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Househunters scour auctions for bargains
The number of homes sold at auction has risen by almost two thirds in the past month as buyers seek cheap deals. Rebecca O?Connor, TimesOnline.co.uk - 2 July 2009 The number of homes sold at auction has risen by almost two thirds in the past month as buyers have packed salerooms in the hope of bargains. In a further sign that homebuyers believe the housing market may be at or close to the bottom, Countrywide Property Auctions said that 79 per cent of all homes going under the hammer in the first two weeks of June had been sold, compared with 49 per cent in the same period last year. However, those hoping to profit from a flood of cheap repossessed properties on the market may be disappointed: the number of repossessions for sale at auction has fallen by 43 per cent in the past year. Separate figures from the Essential Information Group (EIG), the auction website, showed a decline in the number of repossessed lots to 954 in the second quarter of this year, down from 1,674 in the same period of 2008. Full Article addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.landlordzone.co.uk%2Fblog%2Fnews%2Fhousehunters-scour-auctions-for-bargains'; addthis_title = 'Househunters+scour+auctions+for+bargains'; addthis_pub = 'LandlordZONE';

Sale and Rent Back Regulated
After campaigning by Shelter to highlight the problems of the industry, regulation of the ?sale and rent back? sector by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) began yesterday on 1 July 2009. Shelter.co.uk - 2 July 2009 ?Sale and rent back? or ?mortgage rescue? companies offer struggling homeowners the chance to stay in their homes when they can no longer afford their mortgage. The property is bought and rented back to them by the company. But as the sector hasn?t been scrutinised, some companies have taken advantage of people?s desperate circumstances by buying properties at much less than their market value, putting up rents to unreasonable levels or even evicting tenants from their own home for no reason. An interim regime, introduced by the FSA yesterday, addresses the most immediate problems for consumers, followed by a more comprehensive regime which will start on 30 June 2010. Under the interim regime, companies will need to prove that they have adequate resources and are run by ?fit and proper? people. Companies will also have to abide by the FSA?s business rules. Sam Younger, chief executive of Shelter said: ?Shelter campaigned actively to highlight the problems of the industry, so we strongly welcome FSA regulation, which is long overdue. ?With 65,000 homes predicted to be repossessed this year, more and more struggling homeowners will be tempted by sale and rentback schemes in the hope they can offer a lifeline. However many schemes are exploitative, leaving people financially worse off and vulnerable to homelessness. ?It is vital that the FSA enforces the regulations fully and gets the whole industry signed up for regulation within a month. We will work diligently with the FSA to expose any company that fails to sign up by 31st July and ensure they are held to account and consumers are aware of their practices.? Article addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.landlordzone.co.uk%2Fblog%2Fnews%2Fsale-and-rent-back-regulated'; addthis_title = 'Sale+and+Rent+Back+Regulated'; addthis_pub = 'LandlordZONE';

Property market: renting is all the rage
Familes are letting out their London home to live in the country, while young executives abandon buying altogether in favour of a more flexible lifestyle. Caroline McGhie, Telegraph.co.uk - 2 July 2009 Renting is the new elastic in the market, as families such as the Godwin-Browns are finding. Paul and Fiona Godwin-Brown and their two boys Tom and Charlie are living wild and free. They have given up pressured London life and moved into a rolling Devon valley, a mile from the sea. They let their house in London and are renting in Devon for the foreseeable future. “It has been the jammiest thing. The children think they have died and gone to heaven,” says Fiona. Theirs may be the way forward for many. Renting is the new elastic in the market. It is no longer the preserve of the can’t-haves and students, but is being favoured by families, job movers and young executives. When house sales are hard to achieve and prices static, renting is perceived as the most effective way to get a new life and hit the start of school term for the children in a new area. “It is interesting being away from London and feeling that house prices are a bit irrelevant.” How did it happen? Paul and Fiona put their London house, between Clapham and Wandsworth commons, on the market at the beginning of 2008 at around £1 million and were quickly becalmed by the recession. By May they decided to move anyway, let the house and get the boys into good local schools in or near Torquay. Fiona gave up her high-powered job as a business planner, and Paul began applying for jobs as a primary school teacher. It all happened very quickly. Good tenants were found for the London house and Paul and Fiona fell in love with the little village of Stokeinteignhead. The house isn’t one of the many pretty thatched cottages but it has four bedrooms, an acre and a half of garden, a zip wire, tree-house, climbing frame and hen house. “It has exactly what we need,” says Fiona. “We realise that, surrounded by this wonderful countryside, people don’t need trophy houses in the same way. It is like having a property ownership hangover which you have to get over.” They will probably sell the London house when the market recovers, then think again about buying. For now, however, renting is more than good. Fiona is thrilled by the charms of village life. “Stokeinteignhead is in the most gorgeous valley and we can walk to the sea,” she says. Tom, 12, is at Torquay Grammar four miles away and Charlie, nine, is at a much prized village school a walk away. They have been there nearly a year and hope to stay another year or two. The four hens ? Talulah, Dilly, Scramble and Rocky ? produce four fresh eggs each morning which Fiona transforms into breakfasts, soufflés, meringues and cakes. For them, renting doesn’t mean living in a state of impermanence at all. Full Article addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.landlordzone.co.uk%2Fblog%2Fnews%2Fproperty-market-renting-is-all-the-rage'; addthis_title = 'Property+market%3A+renting+is+all+the+rage'; addthis_pub = 'LandlordZONE';

