Passivhaus and delivering energy efficient homes

Posted on: 24 October 2013
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

Kevin Hartnett, Business Development Director at rural housing specialists Hastoe Housing Association, explains how they managed to deliver their Passivhaus schemes across the East and South East.

Read more online

London Residential Review

Posted on: 24 October 2013
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

This Review, published by Knight Frank, provides a detailed analysis of the prime central London sales and lettings markets, including a round-up of key market data.

Read more online

Housing Standards Review

Posted on: 24 October 2013
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

In response to the Department for Communities and Local Government’s consultation on Housing Standards, the Chartered Institute of Building has called for the Government to implement a clear timescale for integrating housing standards into the Building Regulations.

Read more online

The “Bedroom Tax” in Scotland

Posted on: 22 October 2013
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

Kenneth Gibb, University of Glasgow housing economics professor and director of the Centre for Public Policy, was commissioned by the Scottish Parliament’s Welfare Reform Committee. The outline how tenants are choosing to respond to it by paying it, by seeking DHP support, by trying to get off benefits and by terminating their tenancies and looking to other housing providers and solutions rather than downsizing.

Read more online

Silver linings. The active third age and the city

Posted on: 22 October 2013
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

Building Futures, the think tank of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), has published a new report exploring some of the economic and social changes that a dominant ageing population will bring in the next 30 years.  The report describes a future where people may choose luxurious, international retirement lifestyles or live with their generations of their families in one grand design. It adds that our beleaguered high streets could take on a new lease of life, with health hubs, child care facilities and universities and. our coastal towns, traditionally favoured by older generations but currently facing big social and economic challenges, could all be transformed by a more active retired population.

Read more online

Is Help-to-Buy inflating a UK property bubble?

Posted on: 21 October 2013
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

This short video looks at the Help-to-Buy policy aimed at first-time buyers and consdeisr whether it is a reasonable way of stimulating bank lending, construction and home-ownership – or is it a dangerous move towards boom and bust in the property market? Gavin Smart of the Chartered Institute of Housing debates the issue with Guardian economics correspondent Phillip Inman.

Find out more online

The changing shape of the East Asian housing model

Posted on: 18 October 2013
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

This paper has two main objectives. The first is to elaborate the East Asian context and modes of housing, exploring evidence of the existence of a particular model characteristic of the region, and distinct from models characteristic of western advanced economies. The second objective is to identify developments that have begun to challenge East Asian housing systems. While home ownership is still by far the largest single housing tenure and an aspiration that remains undiminished, the severity of economic cycles, demographic trends and ‘new social risks’ have begun to test both the viability and sustainability of established housing and policy frameworks. This article thus provides not only a context for understanding housing approaches in the region but also the importance of this domain for considering socioeconomic and political changes in East Asia more generally.

Read more online

Guidance for lettings professionals: Compliance with relevant consumer protection law

Posted on: 17 October 2013
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

The Office of Fair Trading The OFT has launched a consultation on draft guidance which aims to help professionals in the private rented sector, including letting agents and landlords, to comply with the law. The draft guidance sets out the OFT’s views about how the legislation might apply at each step of the lettings process: from when lettings professionals first advertise their services, to the interactions they have with tenants prior to moving into a property, through to when a tenancy agreement comes to an end. Comments are requested by 10 December 2013.

Read more online

Greater flexibilities for change of use

Posted on: 17 October 2013
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

The Government is proposing to change planning legislation to make it easier to convert shops and some other uses into homes. The National Housing Federation has published its  response to these proposed changes and makes suggestions on how this proposal could be more effectively implemented.

Read more online

Draft Strategy for Sustainable Housing and Land Management in the ECE region for the period 2014 – 2020

Posted on: 17 October 2013
By: mackene
No Comments »
Filed under: News

Meeting in Geneva, on Tuesday, 8 October 2013, ministers and heads of agencies for housing, urban development and land administration from 55 countries adopted a regional Strategy for Sustainable Housing and Land Management for 2014 to 2020. Through its 15 objectives and 36 targets, the Strategy addresses the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability in housing and land management. It will serve as a guide tor governments and for the work of the UNECE Committee on Housing and Land Management for the seven years to come. The Strategy recognizes the key role that housing plays in the well-being of the region’s citizens, as well as its important role in climate change mitigation.

Read more online