According to new data, almost a quarter of a million homeowners have advertised for lodgers since the Rent a Room scheme threshold was raised in the Summer Budget. Under the new rules, from 6th April homeowners can earn £7,500 a year tax free by letting rooms. Since the announcement of the increase to the Rent a Room Scheme tax threshold to £7,500 per year almost quarter of a million (233,697) homeowners have advertised for lodgers. This is an increase of more than 5.2% on the same period a year earlier. The data also reveals that August – the month following the Chancellor’s Summer Budget announcement – was the busiest since records began in 2007, with 31,109 people placing ads for lodgers.   The table below shows average monthly and annual lodger rents in Q4 2015, for the UK’s 50 biggest cities. London is the only major city where annual lodger rents are still higher than the new threshold, which kicks in on 6th April 2016: UK’s 50 biggest towns/cities by population Monthly lodger rent (£) including bills Q4 2015 Annual lodger rent (£) including bills Q4 2015 Oxford £568 £6,816 Aberdeen £509 £6,108 Edinburgh £496 £5,952 Reading £488 £5,856 Poole £469 £5,628 Milton Keynes £468 £5,616 Bristol £456 £5,472 Bournemouth £450 £5,400 Cardiff £437 £5,244 Southampton £436 £5,232 Southend-on-Sea £435 £5,220 Glasgow £432 £5,184 York £426 £5,112 Luton £418 £5,016 Ipswich £417 £5,004 Portsmouth £414 £4,968 Manchester £409 £4,908 Swindon £409 £4,908 Birmingham £407 £4,884 Newcastle £406 £4,872 Northampton £406 £4,872 Leeds £405 £4,860 Dundee £404 £4,848 Coventry £399 £4,788 Peterborough £394 £4,728 Plymouth £391 £4,692 Norwich £389 £4,668 Stockport £387 £4,644 Middlesbrough £381 £4,572 Walsall £378 £4,536 Telford £377 £4,524 Swansea £375 £4,500 Liverpool £374 £4,488 Sheffield £374 £4,488 Nottingham £370 £4,440 Sunderland £369 £4,428 Derby £368 £4,416 Leicester £367 £4,404 Dudley £364 £4,368 Preston £362 £4,344 Stoke-on-Trent £357 £4,284 Blackpool £352 £4,224 Bolton £350 £4,200 Bradford £348 £4,176 Hull £346 £4,152 Wolverhampton £345 £4,140 Huddersfield £344 £4,128 West Bromwich £335 £4,020 Belfast £322 £3,864 London £708 £8,496 UK (excluding London) £424 £5,088 Matt Hutchinson, director of SpareRoom.co.uk, comments:  “Across the UK, room rents are rising by 5.5% a year. The abolition of tax relief on mortgage interest could force rents up even further as landlords look to cover costs, so this change to the Rent a Room scheme can’t come soon enough. The UK is in the grip of a housing crisis nobody can see an end to. We’re not building anywhere near enough new homes so we have to make sure we’re using the ones we already have as effectively as possible. Incentivising even a small percentage of homeowners sitting on the 19 million empty bedrooms in owner-occupied properties to let them out would do just that. That’s why we campaigned for this change for six years and are delighted to finally see it come into effect.” Matt’s top three tips for renting out your room: It’s not just a financial transaction; it’s also about compatibility and lifestyle. Would you prefer a lodger you rarely see, or one you can eat dinner and watch a box set with? Everyone has different expectations, so think about who you’re looking

