Archive

Trade and representative bodies representing the legal, surveying, estate agency and property management sectors have launched the fifth iteration of the...

Plans to set ground rents at a ‘peppercorn rate’ are reported to have been dropped amid opposition from freehold campaigners and...

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has secured agreements from eight freeholders to remove “problematic ground rent” terms from leases. The competition...

The complexities of the government’s leasehold reform proposals affecting millions of homeowners came under the spotlight at a seminar organised by...

Attempts to get the long-awaited Regulation of Property Agents (ROPA) rules introduced into the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill have failed. The...

Dave Sayce, Founder and Managing Director of Compare My Move, reflects on the legal changes that will make leasehold purchase more...

HOP (the Home Owner’s Passport) has released its upgraded material information report to support agents with Trading Standards compliance. The list of...

Five years ago, Lettings expert, Tim Lawler, wrote an article for Estate Agent Today charting his early experiences of setting up...

Conveyancing fees increased by around 6% last year, analysis suggests. Property Solvers’ annual research of legal practices in England and Wales has...

Estate agency regulations and minimum standards may finally see the light of day after Labour put forward amendments to the Government’s...

Parliamentary news may have been dominated by the fallout from the Rwanda Bill yesterday but another important piece of legislation also...

March was the most popular month for completions this year as sales took longer and buyers focused on affordability, analysis has...

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill is falling short of its own objectives, an industry executive has claimed. Linz Darlington, founder of...

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill passed its second reading in Parliament last night. Housing minister Lee Rowley pledged that the legislation...

It may be a measure of the government’s incompetence in the area of housing that two recent major announcements were sorely...

The long-awaited Leasehold and Freehold Bill is set to be unveiled in Parliament today. The Bill aims to make it cheaper and...

The United Kingdom stands on the precipice of a historic overhaul in property ownership. With the King's speech unveiling the anticipated...

Three members of the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners take a brief look at some of the trials and tribulations awaiting...

The Government has outlined five proposals to reduce ground rents for existing leaseholders as its latest attempt to reform the sector...

Campaigners and commentators have reacted cautiously to leasehold reform proposals put forward in the King’s Speech. The King took part in his...

Propertymark has given its backing to commitments from the Housing Minister on the long-awaited next steps of leasehold reform. Timothy Douglas, head...

All new houses in England and Wales will have to be sold as freehold properties under government plans to phase out...

As an Estate Agent it’s important to be able to interpret and understand the information that a Title Deed document presents...

An estate agent is urging people selling their flats to have building safety documentation in place before putting the property on...

The Building Safety Act will cause further delays to the home moving process, a senior industry executive has warned. Rob Hailstone, chief...

In simple terms, as you are probably aware, ‘lenders’ are the organisations who loan you something, in this case money to...

Housing Secretary Michael Gove has signalled that legislation to allow for further leasehold reform will be included in the next parliamentary...

By the Co-founders of Freehold; David Mann MBE, Partner at Tuffin Ferraby Taylor and Saleem Fazal MBE, Real Estate Partner at...

Over the last few years, the property industry has been focusing on the need to provide more information to buyers ‘up...

Agents may be regularly debating increasing their fees but property buyers and sellers are already used to paying more for conveyancing,...

Property market analyst and chair of The Home Buying and Selling Group Kate Faulkner was given an OBE in the New...

The Government has unveiled a pilot scheme aimed to help more flat owners whose homes have become unsafe and, in some...

Thousands more leaseholders are expected to see ground rents cut and some may even receive refunds. It forms part of the Competition...

In a welcome return to a favourite series of mine - and a timely one at that, given the current back...

Despite all the controversy surrounding it in recent years, and various government attempts to address the leasehold scandal, new research from...

Better LGBT representation is needed among property professionals, both in the workplace and in marketing, campaigners claim. LGBT property networking group Freehold...

Boris Johnson has promised a review of the mortgage market and housing benefit rules to help more people to get on...

A high-profile peer has questioned why estate agency regulation wasn’t extended to property management companies in the Queen’s Speech this week. Lord...

You will hopefully have seen that the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 has now received its Royal Assent, meaning it...

Propertymark has given its backing to the ban on ground rents for new leasehold properties and has reminded agents of their...

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

Challenger portal group OneDome has linked with a chain repair service to provide what it calls an end-to-end property offering. The OneDome...

Fifteen businesses which had bought freeh­olds from housing developer Countryside have now given formal undertakings to remove terms that cause ground...

Welcome to the latest edition of Property Jobs Today, your chance to catch up with who’s going where and why in...

It’s feared one of the country’s oldest estate agencies may have entered receivership. The Drew Pearce company of agents and chartered surveyors...

A probe by the Competition and Markets Authority has led housebuilder Taylor Wimpey to make changes for the benefit of leaseholders.  Taylor...

Leasehold, quite rightly, remains not just an emotive topic given what has happened over the past decade, but it’s very much...

Some 14 trade bodies in the estate agency, conveyancing, property management and surveying industries have jointly launched new upfront documents which...

The recent stamp duty holiday and the subsequent conveyancing logjam this triggered has acted as a wakeup call for the industry....

The lack of progress on the much-anticipated government reforms of the leasehold system is leaving thousands of homeowners stranded, according to...

