The government is introducing measures that will remove the social housing rent subsidy for higher earners. In what is being called a “pay to stay” scheme, the government are backing plans to introduce a new household income threshold, which will see social tenants with a total income above the threshold paying full market rent.  It…

Following a crackdown on the illegal subletting of council properties, the London Borough of Hillingdon has reclaimed 36 properties from people committing housing tenancy fraud. The 36 properties have been reclaimed following a crackdown which began just over a year ago in April 2011.  The properties were reclaimed from tenants who had been illegally sub-letting their…

The government has been urged to allow social landlords greater flexibility over setting rents on a local basis as part of the affordable rent model. The call from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors comes as part of a wide-ranging review into the UK’s residential housing policy. In the review, published this week, RICS said…

The merger between Zoopla and Digital Property Group (DPG), which owns Primelocation and Findaproperty, has finally been cleared by the OFT today. DPG has been purchasing smaller property websites for the past few years, and their latest move is being seen as an effort to loosen rightmove’s firm grip on the online property advertising market….

There are currently 720,000 empty homes across England. The government have announced an allocation of £85 million of empty homes funding, which will be given to councils and community groups. Following a bidding round, twenty councils have each won a portion of a £60m funding pot, designed to target clusters of empty homes in low…

Waltham Forest Council has been forced to suspend plans to rehouse tenants outside of London, in areas as far away as the West Midlands. The council owns 27 properties in Walsall, and has offered them to their current tenants.  The uptake has been poor, with just 6 tenants accepting the relocation. The long-distance re-housing plan…

The current Bank of England base rate is at a historical low of just 0.5%, but the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has suggested that further cuts to the base rate may be needed in order to boost the UK economy. Whilst some consumers with a tracker rate mortgage would benefit from a cut in interest…

Current market and economic conditions are ripe for buy to let property investment, with low property prices, unprecedented demand for rental properties and soaring rents. On top of this, concerns over pensions, low returns on cash savings and instability in global stock markets are all fuelling demand for safe investments. These are just some of…

The government could be forced to make changes to its controversial bedroom tax policy following a Court of Appeal ruling this week. The “bedroom tax” comes in to force from April 2013, and effects social housing tenants of working age with spare bedrooms.  The policy means tenants who’s houses are deemed under occupied will face…

According to Homelet, the UK’s largest supplier of referencing and specialist insurance to the lettings industry, the average rent is still rising, and the private rental sector continues to boom. In March this year, the average rent achieved across the UK was £764, a huge 5% increase on the same time last year.  London saw…