News on the Block caught up with the director of Countrywide Property Management, and discovered a company culture that believes in providing a quality service to its residents and also ensuring its own staff are motivated and encouraged in thier roles. Listen to the podcast here.

February 26th 2008, London - ruralZED™, a consortium of architects and specialist manufacturers at the cutting edge of the eco house-building industry, today launched the UK’s first affordable, carbon neutral house at the annual EcoBuild exhibition...

425,000 council tenants have exercised their right to buy their council home over the last nine years, spending a collective £15.7billion, according to research by Connells Survey & Valuation. They have benefited from discounts totalling £10.3billion. In the last year, 16,896 became home owners spending £1.15billion...

Rental yields generated by residential property investors have continued an upward trend, reaching their highest level for almost two years, Paragon Mortgages’ February Buy-to-Let Index has revealed...

The National Landlords Association (NLA) has revealed it received a record number of calls from landlords seeking advice during 2007. The NLA Advice Line received over 31,000 individual enquiries during 2007...

Hurford Salvi Carr’s expert lettings division is pleased to offer a stunning New York loft style apartment - the first-ever commercial warehouse to be converted into residential apartments in the UK...

Average mortgage costs to income for first-time-buyers are now higher than they were in the 1990s at the peak of the last housing boom, while increasing numbers of households are moving into private rented housing, according to the newly published UK Housing Review...

John Peartree gives his first address as the FPRA's chief executive officer at this year's AGM, and explains the role of the  organisation and also looks ahead to the future...

With the property market more competitive than ever, research conducted by Home Stagers, has revealed that spending just £100 on improving the presentation of your property can be more effective than reducing the asking price by £1,000...

The UK’s renters are gambling nearly £8billion of personal possessions by not protecting themselves against bad weather or crime, according to Zurich Insurance...

Watch out for the unexpected when you move into a rented flat: according to a new survey by The Deposit Protection Service (The DPS), furniture, cats and even sex toys are among the most common items left behind by departing tenants...

Rising fears of a full blown UK recession are forcing home owners to sell their properties at below market prices.
They are taking these desperate measures because debt problems mean they can’t afford to wait for a turnaround in the property market...

Each of us has a responsibility to protect the environment. But those who live in flats may feel their choices are limited. Certainly, it is more difficult to have a water butt and solar panels if you live in a block of flats, but it is not impossible and there are many other things you can do, says Susan Kerry Bedell...

Government’s zero-carbon challenge has seen pressure on housing developers to design and implement eco-friendly homes, reports Lee Middleburgh, MD of Peverel OM...

What residents living in blocks of flats are doing (and should do) to improve the environmental impact of their building and surroundings. Elliot Carter of PDM Consultants reports...

NOTB speaks with Tony Pidgley, MD of The Berkeley Group. (See the full interview in News on the Block magazine with this supplement)...

With completed housing estimated to account for 30 per cent of the UK’s total energy use and 27 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions, policies designed to tackle climate change are increasingly having an effect on how housing is built and managed, writes Chris Baker, partner at Davis Arnold Cooper...

County Estate Management (CEM) was the prize-winner in the International Green Apple Awards 2007 for Environmental Best practice. CEM was given the National Gold Award in recognition of its Green Vision: Making Homes and People Greener project...

When we think of ways in which we can minimise our carbon footprint and change our behaviour, what comes into your mind? Is it cutting down on flights, recycling, using public transport more and our cars less? Sarah Webb of the Chartered Institute of Housing attemtps to answer these questions.