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Urban planners in a packed Chinese city have come up with a creative way of solving space issues – by building a light railway track through a hole in a 19-storey block of flats. A special railway station has also been built into the block of houses, set into the sixth to eighth floors of the building in Chongqing in the south east of the country.    The city has a population of 49 million packed into 31,000 square miles.    A city transport spokesman said: “Our city is very heavily built upon and that

Flat owners who believe they were “mis-sold” their properties are preparing to sue builders, including some of the UK’s biggest firms, and solicitors.   Disgruntled house buyers have set up Facebook group called the National Leasehold Campaign when they discovered that they faced huge increases in ground rent.    They allege they were lied to by builders’ sales staff and badly advised by solicitors when they bought their newbuild homes.   Thousands of people have demanded answers from the bosses of builde

Almost one-fifth of landlords could end up breaking the law because they are unaware of energy rules that are being introduced next year.    A report from letting agent Urban.co.uk, warned that 17% of landlords in the UK did not know that it would become illegal to let properties with an EPC rating of F or G in 2018. New legislation will eliminate many properties from the market and could result in many landlords being left with investments that are no longer viable for rental.   The findings were made du

A developer has been ordered to demolish an “eyesore” block of flats because they look nothing like the original plans.   Wandsworth Council planning bosses have ruled that the block of 20 homes in Earlsfield, west London, must come down.  The builder was also accused of leaving tenants in cramped accommodation because he added extra bedrooms after plans were approved.   The original plans included nine one-bedroom and three, two bedroom flats, but the builder crammed eight two-bedroom and four one-bedroo

Homeowners should keep electronic logbooks showing detailed maintenance history and improvements before they can sell their property, new proposals recommend.     If the plans are introduced, they would provide potential buyers and insurance with a full service history of a home, similar to that of a car’s service book.    It would mean anyone looking to buy a home would be able to see at a glance whether maintenance is overdue and if the property has been well looked after.  The proposals, outlined by th

Practitioners will be aware that for a collective freehold claim under the 1993 Act, getting the participation agreement (PA) right is the key to success.  An inadequate PA, or worse, no PA at all, can and does lead to arguments between the participators which can take away much of the benefit of getting the freehold.  This is a non-exhaustive look at the aspects which should be covered in any PA to get the project off on the right foot. Before you even get to the PA, make sure that the participants have

Property and construction consultancy Ingleton Wood has strengthened its position in the private sector with the appointment of a new Director of Building Surveying. Daniel Legg has joined the practice’s London office in a newly created role. He will be responsible for developing new areas of growth - expanding Ingleton Wood’s current offering andspecialising in multi occupancy residential buildings. Daniel, a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, who joins the practice after 10 years at K

Scanlans has expanded its property management division with three new arrivals at the firm’s Manchester office.   Paul Christopher, Mark Elves and Victoria Thomas have been appointed as property managers to help Scanlans meet growing demand for its services. Paul previously worked at Scanlans for more than a decade and has rejoined from Zenith Management (NW).   In his new role, he will spearhead the introduction of a new online client portal and electronic maintenance management system.   Mark was previo

Ground rents in long leases of new-build flats and houses are big business. Developers such as Taylor Wimpey and Bellway Homes have recently been in the limelight over the sale of long leases of new-build flats and houses which contain ground rents that double every 10 years. What seems like an affordable ground rent of £1000 per annum will increase to £2000, £4000, £8000 in a matter of 40 years. The owners of newly developed homes, bought in the last 10 years, claim that they were not told about the grou

Nottingham-based property specialist SDL Group has been named one of the top performing businesses in the UK. Featuring in this year’s Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100, SDL Group’s profits were ranked as the 58th fastest growing across the country. Recording an annual profit growth of 75 per cent over the last three years, SDL Group is one of only four businesses in the East Midlands to be recognised on the list. “Our success is all down to the great team we have at SDL, and it’s fantastic news that we h

Leading property software house, Visionbase is urging managing agents to adopt professional accounting standards to fully protect leaseholder’s property and money. According to Visionbase Software, managing agents have inconsistent administration and service charge collection services.  The leasehold management sector remains unregulated, so essentially anyone can set up as a managing agent and start in business.  As a result, leaseholders and tenants are not guaranteed industrywide, professional standard

Tim joined Whittingham Riddell in 2008 as a qualified senior accountant and initially took responsibility for a mixed commercial and not-for-profit client portfolio. He later helped Partner Alison Randall to set up the firm's successful property management team, which specialises in advising a wide range of property based businesses. Clients include residential and commercial service charge accounts, residential management companies and property based investment companies. The firm’s Partners recognised T