NAEA Propertymark says the news that two major players in the leasehold sector have reformed their activities must be just the...

The Competition and Markets Authority has struck a deal with house builders over leasehold abuses. Aviva has committed to remove certain terms...

Independent agents come in all shapes, sizes and looks, many with their own USPs and little quirks. It is this variety...

The Grenfell Tower disaster in June 2017 exposed the dangers of inflammable cladding on residential tower blocks, and what has come...

The controversial demands of Trading Standards for more “material information” to be provided upfront in property details have been criticised by...

The government has set up a committee to push forward ideas on the collective form of homeownership known as commonhold. Housing Secretary...

A leading agency says the stamp duty holiday is not a big influence on the current housing market frenzy - and...

The Competition and Markets Authority has written to two top house builders ordering them to change their leasehold terms. In September the...

Leading leasehold experts have sharply criticised the much-hyped reforms announced by the government last week. The Leasehold Group of Companies - formerly led by...

Millions of leaseholders will be given the right to extend their lease by a maximum term of 990 years at zero...

A leasehold group has written to Housing Minister Chris Pincher pressing for an update on the government’s approach to reform for...

Another attempt is being made to introduce property logbooks to the selling and buying process, and agents are invited to play a...

Book review by Graham Norwood, editor of Estate Agent Today, Letting Agent Today and Landlord Today. If a letting agent wants to...

Many agents, certainly those in London, will have faced the difficult task of selling a flat with a shorter lease. A...

A right wing magazine once edited by Boris Johnson has called estate agents “spivs with tape measures” who conceal information from...

NAEA Propertymark has thrown its weight behind a Competitions and Markets Authority investigation into whether consumer protection law has been broken...

The Competition and Markets Authority is today opening enforcement cases focusing on the sale of leasehold homes by four leading housebuilders. They...

Wholesale reform of leasehold issues is still some years away, despite recent proposals by the Law Commission and pledges by the...

The long-awaited proposals for leasehold reform produced by the Law Commission suggests giving owners the right to extend their lease for...

The death has been announced of one of the country’s leading campaigners against the injustices of the leasehold system, Louie Burns. Burns...

There’s been a broad welcome from agents and other industry organisations for the latest report from the Competition and Markets Authority...

The government is being urged to make commonhold ownership compulsory on all new apartments - and the move could even begin a...

Unfortunately for consumers, buying and selling properties is rarely plain sailing. But fortunately for agents, this provides you with an opportunity to...

The Law Commission has set out three ways to cut the cost that leaseholders have to pay to buy the freehold...

A 10 point manifesto to drive forward leasehold reform has been published by prominent campaigner Louie Burns, of The Leasehold Solutions Group. The 10...

A London estate agency is attempting to help leaseholders with short leases who may be finding it hard to raise funds...

A London agency has told Estate Agent Today that it makes some of its buyers pay upwards of £5,000 in Reservation...

There’s no doubt that we live in politically charged times and every day appears to bring something new to the ‘party’. For...

The price premium paid by purchasers for a freehold property rather than a leasehold is at its highest for eight years. An...

One of the largest surveys of housing concerns amongst consumers suggests that agents fees - once a major issue - is...

The government has published proposals for far-reaching changes to the way estate and letting agents are regulated, trained and licensed. The proposals...

The police have opened an investigation after a number of complaints have been made about the financial affairs of a sales...

A leasehold reform campaigner says government proposals risk creating a two-tier market and do nothing to assist leaseholders already hit by...

The Competition and Markets Authority has formally launched an investigation into the sale of leasehold properties - including possible mis-selling. This follows...

It may well seem that the government is pre-occupied with one issue, and one issue alone. While preparations for Brexit take up a...

A firm supporting leaseholders across the UK says the ongoing Competition and Markets Authority probe should “punish” what it calls “rip off...

So far in our contribution to the campaign to replace leasehold with commonhold we have outlined the stories of some of...

The National Association of Estate Agents has welcomed the commitment by the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate the mis-selling of...

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) has launched its long-awaited ‘How to sell a home’ and ‘How to...

The leasehold scandal continues to generate plenty of column inches, with fresh stories emerging almost daily of people living in unsellable...

Another property raffle - this time with what appeared to be a castle as its main prize - has hit trouble...

The leasehold scandal has received plenty of press coverage, with horror stories of people living in homes that are impossible to...

Almost as soon as the government yesterday made its latest announcement to outlaw rogue leasehold deals, the measure was branded “pathetic. More...

A large-scale survey by a consumer group has revealed that over half of home owners regard stamp duty as a growing...

Over the last few years, there have a number of changes to the stamp duty land tax (SDLT) regime, which have...

The leasehold system has created many unsellable and unmortgageable homes and should change, MPs say. The all-party Housing, Communities and Local Government...

The proliferation of big data is paving the way to improving our economy on almost every front as entrepreneurial digital companies...

There’s been a dramatic improvement in the speed of searches being completed and returned by local authorities, the government claims. Housing minister...

Developers have continued to sell thousands of new-build houses with leaseholds, despite a government pledge to ban the “unscrupulous” practice a...

Two weeks to Christmas but no sign of our industry slowing down with more job moves announced in recent days.  Please let...