Tag Archives: crisis
UK govt announces new building standards proposals
New measures will save UK house builders and councils £114 million per year by cutting red tape and ensuring homes are built to demanding standards. The current system of rules on how new homes can be built encourages wide differences across the country with councils able to select from a range of standards in a ‘pick and mix’ approach that gives an unlimited number of permutations in local rules. This creates cost, uncertainty, bureaucracy and duplication for house builders. So Communities Minister Stephen Williams has announced that the government is consulting on the details of how it will consolidate this mass of standards into a core range of five standards. ‘We need to build more homes and better quality homes and this government is delivering on both. It’s now time to go further by freeing up house builders from unnecessary red tape and let them get on with the real job building the right homes, in the right places, to help families and first time buyers onto the property ladder,’ said Williams. ‘The current system of housing standards creates a labyrinth of bureaucratic rules for house builders to try and navigate, often of little benefit and significant cost. We are now slashing this mass of unnecessary rules down to just five core standards saving house builders and councils £114 million a year whilst making new homes safer, more accessible to older and disabled people and more sustainable,’ he explained. ‘Current housing standards required of new development can be unworkable, including demands for solar and wind energy sources that can’t physically fit onto the roofs of apartment buildings, or unnecessary including compliance regimes which add thousands to the cost of building a new home without any benefit,’ he added. A national regulation on security standards in all new homes will be introduced with the aim of protecting families from burglary and for the first time ever, a national, cross tenure space standard that local authorities and communities can choose to use to influence the size of new homes in their local area. There will be new optional building regulations for accessible and adaptable mainstream housing to meet the needs of older and disabled people and the introduction for the first time of an optional building regulation setting standards for wheelchair housing. The consultation seeks views on the detailed technical requirements supporting this new approach to housing quality. The government proposal is for the security standards to become a new mandatory regulation, and for councils to be able to decide whether to apply the other remaining standards to developments built in their areas. In addition a new zero carbon homes standard will come into force through the building regulations from 2016, building on the 30% energy efficiency improvements already introduced into building regulations in 2010 and 2013. These will save householders up to £200 on energy bills. Continue reading
English landlords enjoying a booming rental market, says new research
Landlords in England are witnessing a booming rental market, with earnings from rental payments in excess of £32 billion per year or almost £2.7 billion per month, according to new research. London landlords collect the largest proportion of private rental income in England at £14 billion per year, more than the North East, East Midlands, West Midlands, Yorkshire and East Anglia combined, says the report from Direct Line for Business. In total, 44% of the entire country's rent is paid in London. Outside the capital, Leeds pays the greatest amount of any city, with annual private rent totalling £565 million, followed by Birmingham at £521 million and Manchester at £401 million. The research also reveals that London and the Home Counties dominate rental incomes, with the highest average rents in Inner London at £19,596 per year or £1,633 per month. Elmbridge in Surrey, has the highest rents outside London, worth £18,948 per year or £1,579 per month, followed by South Buckinghamshire where monthly rental costs are £1,530 in the private sector. Despite this dominance, landlords outside of these regions can also make a healthy rental income. Many areas outside the London commuter belt can command high rental costs, for example Bath and North Somerset, and the Cotswolds both command annual rental incomes of more than £11,000 per year. Outside of London, Bournemouth leads the line in terms of private rentals with 30% of households there privately rented. The isles of Scilly at 29.7% and Brighton and Hove at 29.6% follow in second and third place respectively. Across the country, Inner London has the highest proportion of private renters, at 30.7%. ‘Buy to let is becoming an increasingly attractive option for people as property prices continue to soar. Landlords and potential landlords looking to take advantage of this should also appreciate the risks involved,’ said Jazz Gakhal head of Direct Line for Business. ‘Bad payers and potential damage to property are but just a few of the costs that can lead to landlords paying out 25% of the revenues they receive in rental payments annually. Taking the necessary precautions such as letting through an agency and taking out landlord insurance can help to alleviate concerns and ease the rental process,’ he added. To help landlords keep track of charges paid, ongoing expenses and to assist in calculating the yield on their portfolio Direct Line for Business has launched a new landlord app, Mobile Landlord that enables landlords to manage up to five properties on the go through a single online, mobile portal. Mobile Landlord is free to download and available on both iOS and Android. Continue reading
Property prices in Ireland up 13.4% year on year
National residential property prices in Ireland increased by 13.4% in the year to July, according to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics. This compares with an increase of 12.5% in June and an increase of 2.3% recorded in the 12 months to July 2013. On a month on month basis property prices increased by 2% in July compared with June. This compares with an increase of 2.9% recorded in June and an increase of 1.2% recorded in July of last year. In Dublin residential property prices grew by 2.7% in July and were 23.2% higher than a year ago. Dublin house prices rose by 2.5% in the month and were 23.1% higher compared to a year earlier while apartment prices were 26.3% higher when compared with the same month of 2013. However, it should be noted that the sub-indices for apartments are based on low volumes of observed transactions and consequently suffer from greater volatility than other series. The price of residential properties in the rest of Ireland rose by 1.3% in July compared with a decrease of 0.1% in July of last year. Prices were 4.9% higher than in July 2013. Despite the gains house prices in Dublin are still 41.2% lower than at their highest level in early 2007. Apartments in Dublin are 48.4% lower than they were in February 2007. Property prices in Dublin are 43% lower than at their highest level in February 2007 while in the rest of Ireland prices are 45.1% lower than their highest level in September 2007. Overall, the national index is 42.3% lower than its highest level in 2007. Continue reading
