Grenfell Fire: Cladding Company Lawyer Says It Holds No Responsibility

A lawyer for the company which made the cladding panels used in Grenfell Tower said it was unfair to pin the blame for the fire on them. Stephen Hockman QC, speaking on behalf of cladding giant Arconic, told an inquiry into the 2017 disaster the company’s product was used in a “wholly unorthodox and irregular cladding system” on the west London tower, for which it “bore no responsibility”. In 2019, inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick concluded the “principal reason” the flames shot up the building at such speed was the combustible cladding which acted as a “source of fuel”. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/cladding-company-lawyer-no-responsibility-grenfell-fire-b955317.html 

Khan Sets Out Plans To Help House Afghan Refugees

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced plans to help the city’s councils and housing associations support the arrival of Afghan refugees. Mr Khan said he will expand his new Right to Buy-back fund to help councils purchase homes which could be used to resettle families arriving from Afghanistan. Housing associations are also being encouraged to apply for funding for suitable homes that can be delivered quickly. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/sadiq-khan-mayor-plans-help-afghan-refugees-london-b952414.html 

The Pros And Cons Of New Home Ownership Schemes

With no end in sight to thehousing crisis, investors are increasingly looking at ways to monetise Generation Rent with a series of alternative home ownership schemes funded by the private sector. The latest offering is a “gradual homeownership” proposition launched by Wayhome. Unlike traditional shared ownership models Wayhome is backed by pension funds and teams up with buyers to purchase resale properties costing between £200,000 and £500,000. The buyers must have a household income of at least £30,000 and be able to put down a five per cent deposit. For a property worth £500,000 this would mean an initial £25,000. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

https://www.standard.co.uk/homesandproperty/buying-mortgages/pros-and-cons-new-home-ownership-schemes-generation-rent-b951070.html

Grenfell Fire Safety Reform Delay Putting Lives At Risk

A delay to the implementation of changes recommended by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry is putting lives at risk, London's mayor has warned. Sadiq Khan accused building owners and the Government of "failing" the community over the lack of progress, adding he shared concerns that a similar tragedy could happen again. His comments come almost a year after inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick identified 46 changes that should be made to ensure the safety of residents in high-rise buildings. Mr Khan said the Government had not provided a timed delivery plan for the changes it was responsible for implementing. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/sadiq-khan-grenfell-fire-safety-reform-delay-putting-lives-at-risk-a4573180.html 

Housing Estates Under Threat Of Demolition Handed Back To Council

Two west London housing estates that have been under threat of demolition by developers for 12 years are to be handed back to the council in a major victory for campaigners. Residents on the estates, Gibbs Green and West Kensington, will be told at a meeting this evening that their homes will be returned to public ownership under the terms of a deal struck by Hammersmith & Fulham council leader Stephen Cowan. It ends one of the longest-running disputes over regeneration plans between social housing tenants and developers in London in recent years. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/earls-court-resident-victory-housing-estates-under-threat-of-demolition-handed-back-to-council-a4289941.html

Recession Fears Spread As Brexit Weighs On Housing And Spending

A plunge in consumer and business confidence raised fresh concerns about a potential recession as a raft of data suggested Westminster’s Brexit crisis is beginning to strangle the UK economy. Bank of England figures revealed a slowdown in consumer spending, with the annual growth of consumer credit standing at 5.5% in July, markedly lower than its peak of 10.9% in November 2016. Shoppers borrowed £900 million in July, well below the £1.5 billion average from January 2016 to June 2018. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

https://www.standard.co.uk/business/recession-fears-spread-as-brexit-weighs-on-housing-and-spending-a4225136.html

Councils Spent £300m Putting Homeless In Hotels In Three Years

Councils in the UK spent £300 million in three years on placing homeless people in hotels and B&Bs, Freedom of Information figures reveal. Brent in north west London spent £39 million in three years on temporary accommodation for homeless people, according to FOI responses received by the Evening Standard. The figures, which relate to the last three financial years 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18, lay bare the shocking extent of homelessness across the UK. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/uk-councils-spent-300m-putting-homeless-in-hotels-in-three-years-shocking-figures-reveal-a3948671.html

Builders Of Rental Flats Welcome Move Towards Longer Tenancies

The bosses of some of London’s largest rental flats builders have shrugged off concerns that new longer tenancies could be bad for business. Communities secretary James Brokenshire has published proposals that could see landlords forced to give renters three-year contracts in a move to help them “put down roots”. Some small property owners warned the plan could make it harder to manage difficulties with problem tenants, while the National Landlords Association slammed a shift to “a more rigid system”. However, listed Telford Homes and developer Quintain, which are currently constructing 3700 rental homes in the capital, welcomed the update. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

https://www.standard.co.uk/business/londons-builders-of-rental-flats-welcome-move-towards-longer-tenancies-a3876856.html

Millennials In London Are 'Hiring Cleaners Instead Of Saving Up For A Deposit'

London millennials are spending money on cleaners instead of saving for a deposit for a new home, a new study suggests. Sixteen per cent of under 35s have a cleaner, compared to 9 per cent of older age groups, according to the study commissioned by app Airtasker. The study also found Londoners are the laziest people in the UK, and London itself is the most 'time-poor' part of the country. Many young Londoners admitted to not having enough time to clean, while some find housework simply too boring, the study found. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/millennials-are-hiring-cleaners-instead-of-saving-up-for-a-deposit-a3863341.html

£1bn In Help To Buy London Loans Handed To First-Time Buyers

A new breed of “five per centers” is taking over the new homes market in parts of London. Using the Government’s subsidised Help to Buy London scheme and a five per cent deposit to get on to the housing ladder, these buyers are now responsible for more than half of all sales of new homes in a “halo” of postcodes around the capital. Some 85 per cent of the new homes sold in West Wickham over the last two years were to buyers bolstered by a 40 per cent government equity loan. The average price of a new home in the BR4 postcode stands at just under £421,000, up 14 per cent in the past two years.  Read more on the Evening Standard website.

