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New figures reported by the Home Builders Federation (HBF) have revealed that, on average, new build properties will cost £1,500.43 to run a year, which is just 42% of the cost of a typical existing dwelling. In a comparison between new build houses and existing homes, the average savings to be made are £2,630.80 per year. This brings positive news to those who are concerned about energy efficiency which, according to research by property maintenance solution provider Help me Fix, covers 78% of UK homeown

Leading managing agent Rendall & Rittner is pleased to have retained the British Safety Council’s highest accreditation, the Five Star award, for the fourth consecutive year, as well as its ISO 45001 accreditation. The British Safety Council audit is the most comprehensive and detailed occupational health and safety standard available, assessing a company’s performance against 56 key safety management indicators, with only those scoring 92% or above securing the coveted five-star rating. Assessed simultan

Advisers at accountancy firm Whitley Stimpson are urging thousands of people struggling with tax queries to seek professional advice. Many are facing lengthy delays on the telephone to HMRC which has now launched a trial text system to answer basic questions as it struggles to cope with demand with the self-assessment deadline looming. Whitley Stimpson Director Owen Kiffin said: “This is an extremely stressful time of year for many as they struggle to sort out their annual return in time for the January 3

Award-winning housebuilder Burrington Estates has acquired a site on the edge of Stratton in Cornwall, on the North Cornwall coast, with planning permission for 30 new homes. This follows Burrington Estates’ other current development in the local area, Maer View in Bude where it is building a collection of 21 4-bedroom properties, 9 of which are affordable homes. Located off Howells Road in Stratton, the new site extends to 3.7 acres and already has outline planning permission in place. Burrington Estates

Fortem Property was founded two years ago by merging two already successful real estate businesses – DCBM and Fortem Property Management. Both companies provided different things to the market, so today, they unite as one strong, multi-disciplinary service.  Charlie Blurton has just been appointed as Head of Lettings and Portfolio Management at Fortem Property, which the core focus will be on covering all the Surrey region with lettings and property management.   Most of Charlie’s career has been spent wo

Award winning housebuilder The Hill Group, has donated six innovative modular homes to Emmaus Cambridge, a charity offering homes, employment and personal support to a community of formerly homeless people. The homes will provide safe, secure temporary accommodation for the area’s most vulnerable people to assist the charity’s work, and were donated as a part of Hill’s Foundation 200 initiative, a £15million pledge to design and donate 200 modular homes to charities working in homelessness by 2025. The ch

Despite reports of a sluggish start to the New Year Housing Market, instant online valuation specialists, The ValPal Network (TVPN) generated 4,000 leads a day in January – almost a 50% increase on 2022. There has been a mixed bag of predictions for the property market since the turn of the year, many of them indicating a price adjustment following the post-pandemic boom and, as reported by HMRC this week, a slight drop in transactions in December. But new data just released by TVPN shows that a record nu

The Drakelow power station in Burton-upon-Trent is to be transformed into a brand-new development, Dracan Village, which will ultimately comprise over 1500 mixed tenure new homes. In phase one 1036 new homes are being built by Countryside Partnerships with 195 available to rent from professional landlord Simple Life. The development is the latest in a 15-year partnership between Simple Life and Countryside and is the first site within the region, as Simple Life furthers a strong commitment to deliver high

Common Ground Estate and Property Management is pleased to announce that Managing Director, Alan Draper has been awarded Fellowship of the Institute of Residential Property Management (FRIPM) status. The Institute of Residential Property Management (IRPM) is the recognised professional body for the residential property management sector.  It provides nationally accredited qualifications, guidance on career pathways and resources, to assist property managers within their roles. Fellow (FIRPM) status is awa

A stunning development of 150 apartments at the famous Joseph Lucas building in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter is to be looked after by residential property management company MetroPM. MetroPM has been appointed to manage the units at New Hampton Lofts, part of the converted former car parts factory on Great Hampton Street. The Grade II-listed building forms three and a half sides of a quadrangle around a central piazza that is within walking distance to St Pauls Square and Birmingham city centre. Faraz A

If you’re managing a block with developer-installed EV chargepoints, you may be congratulating yourself for having side-stepped the well-documented problems around installing chargers in residential blocks. In fact, you may not have got off as lightly as you thought says Jamie Willsdon.  The market for electric vehicles has really taken off in the last few years, bolstered by government grants and the drive towards net zero. And it is likely to be given even more of a boost by recent hikes in petrol and d

London has continued to dominate the list of the most attractive cities for buy-to-let landlords for the second year running, with property markets attracting more than any other part of the UK.  Policy data and insight from almost 100,000 policies from leading landlord insurance provider Simply Business shows that landlords still view the capital as the biggest opportunity for buy-to-let properties in 2022, with over 39,000 buy-to-let insurance policies taken out in the capital. Birmingham and Manchester