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JUNE UPDATE   Despite apartments still dominating new builds, semi-detached properties are increasing in popularity, according to the Smart New Homes Index. Semi detached properties saw the biggest price rise over the year. However, apartments still dominate the new-build property type mix at 56%. According to ARLA’s quarterly survey, the capital values of apartments in the rented sector rose by 2.7% over the last three months, compared with houses which rose by 0.3%. There was a slight monthly decline of

Know what you’re ‘letting’ yourself in for. This new guide provides essential advice on apartment living and letting. In January 2006, flats made up 57% of all new housing built in the UK, compared to only 24% of detached houses.  Today, ever more people are living in flats rather than houses. At one time, flat living was relatively rare, but in England and Wales at least, more flats than houses have been built since 2003, and over 100,000 new flats are now being built each year.  Commenting on these figu

SARAH BEENY’S PRICE THE JOB – Your Price Guide to Renovation and Repair Sarah Beeny   Fed up with pricey plumbers, elusive electricians and bodgey builders? Have you got a building, plumbing, electrical job to sort out and aren't sure how much it could, should, would cost if the perfect builder, plumber or electrician could be found to help you sort it out? Property developer, building expert and television presenter Sarah Beeny is here to help with Price the Job – covering a break down of what is involve

JUDGE MICHAEL RICH QC   His father was a solicitor and, at the tender age of seven, HH Michael Rich declared his intention to go to the Bar. He is grateful both to his father and the Middle Temple (of which he is the Autumn Reader this year) that he was able to realise that ambition. His practice from the first was largely concerned with valuation and the use of land, including eventually many major public development Inquiries. He was appointed a Circuit Judge to sit in civil matters only in 1991.

If we think about all areas of our personal life, one thing tends to dominate our grievance time and again: poor service. If you’re out shopping, you expect service; if you go for a meal, you would be outraged if you weren’t looked after; you spend your hard-earned money on a holiday, you would not tolerate a hotel failing to look after you. Why, then, are the standards of management service in this sector generally so low? There is the argument that fees are not high enough to substantiate good service. 

October 2003 saw the introduction of one of the most controversial reforms in Landlord & Tenant legislation: the leaseholders’ Right to Manage. This relatively simple process gives qualifying blocks of flats the right to take over the management of their property and a voice that demands to be listened to. Danny Weil suggests that leaving the RTM procedures to the professionals would boost its take-up.   Common laments heard by leaseholders wanting a better standard of management include general dissati

May 25th Institute of Electrical Engineers Savoy Place London   Damian Greenish, Senior Partner, Pemberton Greenish, the Conference Chairman, opened the conference by saying that three major topics had dominated the leasehold sector over the last 12 months: reviews of the definition of what is a house for the purpose of enfranchisement; valuing head leases and the subject of improvements. He also said that the issue of deferment rates had very much come to the fore, rocking the leasehold markets,

A number of apartments at Linden Homes’ Fusion development in Woking have been equipped with  solar panels inside the roof to use energy from the sun’s rays, resulting in temperatures of 50 – 60 degrees in the roof cavity during direct sunlight. This solution does not compromise the external appearance of the homes, which can be an important issue for residents.

The National Landlords Association (NLA) is providing a special information facility for all landlords to help them understand the new Housing Act now that the regulations arising from that legislation are coming into force. The Act brings in very wide changes to the way the private-rented sector operates in England and Wales. Scotland has its own legislative framework. The Department for Communities & Local Government (DCLG), formerly the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), is providing funding f

Representatives from Persimmon Homes, Swaythling Housing Society and Southampton City Council were present at the unveiling of the Building for Life Gold Standard plaque at Chapel in Southampton recently. Chapel is one of just five developments across the UK to claim the accolade. Backed by CABE, the government and the housing industry, the award is the national standard for design quality in new housing. Persimmon’s flagship development of 174 apartments was credited with transforming a previous ‘no-go a

Sir, Britain has long been victim to the myth that all Tenants were the great oppressed and all Landlords were the terrible oppressors, characterised as Rachmans. After the war, legislation in favour of Tenants became flavour of the month. Traditional landlords disappeared and council estates took their place as the great hope of Socialist society. Citizen voters controlled the councils. So council estates would become havens of best practice.    Decades on, who would choose to live on a council estate? Y

Margaret Murray’s CV is almost like a guide book of desirable addresses in London – Buckingham Gate, Holland Park and River Gardens, Fulham to name a few. The list is topped by the exclusive Colehearn Court in the Old Brompton Road, former home of Princess Diana before she was married. After 12 years in the business working in luxury apartments across the capital Margaret has settled into Lord’s View One in St John’s Wood Road – a 10 story building containing 86 properties. Its close proximity to the wor