Tag Archives: housing
British PM pledges 200,000 starter homes in next five years
British Prime Minister David Cameron has called for a national crusade to get homes built and promised to change planning rules to boost the number of affordable properties such as starter homes for first time buyers In a speech he said that there will be an overhaul of Whitehall and town hall planning rules which prevent house builders from offering low cost, affordable home ownership. Starter Homes will be sold at a 20% discount to first time buyers under the age of 40 and 200,000 will be delivered by 2020. ‘We need a national crusade to get homes built. That means banks lending, government releasing land, and planning being reformed,’ Cameron said, adding it will be part of a dramatic shift in housing policy. One of the problems, he claimed, has been that until now affordable homes have been for people to rent, not own and developers have been tied by rules regarding what kind of affordable homes can be built. ‘Those old rules which said to developers: you can build on this site, but only if you build affordable homes for rent, we're replacing them with new rules. You can build here and those affordable homes can be available to buy. Yes, from generation rent to generation buy,’ Cameron added. However, the British Property Federation (BPF) has urged the Government to focus on delivery of all housing tenures, not just homes to buy. The organisation has warned that, although initiatives to create more homes for sale are welcome, high house prices and the growing number of private renters in the UK means that more must be done to encourage the purpose built rental sector which it said has £30 billion ready to invest and the potential to deliver a significant number of new homes. ‘Politicians talk about Generation Rent as if it is something to be ashamed of, when this should not be the case. Countries such as Germany and the United States have thriving rental markets, where people happily live in institutionally backed, purpose built, high quality rented accommodation for many years,’ said Melanie Leech, chief executive of the British Property Federation. ‘While we are not against owner occupation, and see Starter Homes as a welcome initiative, we are aware that such a policy is stoking demand for home ownership, rather than focusing on meeting supply. Build to rent has enormous potential to deliver additional homes to the UK, and government must not overlook this in blind pursuit of making us a nation of home owners,’ she added. According to Mark Hayward, managing director of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) 200,000 new homes is not enough. ‘We first heard this pledge in Cameron’s pre-election campaign, and we still support the sentiment. However, other initiatives such as the Help to Buy scheme still remains in place and it boils down to the fact that we are still waiting to see new homes being built; and whilst we wait capacity remains… Continue reading
Concerns voiced over new deregulation act effect on private landlords in England
A range of changes come into force today in England which affect private sector residential landlords amid concern that many are not aware of them. Under the Deregulation Act 2015 there are changes which affect whether or not a landlord can serve a Section 21 notice on an assured shorthold tenancy as well as changes to the form itself. However, following lengthy consultation, tenant eviction firm Landlord Action has concerns that not enough has been done to inform landlords of the changes and questions whether the Government has enough resources in place to properly enforce measures against so-called ‘retaliation eviction’. Just some of the key changes which come into effect for new tenancies entered into from 01 October, include the use of the new prescribed Section 21 notice which combines fixed term and periodic. A section 21 notice can no longer be served in the first four months of a tenancy and a section 21 notice will now have a six month life span. Despite recognising that the changes are in response to the ever growing private rental sector and a need for best practice, Paul Shamplina, founder of Landlord Action has expressed several concerns over the changes. ‘There have been a lot of significant changes in a short amount of time and I would like to have seen the Government proportion a greater budget to educating landlords, particularly those that don’t use agents to manage their properties, to ensure they are up to speed with new legislation,’ he said. ‘We still receive calls to our advice line on a weekly basis from landlords who don’t know about the deposit scheme which came into effect eight years ago,’ he pointed out. Less than 12 months ago Shamplina told The All Party Parliamentary Group for the Private Rented Sector at the Houses of Parliament that a law on retaliation eviction could result in tenants abusing the system and use it to remain in properties rent free for longer. As part of the new Act tenants will now have the first four months of a tenancy to file a complaint to a landlord with regards to issues of disrepair. ‘Good landlords will deal with complaints within the given 14 days, but my concern is the level of resource the local authorities have in place to action environmental health officers to carry out inspections when staffing levels have been cut to the bone,’ said Shamplina. ‘Landlords’ circumstances can change and if they need to end their tenancy, but can’t because they are waiting for an inspection or to gain access from the tenant, landlords are going to lose valuable time,’ he pointed out. If a property is considered in disrepair, landlords are now unable to serve a section 21 notice for six months from the date an improvement notice is served by the council and Shamplina believes this could lead to a huge spike in complaints from tenants. ‘I am a bit fed up… Continue reading
Retired UK home owners seeing value of property grow
Retired home owners in the UK have seen their property wealth grow by nearly £17.5 billion in the past three months as house prices continue to climb, new research shows. Pensioners who own their homes outright have gained an average of £3,725 each from their houses in the past three months taking their property wealth to a new record high, according to the index from over 55s financial specialist Key Retirement. In the five years since Key started monitoring the housing wealth of the over 65s, in January 2010, total pensioner property wealth has increased by 14% or £111 billion which equates to £23,700 on average for every home owner. The Pensioner Property Index shows over 65 home owners now own property wealth of £891.249 billion outright with pensioners across almost all of the UK benefiting. Key believes the strong growth in property prices will drive expansion of the equity release market further which enables homeowners to release wealth from their homes. Customers releasing property wealth are taking around £68,500 on average, its figures show. Retired home owners in London were the biggest winners gaining an average of around £14,238 each in the past three months, while home owners in the South East of England are more than £8,290 better off and pensioners in East Anglia are £8,524 better off. Key’s figures show a fifth of all pensioner property equity is owned by over 65s in London with total wealth of £178.894 billion. Nearly two thirds of pensioner property wealth is concentrated in London, the South East, the South West and East Anglia. ‘The strength of the housing market is reflected in the growth in the amounts being released through equity release plans which are now an average £68,500, an amount which dwarfs the average pension pot in the UK,’ said Dean Mirfin, technical director at Key Retirement. ‘The success of property investment for millions of over 65s home owners highlights how homes are major assets which should be considered as part of anyone’s retirement planning,’ he explained. ‘Property prices rise and fall but over 65 home owners control more than £891 billion in assets which can make a major contribution to enhancing retirement lifestyles. Pensioners however need specialist advice before accessing their property wealth,’ he added. Continue reading
