London Assembly Housing and Regenerating Committee Consultation on Private Rented Sector

As London Councils and the London Assembly run another consultation on the private rented sector, LettingFocus’s owner starts to feel like Bill Murray in the film “Groundhog Day” Many readers will be familiar with the film “Groundhog Day” in which a bored TV weatherman played by Bill Murray is forced to relive a freezing winter’s day in a nowheresville northern […]

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Wrong Housing, Wrong Investment and Bad Mortgage Lending

Thamesmead encapsulates a lot of what has gone wrong with housing over the years – from poor local planning, to bad mortgage lending to yet worse property investment decisions by amateur investors says David Lawrenson of www.LettingFocus.com A few weeks’ ago I had cause to visit Thamesmead where my boy was playing in a kids’ football match. I mention the […]

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Council Schemes for Landlords and the Private Rented Sector are not making an Impact

Councils’ failure to engage with private landlords means families could be needlessly placed in emergency temporary accommodation or out of their local borough. Back in July, the Guardian newspaper published a piece of research I had just completed which showed how councils and housing associations are failing to engage private landlords with their various schemes. I thought it worthwhile to […]

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Westfield Stratford CrossRail and Hot Locations

I was recently quoted by “The Independent” newspaper in connection with whether Stratford was a potentially good place to buy and let. The article is entitled “East London First Out of the Blocks” if you want to look it up online. In the piece I said that the key drivers of any area – the things that make a place […]

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Tax Haven Treasure Islands and London Property

Here are three typical headlines: “Turmoil and strife continue to envelope the Arab World.” “Greece and Portugal struggle and the Euro could implode – Now Merkel tells Greeks to tighten up tax revenue collection as Germans tire of sleepy Euro partners.” “Up market estate agents in London see strong demand from Middle Eastern and Greek buyers. We are seeing record […]

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