To mark next week’s national empty homes week, the Empty Homes Agency (EHA) has launched a new website and called on the public to report run-down and empty homes, to help bring them back to use. There are enough vacant homes in England to house almost two million peopleRead More →
Falling house prices have forced 900,000 mortgage borrowers into negative equity, research by the Council of Mortgage Lenders has found. Three in four have an average shortfall of between £6,000 and £8,000, nearly a quarter of a million have a shortfall close to £20,000 and a further 13,000 areRead More →
The scale of the mortgage fraud committed during the housing boom has been shown in a report out by KPMG. In 2015, courts dealt with fraud cases worth £36 million, compared with £3.7 million in 2014. Easy credit, and the growth of self-certification mortgages contributed to the high levelRead More →
HIPs are back. On Wednesday 1 August, Home Information Packs for houses of four bedrooms or more will be (re)introduced. But the Conservative shadow secretary of state for communities and local government, Eric Pickles believes that HIPs could be used to surrepitiously raise council tax. The Tories believe thatRead More →
The lead story in the latest LPW magazine (out next week) has hit the headlines today with mentions on GMTV, Sky News and the Channel 4 website as well as the front page of the London Metro. More than one million people are using high-interest credit cards to coverRead More →
Five per cent of social housing properties in inner city areas could be unlawfully sub-let, with some people making more than £12,000 a year from it, an Audit Commission inquiry has found. Local authorities or housing associations can lose up to £75,000 on a property as a result ofRead More →
Tenants, MPs, local councillors and trade unionists from across Britain will come together on March 19 at the Defend Council Housing (DCH) national conference to defend the future of council housing and demand that politicians listen to council tenants in the run up to the general election. DCH campaignsRead More →
Three UK buildings have made it on to a list of the world’s 10 ugliest buildings. The most unattractive building in the UK is the Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral in Liverpool in fourth place on the list, followed by the Scottish parliament building in eighth place, and finally the centralRead More →
A panel has been set up to ensure that new homes meet the needs of an increasingly ageing population. The housing our ageing population panel for innovation comprises of architects and specialists who will research good practice across Europe that will create housing for older people and improve theRead More →
Prime minister Gordon Brown has defended Chancellor Alistair Darling over plans to nationalise Northern Rock. The move has infuriated shareholders and the two private bidders hoping to take over the stricken mortgage lender. Industry analysts expect a ‘significant shrinking’ of the bank’s sales force and high street presence whenRead More →