Archive

The 2023 Autumn Budget, amongst its considerable 110 growth measures, contained an important announcement for the property sphere, with £3 million...

Build to Rent (BTR) is the UK’s fastest-growing sector and this trend looks set to continue throughout 2023 and beyond. The...

Introduced to Parliament in May, the Renters (Reform) Bill seeks to improve the private rental sector for both tenants and landlords....

The long-awaited Renters Reform Bill was finally introduced in Parliament in May, but is it really good news for tenants? Several...

Over the later part of 2022, we have experienced unprecedented economic and political turmoil, which will remain as we head into...

Propertmark is calling for a 12 month exemption on additional Stamp Duty rates to boost rental property supply. The issue will be...

Who would be in the shoes of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng? I don’t mean who would like their power, pay and...

Agents and property professionals have backed the creation of Investment Zones to help boost housebuilding but have called for more clarity...

Time is up for Boris Johnson's tenure as Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party, serving 3 years and 44...

First off, my own quick tribute to the Queen, who died on Thursday afternoon aged 96. Despite her age and declining...

The latest White Paper from the Institute of Residential Property Management (now part of The Property Institute) has called for customers...

With the government releasing details on the Fairer Private Rented Sector, landlords and letting agents are looking for ways to maintain...

People in prominent positions in the housing industry aren’t always perfect role models. After all, Chris Pincher was housing minister for...

It’s often fashionable to criticise trade bodies and official groups, but right now I think that’s absolutely inappropriate. In well over 20...

There have been many articles about ‘digitising upfront information’, following the publication of DLUHC’s Levelling-Up white paper and National Trading Standards...

A group of mortgage advisers has proposed a range of reforms to reduce barriers to home ownership for first time buyers. The...

The government’s Fairer Private Rented Sector White Paper has initially caused some consternation and a strong adverse reaction from some within...

After years of delays and upheaval, the Renters' Reform Bill finally appears to be back on the agenda, in an effort...

It’s easy to overestimate the importance of something in one’s own industry or work, but there seems good reason for believing...

Although Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak’s Spring Statement did not include many announcements regarding housing, it did provide a good...

PayProp’s recent Rental Confidence Index survey polled property professionals about their biggest concerns for 2022. Unsurprisingly, new regulations were a top...

In this weekend feature, inventory expert and chair of the AIIC, Daniel Evans, sets out why rental reform changes will make...

They say that in fashion, if you wait for long enough, clothes that are hanging at the back of your wardrobe...

More vendors are wanting to use property logbooks in a bid to speed their sales and reduce the risk of fall-throughs. That’s...

If you want to sex-up the Chancellor’s financial statement scheduled for lunchtime on Wednesday, you’d call it a Budget or a...

Timothy Douglas, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Propertymark, analyses the impact that the lack of available data is having on...

The government’s call for a pack of property information to be made available upfront during the sales process has been welcomed...

A poll of Conservative voters shows strong majorities for higher taxes on second homes and empty properties, and tougher demands on...

The government’s Levelling Up White Paper, released today, contains an unexpected and shock commitment - to create a new 'lite' version...

The government’s new Levelling Up White Paper, revealed this morning includes a radical reshaping of the private rental sector. Section 21 eviction...

Will he stay or will he go? You don’t need me to say who ‘he’ is - it’s the only story...

The lettings sector looks set to steam ahead in 2022 after a record-breaking 2021, despite the financial and mobility challenges of...

In this guest feature, James Dilgul, Head of Marketing at Fixflo, the market-leading repairs and maintenance management software provider, looks at how...

As this is the first Natter back since the Christmas break, I should like to first wish all our readers a...

We all know what did happen in 2021 - Covid and more Covid, the stamp duty holiday frenzy, a soaring rental...

Within weeks the focus of the industry will be on the White Paper to be issued on rental reform before Christmas. Let’s...

Former Housing Secretary James Brokenshire has died at the age of 53. The Conservative ex-Cabinet minister, who was diagnosed with lung cancer...

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has given a ringing endorsement to home ownership as a central part of the government’s levelling up...

A leading planning consultancy has claimed that ‘the myth’ that housing developers are hoarding land after gaining planning consent in order...

Few political policies have such a ring of the past as rent controls - they were last seen in this country...

It’s been quite a week for the rental sector. Lettings agents and landlords have had such a torrid time in recent years...

Licensing of the short-term lets sector in Scotland was due to be introduced next month. However, it was recently announced that...

To most people, purchasing a home is the single most significant financial commitment made across a lifetime. Given the impact and...

There will be a two per cent stamp duty surcharge on the purchase of UK investment properties by non-resident overseas buyers...

Logbooks about properties must be made available up-front at the point of marketing and not later in the buying process if...

To say this is a turbulent time for UK politics would be something of an understatement. As I write, the Brexit...

A new national housing agency – Homes England – has been launched by the newly-rebadged Ministry of Housing Communities and Local...

As we hurtle towards the end of 2017, it’s time to reflect on the year that’s just been.   Even better, this property-based...

The housing industry has set out a list of demands in advance of the government’s hotly anticipated Autumn Budget on Wednesday.  Despite...

Simon Gerrard, a past president of the National Association of Estate Agents, has called on the government to switch the burden...

