More Than 50 Tower-Block Owners Refusing To Remove Grenfell-Style Cladding

More than 50 tower-block owners are still refusing to remove dangerous Grenfell-style cladding, Theresa May has admitted – seven months after the government vowed to act. The prime minister was accused of overseeing a “stench of complacency”, putting lives in jeopardy, 19 months after the catastrophic fire in the London high-rise that claimed 72 lives. Last June, Ms May first threatened to force private owners of blocks to pay up for the work and her then-local government minister vowed that a solution would be “put in place swiftly”. Facing fierce questioning in the Commons, she insisted cladding had, or would be, removed at more than 200 buildings, but added: “There are 56 owners that are refusing to remediate.” Read more on the Independent website.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tower-block-cladding-grenfell-tower-fire-theresa-may-commons-speech-statement-a8742781.html

Home Ownership Is Only Rising For The Over-70s And Under-20s

Property ownership is growing fastest among the grandparent generation while their children are increasingly driven into the rental market, figures reveal. The over-70s and the under-20s are the only groups in which home ownership is rising, according to findings by the House of Commons library which prompted a Tory ex-minister to warn of a unhealthy generation gap. The figures suggest the older generation is building up buy-to-let portfolios and brought fresh demands for the government to intervene to tackle a growing housing crisis. Falling levels of ownership have been blamed on a shortage of supply of affordable homes and resulting increases in property prices across the UK. Read more on the inews website.

Four In 10 Renters Fear They Will Never Own A Home

David Cameron’s pledge to build a property-owning democracy is called into serious question by a landmark survey revealing that almost four in 10 of those who do not own a home believe they will never be able to do so. According to an exclusive poll for the Observer on attitudes to British housing, 69% of people think the country is “in the throes of a housing crisis”. A staggering 71% of aspiring property owners doubt their ability to buy a home without financial help from family members.  More than two-thirds (67%) would like to buy their own home “one day”, while 37% believe buying will remain out of their reach for good. A further 26% think it will take them up to five years.  Read more on the Observer website.

The UK Housing Crisis: A Disaster Of Our Own Making

House prices have been a staple of the national conversation for years, a largely rising tide that has fuelled many a self-congratulatory chat across the dinner table or over the garden fence. But in recent times the tenor of those conversations has switched from satisfaction to alarm, as post-war dreams of a property-owning democracy have crumbled into a nightmare of skyrocketing prices, unsustainable debt and disappointed aspirations. The average UK house price has risen by two and a half times since 1997 and is now £186,000 – over £500,000 in the capital. Many millennials are now resigned to never being able to afford to buy their own home. And as the children of homeowning parents are priced out of the market, the tide of home ownership has turned. From a high in 2001 of 69%, by 2011 the figure had fallen to 64% (ONS data). The last time that happened was in 1918, and it’s still going down. Read more on Management Today.

Generation Renters Believe It Is ‘Virtually Impossible’ To Get Onto Housing Ladder

More than one in five people who are not on the property ladder believe it is “virtually impossible” to get a mortgage, a major new study has revealed. The largest research project of its kind in the UK highlights the divide between the haves and have-nots in Britain’s housing market. It shows the polarising effect of home ownership; 57 per cent of parents who own a property have or plan to help their children with their deposit, compared to 24 per cent of parents who rent, underlining the importance of property ownership for the prosperity of future generations. The report found that 21 per cent of prospective first-time buyers believe it is virtually impossible to obtain a mortgage, compared to 12 per cent of parents. Read more on the Yorkshire Post website.