Archive

A veteran PropTech figure with extensive experience of working at leading estate and sales agencies has told the government to act...

Propertymark has urged the UK Government to consider other ways of boosting the supply of homes for purchase.  The Government has two...

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

MPs have launched an inquiry on improving the home buying and selling process in England. The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC)...

Both 'beauty' and ‘gentle density’ are central themes of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).. The notes which accompany the NPPF state...

The Government has given local authorities powers to double the council tax charged on long-term empty homes after 12 months. The time...

Property professionals have called for the Government to allocate its promised £3m towards improving the home buying and selling process to...

Last weekend, Levelling Up and Housing Secretary, Michael Gove wrote in the Sunday Times that the nation’s housing crisis was so...

After months of negative messaging and anti-development sentiment, espoused both nationally by the Government, and locally during May’s local election campaigning,...

The news in September that Birmingham City Council (‘Europe’s largest local authority’) had been forced to issue a Section 114 notice...

As the world marches relentlessly forward to 2024, the government’s flagship legislation for the private rented sector (PRS) remains in limbo. This...

The debate over the Green Belt, and the newly branded ‘grey belt’, has made the headlines a lot recently and will...

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLHUC) has hit back at media claims about its housebuilding targets. The Times newspaper...

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

A lawyer has called for Help to Buy to be resurrected in the Autumn Statement. Paul Sams, head of property at Dutton...

By Neil Cobbold Recent data from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities show that 24,260 households served a valid Section...

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

What a waste. Islington council announced in recent days that it will buy back 310 ex-council houses this winter, to add to...

Housing supply rather than the private rented sector (PRS) made the headlines during the Conservative and Labour Party conferences this year...

The Labour Party is being urged to take the lead on estate agency regulation and help driving up standards in the...

A Labour council has revealed that it’s bought 15 open market homes, beefed up  their energy efficiency and will use them...

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC)  was this week due to conclude its consultation on proposed changes to...

MPs have expressed “concern and disappointment” at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) for its persistent poor performance...

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has been urged to reveal its current assessment of the risk of...

The Government’s First Homes Scheme is set to be the first state-backed initiative to use digital property logbooks. It comes after a...

Labour’s Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner is to add the housing brief to her deputy leader role. She takes over from Lisa Nandy...

I recently wrote that the long-gestating Renters Reform Bill, finally introduced in Parliament back in May, could be poorly timed, both...

Keir Starmer’s announcement about building on the Green Belt attracted some contentious headlines. It immediately thrust housing and planning into the...

Propertymark has written to the Government to ask why attempts to protect leaseholders are being ignored. It comes as the Earl of...

Housing Minister Rachel Maclean MP is probably looking forward to her summer break this year. But wherever she's going and whatever she's...

Success with your chosen CRM solution should not be a one-and-done package. Once you team up with a stellar CRM provider,...

It may be all change - again - at the Department of Levelling Up, Communities and Local Government if media speculation...

MPs have cast doubt on the Government’s ability to achieve its target of 300,000 new homes per year by the mid-2020s...

Two all-party groups of MPs and Peers have called on the government to act to turn empty buildings into good quality,...

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak clashed over housebuilding and housing market support yesterday. Sir Keir questioned Sunak’s...

Two former housing ministers have criticised the Government for scrapping housebuilding targets. The Government officially watered-down proposals for mandatory local housebuilding targets...

Sleight of hand, optical illusion, card up the sleeve – we all love a good conjuring trick, don’t we? And they say...

A senior peer has vowed to do more to ensure that leaseholders excluded from new building safety regulations get the support...

A Propertymark-supported amendment that aimed to bolster support for leaseholders in unsafe buildings failed to gain approval in the House of...

Rishi Sunak has admitted Conservative Party members were a factor in ditching centralised housing targets. The Government officially watered-down proposals for mandatory...

The property market is broken, Housing Secretary Michael Gove acknowledged yesterday. Despite the Conservative Party being in power since 2010, Gove insisted...

New 2023 research from Open Property Group found that just 41% of homes in England meet the recommended Energy Performance Certificate...

In November, research conducted by The Housing Forum's Futures Network unearthed concern with the potential to meet the requirements set out...

Agency trade body Propertymark has backed calls for greater leaseholder protections as the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill proceeds through Parliament. The...

The important issue of hard-to-sell inherited properties has been raised in Parliament. Labour MP Zarah Sultana issued a written question asking what...

We’re only in February and it’s already clear that this year will set the future direction of the private rented sector...

Lucy Frazer became the 13th Housing Minister to leave the role in the past decade yesterday after she was promoted to...

The north-south house price divide may be narrowing, eXp UK claims. Research by the self-employed agency brand has found that while the...

Happy New Year, to you all. Now that we’re all back in harness and Christmas feels like a long-distant memory, I...

