Category Archives: Uncategorized

Homeserve, the emergency repair company, has been fined a record £34.5million by the City regulator for mis-selling of home protection insurance which covers the cost of domestic emergencies such as unblocking drains or boiler repairs. Homeserve insures 2million people in the UK.

Due to rising tuition costs, students are cutting back at the student bar.  Several years of high tuition costs have caused students to take on a more serious mood. Students are more cost conscious than ever before, looking at value generally and cutting back where possible.  There is one area though that students spend lavishly […]

It seems that finding student accommodation in London is set to get even harder! More than 250,000 students in London are not able to secure housing in either purpose built university accommodation or in private halls of residence. These students then have to share rented private-sector home or live at home with parents, thereby negating […]

The annual rate of UK house price inflation has reached 5.8% in October – the largest annual jump since July 2010. Nationwide say the price of the average house rose by 1% in October, coming on the back of a 0.9% increase in September. House prices are still 6.6% below the record high reached in […]

London’s high end property market has been fuelled over the past few years by foreign buyers. It is rumoured that the chancellor, George Osborne, may use his autumn statement to announce that Capital Gains Tax will apply to non-resident second home owners. Some fear this will reduce the attractiveness of properties in London, but this […]

Some think buy to let is morally repugnant, but the numbers look increasingly compelling. Buying property to let has never seemed so controversial. It is disapproved of and regarded as morally questionable, even repugnant. You only have to look on some of the related links below, where readers comment widely on the subject, to see […]

As estate agents report a post-recession boom in house prices, Christopher Middleton finds the best investment hot spots. It’s not merely a false dawn rising over the rooftops. Following years of doom and gloom, UK house prices are finally on the up. According to the Office for National Statistics, values rose by 3.1 per cent […]

Almost half of home buyers will be forced to pay “punitive” levels of stamp duty because of rising house prices within five years, a forecast has found. By 2018 more than 281,590 homes will be subject to levies of at least £7,500 as the property market recovers, up from 183,000 last year. The report by […]

Turn shops into houses,says British Property Federation THE BRITISH Property Federation today told an influential committee of MPs that in order for high streets to survive they need to contract and empty units be converted into other uses, such as residential and even community facilities like doctors and dentists surgeries. Giving evidence at the Business, […]

Interest rates are rising in America but falling in Britain, giving another boost to house prices, explains Andrew Ox lade.   Mortgage rates would have to rise to 10.5pc before it became more expensive to buy than rent. That was the finding of a study by Forbes magazine, which analyzed America’s property market and included all considerations […]