propertytalk Live!

Schools in the South-East and South-West of England have been awarded a total of £26,000 after taking part in pioneering a new programme which sent top designers into schools to work with pupils and help them realise their own energy and water-saving plans.

Last week saw the culmination of two Design Council projects – the Eco Design Challenge and the Water Design Challenge – in Dragon’s Den-style finals with shortlisted teams from schools throughout the two regions pitching for a share of the prize pot to help bring their designs to life.

Local Government Minister Grant Shapps has today outlined plans to give councils a new power to review and revoke outdated byelaws.

This means that old local rules, like those about dickey straps in Hammersmith, fish frying in Gloucester, and carpet beating in Blackpool will be a matter for these areas, rather than central government.

Chinese buyers are anticipated to replace Russian investors as major players in the prime central London market as the number of super-wealthy individuals continues to grow rapidly in the country, new research from CB Richard Ellis revealed.

Buyers with foreign currency are still enjoying attractive discounts on prime central London property as Sterling continues to remain weak.

Gross mortgage lending by mutuals was £2.0 billion in July, the highest monthly figure so far this year, and 11% higher than the £1.8 billion lent in June. Mortgage approvals made in July amounted to £1.9 billion, the same as in June.
 
Commenting on the figures, Adrian Coles, Director-General of the BSA, said:
 

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has taken action against two mortgage brokers whose reckless business practices allowed false and misleading mortgage applications to be made to lenders.

Ngozika Louise Ogboru who ran J N Finance (UK) Limited, a mortgage broking firm based in Harrow, has been banned from carrying out any regulated activity. Ronald Winton from Mortgage Healthcare Limited in Dundee has been fined £31,500, and will not be able to hold a senior position in a financial services firm for two years.

New rental laws mean many tenants will, from next month, automatically have formal Assured Shorthold Tenancies – this is a move that will push extra responsibilities on to landlords and agents with hefty fines if they do not comply.

Until now many tenants paying more than £25,000 a year (that is the equivalent of about £2,085 a month) fell outside the AST classification, but from October 1 the threshold increases to £100,000.

Average lease lengths fell to their lowest ever recorded levels this year, falling by more than 10 months to just five years in 2010.

An independent analysis of 91,000 tenancies published shows that small businesses are increasingly signing shorter deals, with 81% on leases of five years or fewer and therefore unlikely to face a rent review. By comparison just over 3% of small businesses have a lease of over 10 years.

As more property comes onto the market and top end buyers refuse to pay over the odds, Prime property price rises have halted across most of the country.

The August Primelocation.com Prime Index reveals that, following four months of healthy growth, the average price of a UK Prime property slipped 0.3% to £457,052, while the average value of a Prime Platinum UK property is now £638,366, a fall of 0.4%.

The July data from Land Registry's flagship House Price Index shows an annual price increase of 6.7 per cent which takes the average property value in England and Wales to £166,798.

The monthly change from June to July is an increase of 0.4 per cent.

Travellers who play by the rules will get the same rights as other mobile home residents and could benefit from more authorised sites under plans announced by Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles.

At the same time, top-down Whitehall planning rules on travellers which Ministers believe has undermined community cohesion and harmed the countryside will be scrapped.