Students least likely to miss rental payments
The National Landlords Association (NLA) has revealed that students are amongst the most reliable tenants, with only 38% of student landlords having experienced arrears in last year. This is compared to 59% of landlords letting to blue collar workers and 71% letting to benefit recipients. Student tenants offer the highest rental yields at 6.7% compared […]
25,000 take up government housing schemes
The latest government figures show that over 25,000 new homeowners have been created by government-backed schemes. 3,749 people have taken up the industry-led NewBuy scheme since its launch in March 2012. During the first four months of the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme over 3,000 sales and 10,000 reservations have been made. Right to […]
Think tank warns against Help to Buy
Leading economic think tank The Adam Smith Institute has warned that Help to Buy will not end the housing crisis. The institute believes that the government’s plans to increase liquidity in the housing market will do little to solve the UK’s long-run housing supply shortage — and actually lead high housing prices. They believe […]
45% increase in first-time buyers
There were 26,100 sales to first-time buyers in July, the highest level since November 2007. According to the latest First Time Buyer Monitor from LSL Property Services, the number of first-time buyers rose 45% year-on-year in July. The improvement was put down to a sharp increase in the affordability of mortgages. The average mortgage rate […]
Financial Ombudsman releases complaints data
The Financial Ombudsman Service has released the latest six-monthly complaints data relating to individual financial businesses. The data details complaints handled by the ombudsman service between 1 January and 30 June 2013. Two types of data are included; the number of complaints received about individual financial businesses and the percentage of complaints the ombudsman upheld […]
Scheme to give loans to owners of empty homes
A new scheme hopes to bring England’s 710,000 empty properties back to life by offering loans up to £15,000 to their owners. The National Empty Homes Fund (NEHLF); a joint initiative between the charity Empty Homes, Ecology Building Society, central government and 39 participating local authorities, hopes to help solve the national property shortage through […]