propertytalk Live!

Local Government Minister Bob Neill praised Dartford Council for listening to the public on keeping weekly bin collections alive on a visit to the area today.

Mr Neill applauded the innovative public poll that showed 94.5 per cent of residents who took part wanted to keep weekly collections, and urged other councils to follow suit. Councils across the country have been moving to fortnightly collections over the past few years despite public support for weekly rounds.

The arrival of A' Level results marks the scramble to fill university places across the UK.

While most first year students get ready to settle into halls, some freshers will join their second or third year counterparts in opting for privately owned housing, boosting the local market, according to new analysis from Lloyds TSB.

The average UK rent is now £676, 2.3% higher than a year ago. This rise follows the increase of 1.4% in June. Rents are now just £12 per month shy of their peak two years ago.

Landlords pushed up rents for the sixth consecutive month, raising them by 0.5% in July, according to the latest LSL Buy-to-Let Index.

Two rogue landlords who illegally evicted tenants from their homes have been taken to court by the Wandsworth Council's housing department.

Zahid Malik and Ram Mahendran were both convicted in separate court cases of unlawfully evicting tenants who had properly paid their rents and abided by all the terms of their tenancies.

New research conducted at the recent LV= equity release road shows, reveals that IFAs believe equity release is set to become a big growth area for their future business, to help deal with the needs of the UK’s ageing population.

Research showed that nearly all (98%) of them believe that there will be a surge in consumers using equity release over the next few years. 35% of the IFAs that attended said that equity release is already a core part of their business.

A Winson Green resident who pretended to be a needy citizen when he actually owned his property has been jailed after a benefit fraud investigation by Birmingham City Council.

Chaman Teji, 45, fraudulently obtained Housing Benefit worth £4,396.20 and was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment at Birmingham Crown Court today (August 20).

Thousands of women fleeing domestic violence, pensioners who rely on home-help support and people with mental health problems could be forced to fend for themselves under expected cuts to a major government support programme, a campaign group has warned.

The National Housing Federation, which represents England’s housing associations, said that with the Treasury instructing all departments to model cutbacks of up to 40% almost 438,000 vulnerable people could see the outreach support that enables them to lead independent lives axed, and temporary accommodation shut as a knock-on effect.

In spite of government figures released last week, recording a 13% rise in housebuilding starts in England in Quarter 2, according to data from SmartNewHomes.com, which represents 85% of all new homes for sale in England, Wales and Scotland, the number of new homes for sale is at a record low.

The average price of a new home showed a minor adjustment in July and now stands at £217,660. The annual change in July was 2.5% - the third consecutive month of positive annual growth.

The private rented sector (PRS) has grown by 1.1 million households in the past decade and is now worth £500 billion dwarfing the value of the entire UK commercial property sector.

Over 66 per cent of all households created in 2008/09 were in the PRS, and it now accounts for 14.2 per cent of all households in England.

Tens of thousands of social housing tenants across Manchester can expect consistent levels of service from their landlords thanks to a ground-breaking agreement.

Some 23 leading registered providers of social housing across the city - who between them manage around 70,000 properties - have signed up to a set of common standards guiding how they look after neighbourhoods, working in partnership with Manchester City Council.