I’ve written before about the impact of headlines on the property industry. Interest rate speculation.   Market booms and busts. Demand...

In this week’s Natter I’m going to get all political. Don’t worry, I won’t be giving my opinions on Brexit, Trump...

Whenever any research is released, part of me can’t help thinking of that old adage, ‘lies, damn lies and statistics’ especially...

First time buyers have finances stretched beyond their means, buy to let is attracting fewer investors because of taxes, and affordability...

The political ebb and flow continues - seemingly with all the subtlety of a Boris Johnson rugby tackle on a 10-year...

New housing minister Alok Sharma is set to make his first key speech this week, at the Housing 2017 conference in...

Figures released by the government suggest that over 285,000 people, including 240,000 first time buyers, have used one or more of...

A regional estate agency has urged the Government and the new housing minister to implement the policies outlined in the housing...

The property industry has broadly welcomed the appointment of a new housing minister, which was made yesterday evening. Reading West MP Alok...

Former housing minister Gavin Barwell has been appointed as Theresa May's chief of staff. Barwell lost his Croydon Central seat – and...

The housing industry has responded with shock, joy, and jitters, after Theresa May’s snap general election went catastrophically wrong, leaving her...

As the nation waits with bated breath to see if Theresa May can form either a minority or coalition government after...

Not only did Theresa May stun everyone with her decision to call a ‘snap election’ but with the campaign now underway...

A survey from a financial organisation suggests that nearly half of the UK public says they would support a government incentive...

More than three quarters of developers want to see the government go into reverse on its stamp duty and mortgage interest...

In this Natter we have an exclusive interview with David Cox, CEO of ARLA Propertymark and one of the best-known figures...

The National Association of Estate Agents says the number of sales agreed rose to a 10 year high in February. The NAEA...

We’re almost nine months on from the EU Referendum and yet the issue remains the big divide across the nation: an...

The Conveyancing Association wants the creation of a ‘log book’ and ‘Home Reports’ for each home on sale - reminiscent in...

Chancellor Philip Hammond delivered his first Budget this week pledging extra funding for the NHS, transport in the Midlands and the...

Former Conservative minister Michael Portillo has made an outspoken attack on his former party over its switch of housing policy emphasis from...

Looking ahead to the Spring Budget this week, the Chancellor Philip Hammond will be obliged to face up to the implications...

A sales progression tool claims to have reduced the average transaction time for a property from around 94 days to around...

The housing market has not been short of a White Paper over the last few months, and while you might just...

The East Midlands, which consists of several areas including Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, and much of Lincolnshire, has an ancient...

If you work in lettings, I’ll already have a pretty good idea on how you feel about the current Conservative Government.  The...

The chronic shortage of housing supply in the UK relative to demand has been a national issue for decades. The Government...

Housing minister Gavin Barwell has told the NAEA conference that there is no quick fix for the country’s housing shortage -...

Grant Shapps, housing minister between 2010 and 2012, has said the measures in the current government’s White Paper are not bold...

The government’s attitude of “Nanny knows best” has “squandered another opportunity” to make a real difference to the housing crisis, according...

The government has set out 29 key points in its Housing White Paper.   Introducing it in the Commons this afternoon, Communities Secretery Sajid...

A series of leaks to national newspapers and a flurry of broadcast interviews by housing minister Gavin Barwell means we already know...

Whisper it quietly but it appears that NIMBY-ism is on the wane as increasing numbers of voters are recognising the need...

There's bad news for the government in the form of house building targets on the eve of its long-awaited Housing White...

First details of the long-awaited Housing White Paper have emerged in stories in newspapers frequently used by government to float ideas. The...

Over 168,000 new homes were completed in the year to March 2016, according to data released by the government, over 15,500...

They say you can prove anything with statistics, and 115% of the time I suspect they’re right – that was an...

The National Association of Estate Agents has lured housing minister Gavin Barwell to speak at its conference next month.  Barwell will outline...

As the wait goes on for the government’s White Paper on Housing, due this month, one funding organisation has suggested that...

There is no doubt that 2016 managed to catch the world by surprise on more than one occassion.  But will 2017 be...

Confusion surrounds the timing of the government’s eagerly-anticipated White Paper on housing. Respected property industry weekly magazine Estates Gazette has tweeted that...

Now I’m not one to lose sleep over politicians, but it strikes me that Communities Secretary Sajid Javid and Housing Minister...

The government’s blizzard of New Year announcements about new homes has received a distinctly frosty welcome from many within the property...

2017 is set to be the first year since 2008 that the UK constructs 200,000 new homes, suggests Redrow, one of...

Leaseholds Solution - the company behind the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners - says it wants recent proposals to modernise the...

In case you missed it yesterday, here’s a summary of everything relating to property that was in Chancellor Phillip Hammond’s Autumn...

Phillip Hammond has delivered his first Autumn Statement, tackling amongst other things, what he called “the housing challenge.” The speech made no...

It may still be too early to start compiling a Christmas wish list, but it is the right time to provide...

The Conveyancers' Association has called for sweeping changes to the house buying and moving system to create a "more certain and...

A 24-unit block of apartments designed by the company behind the Yo! Sushi chain has been given consent to be constructed...