Affordable housing is doublespeak for ?overpriced?
The government cut its affordable housing targets earlier this week as the slump in construction made previous targets too ambitious. Deborah Hyde, CityWire.co.uk - 02 July 2009 The government said an additional £1.5 billion would be spent over the next two years to deliver 20,000 new homes, part of the total of 110,000 affordable homes now being promised over the next two years. Gordon Brown being Gordon Brown didn’t say that this was lower than the previous target to build 70,000 affordable homes per year by 2010. ‘You couldn’t make it up. We all knew that Building Britain’s Future contained a string of re-announced targets, but this is something else ? to announce a lower target after you have failed and pretend its progress. It’s surreal. This is a real slap in the face to the 3 million people in desperate housing need on our council house waiting lists,’ said Lord Oakeshott, the Liberal Democrats’ Treasury spokesman. But that is only half of the problem. Anyone looking at house price to income ratios knows house prices are still not ‘affordable’. Where once it was supposed to be optimal to spend no more than a fifth of your salary on your rent or mortgage, people buying a house this week are still stretching their budgets to snapping point to buy a pitiful, badly thrown up, badly laid out walk-in wardrobe on the wrong side of town. More importantly for the millions of people across Britain living in substandard housing, affordable housing targets are no answer. Construction groups have been winning licenses to build on the basis that they offer so-called affordable housing that few can actually afford and is often been bought by professional landlords. Full Article addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.landlordzone.co.uk%2Fblog%2Fnews%2Faffordable-housing-is-doublespeak-for-overpriced'; addthis_title = 'Affordable+housing+is+doublespeak+for+%26%238216%3Boverpriced%26%238217%3B'; addthis_pub = 'LandlordZONE';

OFT v Foxtons - clarification
Update - Pain Smith Blog 21 May 2009 It is not normally the practice of this blog to comment on matters that are still before the Courts but we are becoming frustrated by the large amount of incorrect information about this matter that is floating around. Currently the OFT has suggested that certain aspects of Foxtons terms of business may be unfair. They have particularly focused on the practice of seeking a fee on the sale of a property by a landlord to a tenant where the tenant was introduced by Foxtons and on the practice of seeking a fee where a tenancy which was carried out on a let only basis is renewed for a further period without any involvement by Foxtons. The OFT has not said that all agents fees or even all renewal fees are unfair. They are particularly focused on those issues where the agent has not done any work to secure the renewal. They have also suggested that charging the same fee on a renenwal as on an initial rental may also be unfair as the amount of work done in the two situations is different. At the current time (21 May 2009) none of these fees are unfair and they will not be so until the High Court rules on the point (probably mid to late June 2009). Even then there is a high chance of appeals to the Court of Appeal and possibly further. In terms of outcomes there is a large range of possibilities. The Court could decide that the specific clauses used by Foxtons are unfair or that any similar clause used by Foxtons is unfair or that clauses of this type are generically unfair and can also choose whether to impose this view only going forwards or retroactively. Finally it should be noted that the OFT case is based on a general challenge and is therefore focused on the idea of a ?typical consumer?. This leaves open the option in any other case for an agent to show that their landlord was not a ?typical consumer? and that they should not be protected by the decision. In any event there is still a long way to go. http://painsmith.wordpress.com/ addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.landlordzone.co.uk%2Fblog%2Fnews%2Foft-v-foxtons-clarification'; addthis_title = 'OFT+v+Foxtons+-+clarification'; addthis_pub = 'LandlordZONE';

Patience is a virtue in the housing market
“Prediction is very difficult, especially if it?s about the future,? Niels Bohr, the Nobel-winning physicist, once pointed out. Britain?s economists and potential homebuyers alike were left with a sense of frustration on Tuesday as the housing market continued to behave with complete disregard for what forecasters have been predicting for this year. In short, house prices have risen again. David Wighton: Business Editor?s Commentary, TimesOnline - 1 July 2009 According to the Nationwide Building Society, the average unadjusted UK house price rose by £2,400 to £156,400 in June. It has now risen each month for four months and has soared by almost £9,000 from the low point in February. Even after seasonal adjustment ? which strips out the normal boost given to prices by frolicsome spring buyers ? prices are up by an underlying 2.9 per cent since February. These are significant rises over several months and are roughly echoed by similar figures from the Halifax. Some parts of the UK are showing price rises normally associated with boom times. Quarter-on-quarter prices in Wales are up by 7.7 per cent; East Anglia is up 5.2 per cent, while in Greater London prices have bounced 4.8 per cent higher. Full Article addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.landlordzone.co.uk%2Fblog%2Fnews%2Fpatience-is-a-virtue-in-the-housing-market'; addthis_title = 'Patience+is+a+virtue+in+the+housing+market'; addthis_pub = 'LandlordZONE';