The consumer protection magazine Which? is warning landlords and second-home owners they could be required to pay capital gains tax within 30 days of selling their properties, under new rules being proposed by the Government. Currently sellers of second homes... View Article

A date has been set in December for the hearing of a High Court challenge to the Government’s Right to Rent scheme on the basis it discriminates against foreign nationals. The challenge has been launched by the Joint Council for... View Article

Over the Summer months the Grenfell Tower public inquiry took a break after hearing harrowing evidence from firefighters involved in tackling the fire, but disquieting news continued to emerge about safety failings potentially affecting millions of residents. Concerns about the... View Article

The social housing regulator undertook 77 investigations into tenant-related issues last year, but found just five instances of the consumer standard being broken by social landlords. Figures published by the Regulator of Social Housing in its review of consumer regulation... View Article

The social housing regulator has taken the unusual step of criticising a South coast local authority for failing to carry out risk assessments or to carry out the necessary work arising from them. Arun District Council in West Sussex did... View Article

The social housing regulator has shown its intent to improve risk management and tenant safety across the rental sector, by downgrading three housing associations. North Somerset based Alliance Homes, with 6,300 homes under management was downgraded to a G2 rating... View Article

A busy season of reporting financial results saw many large housing associations disclose varying fortunes due to investment in building new homes, refinancing of loans, operational efficiencies and spending more money on safety work to existing homes. Among the big... View Article

A year of uncertainty rooted in a poor regulatory assessment came to an end for a Cumbrian social landlord when it completed its merger with a large association celebrating 90 years in existence. Workington based Impact has 2,770-homes. It was... View Article

A national charity and lobbying organisation is claiming that efforts to end the practice of private landlords from evicting tenants after they make legitimate complaints about their home, have failed. Citizens Advice found that tenants who made a formal complaint... View Article

A new report by the Chartered Institute of Housing claims that even the lowest private rents are now out of reach for people on low incomes and are putting thousands at increased risk of homelessness, or going without life’s basics.... View Article

A cautious welcome mixed with some disappointment is perhaps the best description we can give to the responses given to the Green Paper, by representatives from across the social housing sector. On a school report the phrase “could do better”... View Article

The long awaited Housing Green Paper was launched with a media fanfare during the Parliamentary recess, but it failed to deliver on the high expectations raised by the Government in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower disaster. When he announced... View Article