https://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/property-news/record-1bn-in-help-to-buy-london-loans-handed-to-firsttime-buyers-a118536.html

Pilot Licensing System For Airbnb-Style Short Lets

Kensington & Chelsea council says it is preparing a new licensing system after receiving 91 complaints in the last two years of homeowners renting out their property on short lets for more than the current maximum of 90 days a year. The council says that under the current rules it has only been able to issue 11 people with enforcement notices ordering them to desist. In advance of Government action the council will consider a pilot licensing scheme to protect key areas. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

https://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/property-news/kensington-chelsea-to-curb-antisocial-behaviour-with-pilot-licensing-system-for-airbnbstyle-short-a117141.html

Londoners Spend More Than A Third Of Monthly Income On Rent

Londoners spend more than a third of their monthly salary on rent, a study has found. The "staggering" figure is more than three times as much as in other parts of the country, research revealed. Average monthly rent in London is now £836, just over 37 per cent of average wages, compared with Hull, where average rents are £227.68, around 11.6 per cent of wages, said jobs site CV-Library. Other cities with high rents included Brighton at £623 a month, 32 per cent of average wages, Edinburgh (£463, over 23 per cent), Bristol (£458, almost 22 per cent) and Southampton (£418, around 21.8 per cent). Read more on the Evening Standard website.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/londoners-spend-more-than-a-third-of-monthly-income-on-rent-study-finds-a3743031.html

Help To Buy Sugar-Rush Reveals Government’s Out Of Ideas On Housing

The Help to Buy initiative— supplying government equity loans of 20% to buyers of new homes, who need only chip in a 5% deposit — has already been extended twice since its introduction in 2013.  Back then high loan-to-value (LTV) mortgages of 95% were rare. Now there are almost eight times as many, with about 300 products on the market. So it was depressing that the Government chucked another £10 billion at HTB as Tories panic about frustrated homeowners shut out of the market. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

Not One Of London’s 20,000 Empty Homes Was Seized Last Year

Not one of London’s 20,000 empty homes was seized by town halls last year despite the housing crisis. Official figures showed that the number of properties taken back into use in 2016 was the lowest for more than a decade. Overall, 208 applications were made across the UK, of which 137 were granted. The number of applications country-wide peaked at 41 in 2012 but has fallen to an average of less than 20 a year since then. Across England, only nine seizure applications for long-term vacant homes were made last year, although government data shows there were more than 200,000 long-term vacant properties. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

London Rents Keep Falling On Election Jitters

Rents in London have dropped for a fifth successive month amid political uncertainty, according to a new report from lettings agency Your Move. The average property in London was let for £1273 in April, a 0.3% drop from a month earlier and 1.8% down from April 2016. uncertainty caused by Brexit and the snap election had forced the property market here “to take a pause for breath”. The upcoming election was also blamed for a slowdown in UK housebuying demand. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

Two London Families Are Made Homeless Every Hour

Two families in London are made homeless every hour, a charity has claimed. Shelter predicted that 1,260 families in the capital will lose their home in the next month and 7,370 over the next six months - the equivalent of a household every 34 and 35 minutes respectively. The housing charity, which based its predictions on government homeless statistics, said more affordable homes must be built. Latest figures for the capital show that there are 43,820 homeless families, including 88,040 homeless children, in temporary accommodation. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

Plan To Move Homeless People Out Of London

Westminster Council is moving homeless people out of London to combat the high cost of temporary housing. Homeless people will be shifted from the borough and relocated to places elsewhere in the UK - likely the home counties - from January 30. The council has argued it will enable people to “put down local roots”, despite many of them having been born in London. It said it will help them find a job and access education and healthcare once they have been relocated. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

Top Architect Blasts 'Free-Riding' Tenants Living In Council Houses In Central London

A top London architect has called for “free-riding” council tenants to be moved out of central London and for affordable housing to be abolished. In a hugely controversial speech Patrik Schumacher, director and principal of Zaha Hadid Architects, also praised London’s foreign second home owners “even if they’re here only for a few weeks” and suggested that “80 per cent of Hyde Park” should be built over.  In his incendiary address to the World Architecture Festival in Berlin he said London’s housing crisis was the result of “intellectually bankrupt” planning departments and said only the free market can provide “housing for everyone.” He said that social housing tenants in gentrifying inner city areas should not expect to be able to carry on living in central London when their council estates are demolished and should be replaced by more “productive” residents - such as his own staff. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

Homeowners And Developers Could Be Hit With Hike In Planning Fees

Homeowners and developers could face an increase in planning fees as the Government gave its strongest hint that it was considering new charges. Up to £150 million a year of taxpayers’ money is used to plug the gap between revenue from fees and the costs to councils in officers’ time, site visits and paperwork. The cost of processing applications has been fixed since 2012, with fees of £172 for a typical extension or loft conversion and from £385 to £9,527 — plus an additional cost per square metre — for outline planning permission.  Read more on the Evening Standard website.

Foreign Investors Buying Up Flats In Suburbs

Wealthy foreign property investors are turning their attention from central London to cheaper suburban locations to avoid paying heavy stamp duty bills, an investigation has found. The trend, which follows a series of swingeing stamp duty hikes on expensive properties since 2012, means cash-rich investors are increasingly in competition with first-time buyers in new developments in outer London. It has been accelerated by the slump in the value of the pound that followed the Brexit vote in June, which has made London property around 15 per cent cheaper in dollar terms compared with a year ago. Read more on the Evening Standard website.