The building services engineering sector – which makes up 40 per cent of the UK’s construction and maintenance industry – believes it will successfully weather the outcome of Brexit over the next few years. That’s according to major new survey findings from the Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA), the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) and Scotland’s trade association for the electrical industry SELECT. Almost half of survey respondents (46 per cent) believe Brexit will have a positive impact on their company in just five years’ time, with less than one in five (19 per cent) saying it will have a negative impact. (23 per cent said it would have no discernible impact). However, the largest contractors in the survey (with over £20 million turnover) are slightly less optimistic about the short term business prospects than smaller contractors. The sector puts maintaining access to the EU ‘Single Market’ at the top of its list of Brexit aspirations, closely followed by more control of employment law and the need to negotiate non-EU trade deals. Despite the general positivity about Brexit, 47 per cent of respondents say they believe the cost of materials will rise as a result, while only 22 per cent do not think Brexit will cause this to happen. Reflecting a general tendency to use skilled UK rather than EU workers, the vast majority (92 per cent) of respondents say they ‘do not rely on EU migrant workers’, and only 25 per cent agree that Brexit would ‘worsen the shortage of qualified workers’. In addition, just 1 in 6 respondents (17 per cent) said that maintaining freedom of movement was their top priority. Some 71 per cent of the largest contractors (over £20 million turnover) report they did not rely on EU workers, indicating more reliance than the average for the sector. ECA CEO Steve Bratt commented: “No matter how our relationship with Europe develops, our sector has a huge role to play in achieving UK business growth. This includes providing skilled jobs, fully functional buildings and infrastructure, and UK energy security. “To help us achieve these aims, it’s vital that we know the initial views of our sector as we head towards Brexit.  Significantly, contractors are telling us that they want the UK to maintain access to the Single Market, while they are less concerned about ensuring freedom of movement.” BESA chief executive Paul McLaughlin added: “Our survey clearly shows that many contractors are conditionally optimistic in the wake of the Brexit vote. In fact, putting these findings alongside the brighter than expected data for the UK economy as a whole gives us a much more upbeat feel than could reasonably have been predicted back in June. “The survey provides extremely valuable feedback about what matters most to contractors as the UK sets about negotiating a new relationship with Europe. As a result, we will draw up an action plan for the building engineering services sector to focus our lobbying efforts in the coming months.” SELECT Managing Director Newell McGuiness stated: “The results of the UK wide survey provide a valuable insight into the hopes and needs of contractors and will be very useful as we seek to influence government policy going forward.” The building services engineering sector, which spans construction and maintenance across the UK built environment and national infrastructure, comprises many multi-million pound contracting companies, and many more small contractors. Building engineering services contractors install and maintain a range of equipment such as electrical, heating and ventilating, fire and security, data communications and wireless, building energy management and renewables (e.g. solar PV). The UK construction industry alone comprises some 7 per cent of UK GDP. Source link

Voluntary adoption of new carbon monoxide safety standard recommended for social landlords Published:  08 September, 2016 Scotland’s social landlords have a good record in preventing fire, gas and carbon monoxide (CO) fatalities and injuries – but could potentially do more to protect residents. This is one of the key conclusions of a new practical health and safety guide published jointly by HouseMark Scotland and River Clyde Homes. Entitled “Fire, Gas and Carbon Monoxide Safety Regulations: What Scottish social landlords need to know”, the new report brings together guidance on all relevant regulations in one comprehensive document. It reports that there were 29 deaths and around 1,100 injuries recorded as a result of fires in dwellings during 2013/14 compared to 76 deaths and more than 1,500 injuries recorded in 2004/5. Data on CO poisoning is less comprehensive but Health Protection Scotland recorded 54 such incidents between 2002 and 2015. The report acknowledges that awareness and management of risk related to fire, gas and CO poisoning has improved significantly in recent decades, particularly in the social housing sector. But it goes on to say that, although reported incidents, injuries and fatalities have fallen consistently over the past 30 years, the numbers are still too high. The report highlights considerable variations in the way fire, gas and CO risks are managed across the industry and calls for a more consistent approach. In particular, the guide points out that there is no comprehensive requirement on housing association and local authority landlords to install CO alarms in their properties despite this now being a requirement for private sector landlords. It recommends that social landlords should adopt these new CO safety standards on a voluntary basis to avoid them having to be enforced via new regulations. The report also includes practical case studies from River Clyde Homes on health and safety compliance, from North Lanarkshire Council on gas maintenance access and from Southside Housing Association on fire management. Wheatley Group has also contributed a case study, which outlines the process it has put in place to ensure 100% of its dwellings have a valid gas safety certificate. Gary Wilson, director of property and business development at River Clyde Homes, said: “Health and safety is an absolute priority for social landlords. As demonstrated by the various case studies included within this report, the sector has a good record in avoiding fire, gas and CO fatalities and injuries. But there is always more that could be done to make additional improvements and to mitigate risks still further. “Social landlords can show leadership within their communities by effectively communicating to residents the dangers posed by fire, gas and carbon monoxide and how best to manage and mitigate these risks.” Source link

