Property

A garage in Clapton, East London was being rented out as a flat at over £1,000 a month, reports the Hackney Citizen. Council officials discovered two people living in the property, which had been advertised as a studio flat, but was not a habitable dwelling. It has now been closed as a residential property after Hackney Council found the inhabitants living in inadequate conditions. Until the deceit was spotted the rental income was over a grand a month, a huge...

By Bea Patel, TLE Property Editor and Director of Shop for an Agent In 2007 the UK Government introduced EPCs (Energy Performance Certificates). The Housing Act 2004 made it a mandatory requirement that an energy assessment is made on all properties listed for sale in Britain and late also applied to rental properties. This was derived from an EU diktat, European Union Directive 2002/91/EC. Britain was told it must adopt a regime of sending inspectors to all homes marketed for...

By Bea Patel, TLE Property Editor and Director of Shop for an Agent The average Londoner is 23 years old when they move out of home for the first time. Perhaps advanced in numerous ways, but new research reveals young Londoners lack basic skills when they fly the nest. From the 1,000 adults surveyed by Weroom, 28 per cent admitted to not knowing how to roast a chicken. A further 31 per cent didn’t know how to operate a boiler,...

Can I do anything about my bad tenants? According to Simply Business, a recent survey revealed that landlords in the UK are out of pocket to the tune of over £5bn every year because of damage to property and unpaid rent. Broken appliances, damage to carpets and decorating is a big problem, alongside tenants paying late or failing to pay at all. When you’ve invested in a First Urban Group property, the last thing you want to worry about is...

By Bea Patel, TLE Property Editor and Director of Shop for an Agent On Thursday 23 June 2016 Britain faced its biggest decision for decades. We took to the polls to vote if Britain should leave or remain in the EU. Pre-EU referendum, we saw much uncertainty in the property market, with many people approaching a ‘wait and see’ attitude to buying and selling. Experts predicted house prices could fall up to 18 per cent. Forecasts in sterling weakening opened...

By Bea Patel, TLE Property Editor and Director of Shop for an Agent The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has set out his commitment to strengthening confidence in the capital's housing industry in the aftermath of last week's EU referendum result. Sadiq Khan was elected to deliver a step change number of homes built in London – including genuinely affordable housing. Under the previous Mayor, it’s reported only 13 per cent of homes approved were affordable. With concern that last...

By Bea Patel, TLE Property Editor and Director of Shop for an Agent With the kick off of Euro 2016 on 10 June 2016, estate agent eMoov has taken a property view at how the teams match up, and what the potential outcome of the tournament could be. Each team is compared based on the cost of living in each country - take home income after tax, property price per square foot, cost of monthly utilities and monthly gym membership....

The London housing market is a juggernaut that just keeps on going. The most recent batch of figures showed that prices jumped another 14 per cent in the last year, with the average home in the capital costing about £470,000. For that, you’d need about £60,000 in deposit and Stamp Duty alone, with moving costs and fees on top of that. If that’s the price of the average property in the capital, then it’s clear that the cost of your...

By Bea Patel, TLE Property Editor and Director of Shop for an Agent As we approach the EU referendum vote on 23 June 2016, property activity has dampened as many buyers and sellers wait for the outcome of the vote. In London, the average property price declined 0.2 per cent on the month and has increased by only 5.1 per cent on the year. This compares to annual house price growth of 9.8 per cent in April. There has been...