Single-person Council Tax Allowance Under Threat The single-person council tax allowance is under threat from Labour-run councils. Removing the 25% discount would push up bills by nearly GBP360 a year on the average Band D home. More... New Record As Bond Street Hits Gbp3m Rent Fashion retailer Belstaff, owned by luxury group Labelux, has leased the entire building at 135/137 New Bond Street on a 20-year lease and will pay GBP3m a year in rent. More... Property Seller Drops Gbp1,000 Per Week Till Sold John Parker, who runs property part-exchange company Home To Home Exchange, is testing the resolve of buyers by slashing the price by GBP1,000 each week until it is sold. More... Landlord Fined Gbp8,500 For Gas Safety Failure On inspection council officers served Mr Douglas-Law (63) an Improvements Notice under the Housing Act and reported concerns about the condition of the gas appliances to the HSE. More... Empty Nest Syndrome Downsizing to smaller homes gives many couples the opportunity to live their lives the way they want to. In theory, kids gone and funds in the bank. More... The Great Sell-off As 250,000 Hit The Market The great sell-off: Property tycoon to raise GBP3bn by selling 1% of ALL UK homes to clear his debts. The portfolio has 15,000 homes in London alone. More... Home Owners Gbp1,200 Better Off Than Renters Halifax have said that owning a home has become more than GBP100 a month cheaper than renting, following research. More... Rising Number Of Tenants In Rent Arrears The number of people who are in severe rental arrears has reached its highest level in three years. More... A Simple Wordpress Solution Gives Agents More A USA technology company has created an easy to install WordPress IDX plugin that gives agents websites full MLS search, and they claim it takes less than a minute to activate. IDX is special as it displays other agents accepted subbed properties on your More... Brighton Landlords Face New Property Charge Landlords in Brighton could be forced to pay about GBP450 if they want to rent out a house to students, under plans to expand a licensing scheme. More... Many People Are Changing From Being So Green The number of people willing to change the way they has fallen by 10%. Public concern about climate change is also on the wane. More... Redknapp 'lost Gbp6m On Property Deal' Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp told police his home was at risk after he lost GBP6 million pounds in disastrous investments, a court in London More... Virgin Plans To Double Northern Rock Lending Virgin Money plans to double the value of mortgage lending that Northern Rock advanced to around GBP45m over the next five years. More... What Crisis? Time For A New Mindset On Housing The Guardian, not always positive towards agents and the property market, seem to have been more supportive of recent, talking the market upwards, rather than down. Please keep it up with more positives. More... Landlords May Have To Pay Water Bills For Runaway Buy to let landlords could be made to pay water bills for departing tenants if they fail to pass on their details under a proposed new law. Water companies write-off around GBP328 million a year in unpaid bills - costing every consumer GBP15 a year More... Welsh House Prices Rise 6th Consecutive Month Welsh house prices rose by 0.3% in November and is also the only region, other than Greater London, where prices have gone up (0.7%) over the last year. More... A Tall Story Of New Homes The boss of the company behind plans for a GBP65 million housing boom in the Allerdale area truly is a giant in the world of house building. Matt Story stands 6'8" and has high plans for development. More... Housing Stalemate As Young People Can't Buy Two surveys highlight the reasons why young people are struggling to get onto the property ladder. HSBC's Moving Home Survey found that only 12% of the 2,000 people it surveyed were thinking of moving home this year. More... Rafs Prime Airfield May Be Sold To Developers ne of the armed forces' most celebrated airfields could be sold off to private investors under plans being considered by defence chiefs to help plug budget shortfalls, it has emerged. More... Housing Transactions Fell By 1% In 2011 The number of houses sold in the UK has hardly altered falling just 1% from last year, according to figures from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). The Council of Mortgage Lenders also reported lending was up. More... Uk Estate Agent Fees Vary Considerably Estate agent fees in the UK carry great variation in the levels of fees that estate agencies across London charge, according to a new survey.The majority of estate agencies surveyed quoted 1.5% commission, but 15% of agents quoted the lowest fee of 1%. Th More... New Agent Gets Landlords On Rightmove Cheap A new online lettings agent is charging landlords a one-off fee of GBP39 for a tenant-find advertising service. The service includes listings on Rightmove and other major portals. More... Your View Is Rubbish Annoyed at people dumping their old mattresses on your street? Imagine if you had a dump next to your house so huge it could be seen from over a mile... More... Councillor Found At Fault Over Illegal Sub-letting A London councillor admitted subletting her housing association property as she was convicted of GBP1100 in housing benefit fraud. It's thought that 1 in 5 properties may be party to illegal sub-letting More... Shifting Oaps From Homes Could Have Tax Downfalls Redbridge Council in east London, it is aimed at helping empty-nesters move to smaller accommodation while freeing up their larger homes to rent out to younger families. But older homeowners who take part in a new scheme to downsize and let out their fami More... How To Turn Your Rent Into A Mortgage With rents in London forecast to increase by 15 per cent this year, housing associations are stepping in to offer low-cost rental homes to people with jobs (earning less than GBP60,000 a year) who can show they are able to save to eventually buy a home of t More... Wow Buy A Home For Just Gbp2.61 Pcm As some housing markets still suffer, some appear just crazy. But for those wanting a fresh start who