictured, left) said he wanted housing to be more affordable and that the rental market must offer more choice. He described both the rental and ownership markets as ‘broken’. The main thrust of the White Paper is likely to include three-year long family-friendly tenancies, tougher action against rogue landlords, more ‘affordable rent’ properties within new-build developments, as well as more detail on the letting agent fees ban consultation. Gavin Barwell (pictured, right) appeared on BBC1’s Sunday Politics TV programme and, during a grilling by presenter Andrew Neill, admitted that the government’s track record on building affordable homes was ‘embarassing’ and that wanted that to stop that in the future. “Whether you are trying to buy or to rent, housing in this country has become less and less…
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