The National Housing Federation (NHF) said yesterday that the financial health of the social housing sector remains robust and it will weather the current economic downturn. Responding to reports about the sector’s financial problems, the NHF chief executive said that housing associations are well placed to meet the challengesRead More →
George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, is considering plans to stage a two-day emergency cabinet session soon after the Tories gain power, at which cabinet ministers would be collectively bound into large-scale spending cuts, according to shadow cabinet sources. The idea is modelled on some of the cabinet discussions heldRead More →
A group of Gypsies and Travellers living at Dale Farm near Wickford in Essex have lost their battle against eviction after law lords dismissed their appeal to overturn an earlier ruling. The law lords dismissed the Travellers’ appeal saying that Basildon council had acted lawfully, as half the peopleRead More →
Gordon Brown will back a major new programme of rented housing and hint that councils should be allowed to build homes again in a speech today to the annual conference of the general union GMB, reports The Guardian. English Partnerships has invited expressions of interest in what willRead More →
According to figures from the Conservative party 44 per cent of mortgage holders are worried about being able to meet their mortgage payments in 2016, while 47 per cent of local authority and housing association tenants and 41 per cent of private renters are worried about being able toRead More →
A Sunday Times investigations has found that members of the royal family have been granted ‘sweetheart’ property deals worth millions. The Crown Estate, which manages £7.3 billion of land and property owned by the crown, allowed several properties to be sold cheaply to Prince Andrew, who subsequently sold themRead More →
In related figures, the Ministry of Justice saw a big drop in the number of lenders getting court permissions for the early stages of repossession. There were 17,054 repossession orders granted in the courts in the first three month of the year, which was 39 per cent lower thanRead More →
Moves by banks and building societies to tighten up mortgage deals and raise interest rates is hampering borrowers’ ability to re-enter the housing market. Brokers have reported a higher number of mortgage applications being turned down – as many as 30 per cent being rejected against 20 per centRead More →
In London, mayor Boris Johnson has said he would review his commitment to deliver 50,000 new affordable homes in light of the difficult economic circumstances. City Hall released a statement outlining the mayor’s plan to change the rules on affordable housing, and repeated his commitment to removing the London-wideRead More →