I have recently come across an interesting report, published by the Smith Institute called ‘The end of the affair – implications of declining home ownership’, written by Andrew Heywood. The report considers what seems to be a permanent trend – the decline in home ownership in this country. Together with the worrying fact that this…
Some time ago I did a post about the withdrawal of up to date information and guidance from the CLG website. I now find that they have messed around with the Court Service website. I know it is as a result of administrative changes but it is really annoying. The Court Service website was very…
There have been a lot of announcements recently from the government about housing law reform, and what they intend to do in the private rented sector. Whether any of these proposals will actually come to pass is not certain. However I (along with many others) am concerned about the approach taken by this government, both…
Did you know that the new housing minister is the ninth since labour came to power in 1997? They are: 1997 – Hilary Armstrong 1999 – Nick Raynsford 2001 – Lorde Falconer 2002 – Lord Rooker 2003 – Keith Hill 2005 – Yvette Cooper 2006 – Ruth Kelly 2007 – Hazel Blears 2008 – Caroline…
Reading the recent issue of Roof Magazine, I came across this utterly bonkers decision by the VAT authorities. Byker Housing Association has built a new 31 bed hostel for the homeless in Newcastle – however the VAT authorities have deemed it to be a commercial building (i.e. a hotel) rather than a residential one –…
I was very concerned to read in the Law Society Gazette today that if the proposed reforms to legal aid go ahead, it will lead to the ‘immediate dismantlement’ of specialist civil liberty legal teams in some firms. This is because cases dealt with by specialist providers tend to be more complex and time-consuming and…
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When will Government deal with the scandal of our unregulated lettings industry?
Despite holding millions of pounds of other people’s money, letting agents remain unregulated, putting their clients and the public at risk.