Community Legal Advice (CLA) has created a film outlining the rights of private tenants who are facing eviction, having problems paying rent or getting their deposit back. The film has been shot in British Sign Language, as CLA has found deaf people suffer disproportionately with legal problems, however there is a voiceover making it easily
Home ownership, or the belief that it is the only ‘done thingâ to own your own home, ignores the reality that many people canât afford to buy a home and has pushed millions into unnecessary debt according to the Residential Landlords Association (RLA). The housing market would be better served by increasing the number of
Gordon Brown is expected to announce a proposal that will require councils to take account of applicants’ connections to the area when allocating homes, as part of a multi-million pound plan to build more affordable homes. The prime minister hopes the move will increase stock in both council housing and affordable private homes in the
THOUGHT it all ended with that Zidane headbutt? Check out the Homeless World Cup, which reaches its final stages today and tomorrow in South Africa. An amazing 500 players from 48 countries are taking part. UPDATE: Russia pipped Kazakhstan in the final
LAST YEAR saw yet another boom in buy to let, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. Loans to landlords rose 48% by volume and 57% by value over 2005. Buy-to-let now makes up 11% of the entire mortgage market – not bad for an idea that has existed for only ten years. After a
Fewer young people are living independently than ten years ago, and more households in the private rented sector are headed by young people aged 16-24 than in owner occupation and social housing combined, according to a study by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH). Young people say that they are excluded from home ownership and
AT THE SAME TIME as the government was relaunching its flagship scheme to help key workers on to the housing ladder (see yesterday), a leading specialist lender was releasing research that shows a major reason why they need it. Paragon Mortgages told the Daily Mail that booming house prices had created thousands of buy-to-let millionaires.
The Homes and Communities Agency is looking into providing new types of social housing contracts that would not give tenants the right to remain in their homes for life, as a way of encouraging major financial institutions to build homes for rent. Speaking at a conference this month, HCA chairman Robert Napier said the agency
Halifax’s annual county house price survey revealed over the weekend that all the UK’s 104 counties and authorities have recorded at least a doubling in their average house prices during the past decade. Five of the 10 counties to have delivered the biggest house price rises were in Northern Ireland, which has become the second
New figures have shown that student rents have increased by an average of 19 per cent during the past five years, and 1.5 per cent since April 2008, despite the economic downturn. During the same period rental rates in the mainstream market have fallen by 6 per cent on average, although some London boroughs are