A third of armed forces families in Ministry of Defence (MoD) housing are unhappy with their standard of housing, a National Audit Office report has found. In the past two years just 1,700 of forces’ 50,000 homes have been upgraded, and at the rate of progress it will take two decades to get the housing
Stirling council has become the first local authority in Scotland to ban the practice of evicting tenants who fall behind on their rent payments. Latest figures show the authority had evicted 23 such tenants in 2008, in moves the councillors called ‘draconian’. Shelter Scotland said it was delighted with the move and called on other
Fundamental reforms in social housing are needed to tackle concentrated areas of deprivation, a report from Localis has said. The report said that councils and registered social landlords need to fix broken neighbourhoods and should be given the ‘right to manage’ their housing stock. It also wants the role of social housing to be better
A scheme in Edinburgh which places the homeless in private flats and houses is to be expanded as the city struggles to meet demand for affordable housing. During the past three years around 1,500 homeless people have been housed in private accommodation with rents subsidised by the council’s private sector leasing (PSL) scheme. Statistics show
Government housing policy is still failing on sustainability, according to a major report from the Sustainable Development Commission this morning. The report says it has made progress with its pledge on zero carbon homes but criticises development in areas of water stress, demolition of homes in the North and Midlands and divisions between private and
The government has finally responded to the Rugg review into private lettings and announced plans for tighter regulation of landlords. The government plans to create a register of all private landlords in England, including an improved complaints system that could remove rogue landlords from it, and will ensure that policing is done through the creation
The Mirror reports on the scandal of ’buy to leave’ – rented property left empty by speculators – and quotes Yvette Cooper calling for action by local authorities. Lenders are withdrawing their fixed rate mortgages ahead of an expected rate rise, reports the Guardian. Is a property crash on the way? Leading housebuilder Taylor Woodrow
One of the government-approved tenancy deposit protection schemes has warned landlords they must provide sufficient evidence if they want to withhold some or all of a deposit. According to the study there have been a growing number of landlords who find tenants have damaged their property at the end of a tenancy who are having
Despite yesterday’s decision by the Bank of England’s to cut the base rate, many people will still be hit by higher mortgage costs after several lenders raised their charges last night. Nationwide, Royal Bank of Scotland, Alliance & Leicester and Britannia Building Society all raised their fixed rate deals. But several banks, including Halifax, Lloyds
The increase in ‘accidental landlords’ has pushed the average cost of renting down by more than 2 per cent during the first three months of the year. Research from Gumtree.com found a 19 per cent increase in the number of people advertising properties on their website, while average rents across the UK dropped 2.2 per