Alex McKinlay has joined the Savills UK Public Sector team as head of Public Sector Land, working with the existing public sector and development teams across the Savills business. Alex has worked in the sector for 20 years, most recently as a director at Deloitte Real Estate. His experience includes advising the MoD on high profile sales across the UK, including the record breaking Chelsea Barracks, and leading the procurement of development partners for first two phases of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for the London Legacy Development Corporation. Of his appointment, Alex says:  “With the spotlight on housing delivery in London and across the country there is an increased focus on public sector land.  I look forward to working alongside the existing Savills teams to grow the public sector development business.” Alex Dawson, head of Public Sector Consultancy says;  “Alex has extensive knowledge of public sector sales, having acted for land owners including the MoD, NHS, local authorities and education bodies.  Alex brings skills in land agency and procurement and will boost the offering for our public sector clients”. Richard Rees, head of Savills UK Development says:  “We are delighted to welcome Alex to Savills.  His knowledge and experience will complement the existing team and we look forward to working with him”. Source link

Scottish energy independence is crucial to ensuring the future of the renewables industry north of the border, according to the SNP. Speaking today at the SNP party conference in Glasgow, the party’s business, energy and industrial strategy Westminster spokesperson Callum McCaig said a separate energy system would help Scotland “realise its potential”. He told delegates that the UK government “took a hatchet to Scotland’s renewable energy” by introducing cuts to onshore wind, solar and biomass subsidies. McCaig also said the UK government was “unable or unwilling” to change the transmission charging regime, which he said was responsible for the closure of the coal-fired Longannet power station. “If we have our own energy system we can build a system that not only works for people but also for the climate, with wind solar offshore wind biomass and hydro along with storage and some back up gas. “What is something we must strive to achieve. Westminster will not do it for us, we must do it for ourselves.” Source link

“Cinema is truth 24 times a second, and every cut is a lie,” wrote the director Jean-Luc Godard. Hollywood’s record with movies “based on real events” makes clear what he meant, and Deepwater Horizon, the new film telling the story of BP’s disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, is no exception. The film does a terrific job of recreating the look and feel of the offshore oil industry, and of showing the challenges of working in isolated and hostile conditions. Yet it also fumbles some key details. It tells only a partial version of the story, setting up a simplistic opposition between the heroes of Transocean, which owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon rig, and the villains of BP. In reality, employees of both companies were at fault. Mistakes were made by some of the 11 men who were killed when BP’s Macondo well blew out and caused the rig to explode in flames. Hollywood is always uncomfortable with shades of grey, and they are sprayed over with primary colours here. The screenplay sticks pretty closely to its source, a New York Times article on the rig’s final hours. Some of the events that seem most like dramatic inventions, such as a courageous dash across the burning rig to try to start a generator, are documented facts. But each time the film deviates from the record, it is to show Transocean in a better light and BP in a worse one. Mark Wahlberg, who stars and co-produced, plays Mike Williams, an electronics technician with Transocean who is given a fictitious act of heroism, saving the life of his colleague Andrea Fleytas. Jimmy Harrell, one of Transocean’s two senior employees on the rig, played by Kurt Russell, is similarly a sympathetic figure, depicted as well-liked by his crew. That is authentic, but the script glosses over official criticism of the rig’s command structure. As the fire rages, peppered with fragments of glass, we see Mr Harrell fighting his way up to the rig’s bridge to activate the emergency disconnect system and shut off the well. What is barely shown is the “command confusion at a critical point in the emergency”, possibly delaying the disconnection, which was highlighted by the US Coast Guard’s report on the accident. Related article Mark Wahlberg and John Malkovich star in this story of good guys and bad Other criticisms of Transocean levelled by the Coast Guard are also skated over or ignored. BP, meanwhile, is represented principally by the reliably sinister John Malkovich as Donald Vidrine, one of the “well site leaders” supervising the drilling. A key scene depicting the “negative pressure test” — a way of telling whether the well had been properly sealed with cement — is characteristic of the film’s determination to believe the worst of BP. Mr Vidrine is shown citing a spurious phenomenon called the “bladder effect” to explain why the test is good, even though some of the pressure readings are worrying. That scene is an invention: none of the inquiries into the disaster was able to identify who had put forward the idea. One BP employee said it came from a Transocean supervisor who was killed in the subsequent explosion. John Malkovich plays Donald Vidrine of BP in the movie To find out what really happened, as best we know it, you have to read the reports from the Presidential Commission or the US Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation, or the findings of fact from Judge Carl Barbier in the main court case over the disaster. What audiences can take away from the film, though, is a vivid sense of the extraordinary engineering feat that is deepwater drilling, and renewed respect for the men and women who contend with its difficulties and dangers every day. In that respect, at least, Deepwater Horizon has to be judged a success. Sample the FT’s top stories for a week You select the topic, we deliver the news. Source link