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and ex-Home Secretary Priti Patel had around three years in Government to sort out housing but...

The removal of housing targets risks a deeper recession and high house prices for generations to come, a planning expert has...

As we get ever closer to 2023, this final Natter of the year is dedicated to the five biggest property moments of...

The Government has been urged to revise its plans for affordable housing as MPs warn it is set to fall short...

The Government has officially watered-down proposals for mandatory local housebuilding targets as it brings its flagship Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill...

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak yesterday repeated previously debunked claims that the Government is building record numbers of homes. Housebuilding have returned to...

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

A former Housing Secretary has outlined why the Conservative Party mustn’t abandon its commitment to housebuilding. It comes as some 47 Conservative...

Housing Secretary Michael Gove has committed to look into issues with the Building Safety Act after MPs claimed leaseholders and Help to...

Measures to deliver new homes, regenerate left-behind communities and clean up rivers have been added to the Government’s flagship Levelling Up...

Estate agents could face new transaction delays after the Land Registry and its Scottish equivalent were among Government departments and civil...

The Government’s latest Housing Minister Lucy Frazer brings plenty of property experience as a landlord and has also indirectly received donations...

MP for South East Cambridgeshire Lucy Frazer has been confirmed as the latest Housing Minister as part of a department reshuffle. Michael...

Given their leading role in the recent upfront information revolution, interest in the work of the National Trading Standards Estate &...

Rishi Sunak may have been Prime Minister for under a week but he has already received the Full Fact treatment. Speaking at...

Recent political changes – and there have been quite a few in recent weeks – have brought about something of a...

Estate agents have already filled Michael Gove's inbox with property-related tasks after he returned as Housing Secretary yesterday. New Prime Minister Rishi...

Michael Gove has returned to frontline politics and his previous role as Levelling Up and Housing Secretary. He is among the new...

A week-long race to be the next Conservative Party leader and the Prime Minister kicks off this week, or may already...

Levelling Up and Housing Secretary Simon Clarke has given his backing for a return of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister. Clarke was...

Simon Clarke is set for his first grilling by MPs as Levelling Up and Housing Secretary. Clarke will be questioned by the...

Seven adverts pushing the Government’s flagship levelling up policy have been banned. The advertising watchdog censured the Department for Levelling Up, Housing...

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

There has been an understandable focus on things other than Government since the death of Queen Elizabeth was announced, but Prime...

New Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng is expected to unveil the Government’s so-called “plan for growth” today during a mini-Budget. The property market is...

Record numbers of housing developments were started during the second quarter of 2022, official figures show. Government data on housebuilding starts and...

The government is being urged to close the "revolving doors" of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to...

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

New Housing Secretary Simon Clarke may be an unknown entity to many agents but he has a track record of supporting...

Simon Clarke has been confirmed as the new Housing Secretary in the Cabinet of new Prime Minister Liz Truss this evening. He...

Some people will say: What problem? But they are getting fewer as the detrimental effect of increasing numbers of short lets on...

MPs have criticised the lack of detail in the government’s flagship Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill when it comes to housebuilding...

Jacob Rees-Mogg is reportedly being lined up as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities should Liz Truss win...

On 23 June 2022, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) released its English Private Landlord Survey, the first...

Housing Secretary Greg Clark, who is also the Levelling Up Secretary, has been caught up in the storm surrounding Rishi Sunak...

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

The cost-of-living crisis has been dominating the news headlines for some months now, but new research has revealed the extent to...

The government is being urged to not just treat housebuilding as a numbers game. It comes as the Department for Levelling Up,...

A senior member of the Home Buying and Selling Group has insisted work on reforms is ongoing despite the ministerial merry-go-round...

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

Independent agent Barrows and Forrester has called for the appointment of a housing tsar for a fixed term as yet another...

Anyone working in the property market should have at least one eye on supply. Of course, it’s a constant issue for...

New rules on leasehold homes came in this week, banning ground rents on new leases but a property expert warns this...

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

The government has launched a new equity loan scheme for the self-build market. The Help to Build scheme aims to help thousands...

The government’s new Right to Buy policy for housing association tenants appeared to unravel last night after the Housing Secretary said...

Agency trade body Propertymark has called for the government’s housing market reforms to go further and has even suggested targeted stamp...

Housing Secretary Michael Gove and minister Stuart Andrew are set to be grilled by MPs on their property market plans today. The...

Property professionals and MPs were left wanting more after Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s much-anticipated housing announcements yesterday. Johnson yesterday promised a review...

Propertymark has expressed hope that the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill will help boost much needed agency supply. The trade body has...

Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently announced that he is considering extending Margaret Thatcher’s Right-to-Buy scheme, that gives council tenants the chance to...