tick all the boxes for immigration, then for not a lot, you can get a whole lot of home. The cheapest was found to be just $4 (or GBP2.61) pcm in Atlanta, More... Historic Houses In The Way Of The Rail Link This week, Transport Secretary Justine Greening confirmed that the HS2 high-speed train line will now go ahead. In its way will be numerous medieval properties from Hall Houses to historic churches. Trains will reach speeds upto 225mph and noise will be s More... Tiny Houses Hold Big Appeal A 750-square-foot condominium might seem small to many people, but George Hannah is looking forward to downsizing and building a "tiny house" with about 80 percent less space. Hannah is ready to move out of his one-bedroom condo and join what he calls the More... Russian Oligarchs Snapping Up Properties In Oxford GROWING numbers of foreigners are buying up some of Oxford's hottest property, with wealthy Russians increasingly choosing the city. Many of the houses are being bought as second homes or as investment properties, and are not being lived in for much of th More... Lower Taxes Lure Foreign Buyers To Spend Gbp4bn The London market has attracted a lot of overseas wealth. UK's lax property tax laws allow super-rich to buy luxury homes through offshore companies, costing the Treasury GBP750m a year More... Ftb's Rush To Avoid Stamp Duty First time buyers are expected to increase in the next month as the deadline for the tax stamp holiday nears, according to Wales Online. House sales in the south of Wales have increased due to a last minute rush to avoid the one per cent duty on propertie More... Btl Fraudsters Sent To Prison For Gbp1m Scam Buy to let property club fraudsters who raised more than GBP1 million from selling shoddy properties at inflated prices have picked up jail sentences. More... Rics To Rewrite Valuation 'bible' The RICS Red Book of valuation standards is being rewritten this year in response to claims that surveyors are failing to make accurate valuations in times of market volatility. More... Divorce Lawyers: The January Winners Web searches for 'divorce' rise dramatically in January as couples that limped through Christmas give up the ghost. More... Scotland; House Prices Edge Up By 4% In West Sarah Speirs, director of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Scotland, said: "The average sale price in the west has risen slightly because there is a shortage of homes for sale and so the sought-after properties are commanding greater prices. "Al More... Costly Improvements Increase Energy Bills 8 Fold The "cautionary tale" in a new Royal Academy of Engineering report illustrates that simply installing renewable energy kit might not be the answer to reducing our power demands. Some homeowners who install solar panels and eco-friendly 'heat pumps' have s More... Estate Agent Reports Surge In Mortgage Application Haart has seen a dramatic rise in the number of people applying for mortgages with figures for 2011 up 21% compared to 2010, the biggest rise in applications since it began offering mortgages in 2001. Of those, first time buyers accounted for over 37% whi More... Council Sub-letters Face Up To 2 Years Prison New Council law to crack down on those who abuse social housing. Those found guilty would also face fines up to GBP50,000. Sub-letting council houses will be made a criminal offence with offenders facing up to two years in prison, it was reported. More... Beautiful Scottish Private Island For Sale Balnagowan Island extends to around 36 acres, and sits less than a mile from the mainland. There are breathtaking views out over the surrounding sea loch; to the south lies the large island of Shuna. The guide price is GBP395,000 More... Landlords Warned Of Changes To Rules On Flues Wirral-based Residential Property Landlord Support Group is warning landlords to be aware of forthcoming changes to gas safety legislation. As from December 31 this year, it will be compulsory for all gas engineers to see and inspect flues. If there is no More... Estate Agent Signs Return To Kensington & Chelsea A West London estate agent has solved the 'For Sale' sign ban in Kensington and Chelsea by literally cleaning his contact details onto the pavement. More... London House Prices Hit New Peak House prices hit a new peak last month, 7pc higher than their level before the global credit crisis began, as the most expensive parts of London became even more expensive, despite the downward trend across the rest of the country. More... Banks Blame Countrywide For 97 Uk Mortgage Losses When the property market collapsed two years later, Sandha couldn't make his mortgage payments and Barclays seized the apartment, selling it for 500,000 pounds. The lender has now sued Countrywide Plc (CWD), whose surveying unit valued it at the peak of t More... Uk Mortgage Lending Sees Continued Increase Gross mortgage lending in the UK in November totalled an estimated GBP13 billion, with the monthly figure showing its fourth consecutive year on year rise, according to figures published by the Council of Mortgage Lenders today (Thursday 15 December). This More... People In Their 70's Considering Equity Release Individuals in their early 70s may be looking into ways to boost their financial situation in order to maintain their busy and active social life after they have finished working. Some 38 per cent of the adults polled admitted looking into the possibility More... Secret Location, Coming To Channel 4. Secret Location has been commissioned by Channel 4. The 20-part series of on-hour shows will take house hunters off to areas they would never normally consider. More... Unhappy Tenant Blogs His Views Of Landlord A unhappy tenant in New York may be starting a ''put them down'' trend. Through Wordpress the tenants of 2842 Brigham Street Brooklyn NY 11235 have created a blog entitled: A Nightmare in Sheepshead Bay. More... Tax Funds A Million Council House Spare Bedrooms Many families are struggling to afford big enough homes in the private sector, but the figures show one in three working age people on benefits in council houses have more bedrooms than they need. Ministers are planning to make council tenants contribute More...