Around a third of private rented sector tenants in the UK say they are currently subletting without the landlord’s consent and four out of 10 tenants plan to do so in the near future, new research has found. The survey from online lettings agents PropertyLetByUs, also shows that the vast majority of tenants, 96%, are subletting the property for short time to help a family member or friend out and 82% claim they are subletting to help pay the rent. Over half of tenants, 52%, say that they planning to sublet their property in the near future, with the landlord’s consent and 78% think they should be able to sublet the property without the landlord’s approval. According to Landlord Action, there is a growing number of instructions from landlords who want to start possession proceedings against tenants who have sublet, via Airbnb, without their consent. Subletting is fast becoming one of the leading grounds for a tenant eviction. According to Jane Morris, managing director of PropertyLetByUs, it is very worrying that so many tenants are subletting without telling their landlords. ‘It is imperative that landlords make regular checks on the property to check for additional occupants. Many tenants will try to hide the fact they are subletting, so the warning signs can be excessive rubbish and accelerated wear and tear,’ she said. ‘When there is multiple occupancy in a property, wear and tear and damage is dramatically accelerated. There can be increased mould and condensation with more occupants. Landlords can also face expensive repairs for damage and redecoration costs, to bring the property up to the standard it was at check-in,’ she pointed out. Morris also pointed out that illegal subletting falls under tenant fraud and renting a property makes landlords vulnerable to fraud. ‘It is vital that landlords and agents carry out thorough pre-letting checks. The purpose of referencing a tenant is threefold; to check the person is who they say they are, that they can afford the rent and that they have honoured past commitments,’ she explained. Last year, the government said it planned to make it easier for tenants to sublet a room by legislating against the use of clauses in private fixed term tenancy agreements that expressly rule out subletting, or otherwise sharing space on a short term basis.  However, it has not yet set a date for a consultation on the plans. PropertyLetByUs recommends that landlords make regular checks on their property, ideally every three to six months and when doing so should look out for additional clothing and shoes, excessive rubbish for the number of registered tenants, additional bedding like sleeping bags and pillows, suitcases and rucksacks and extra toothbrushes ‘Before taking on a new tenant, make sure you carry out a thorough reference to ensure you know who your tenant is,’ added Morris. Source link

6 September 2016 | Jamie Harris BIFM has announced that actor, comedian and presenter Alexander Armstrong is to host this year’s BIFM Awards ceremony. The event, supported by headline sponsor Carillion, is due to take place at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on 10 October. Armstrong is best known as one half of comedy duo Armstrong and Miller, performing in a number of sketch shows, as well as hosting TV quiz show Pointless and panel show Have I Got News For You, being one of the more frequent guest presenters on the latter. He also has a background in music, having studied at Durham School and Trinity College, Cambridge, on music scholarships. The finalists for this year’s BIFM Awards were announced last month. The 14 awards categories are grouped into three themes: people, impact and innovation. This year, the individual awards include Newcomer of the Year, Manager of the Year and Leader of the Year, in addition to the Lifetime Achievement award. The entertainment for the evening is sponsored by Salisbury, and will also include live music after the ceremony. Tickets and tables are available for the evening ceremony. Individual tickets cost £250 + VAT, while standard tables start from £2,400 for 10 people. Both can be purchased here. Source link

Oil prices fluctated cautiously on Monday after Goldman Sachs, one of the most influential banks in commodity markets, warned that a key meeting of producer nations could fail to tighten a heavily oversupplied market. The so-called Doha Meeting in Qatar next week will bring together the majority of the largest Opec and non-Opec members to try to “freeze” output in a bid to hasten the end of a near two-year-old glut. Brent, the international oil marker, gained 8.5 per cent last week to above $40 a barrel partly on expectations that the first concerted effort by producer nations to end the glut would be a success. It has rallied since hitting a 13-year low near $27 a barrel in January. But doubts still remain whether simply holding output steady will be enough, with most countries already having raised output close to capacity and Opec member Iran insisting it will continue to raise production as it returns from sanctions — despite opposition from Saudi Arabia, its regional rival. “A production freeze at recent production levels would not accelerate the rebalancing of the oil market,” said Goldman analyst Jeffrey Currie, adding Russian and Opec output, excluding Iran, was already close to their average forecast level for 2016 of 40.5m barrels a day. “While a lot of discussions and preparations have occurred since the freeze was first proposed in mid-February, there remains high risk that the meeting fails to deliver any concrete agreement, in our view … the biggest hurdle to reaching any meaningful agreement will be the conflicting Saudi and Iranian stances.” Igor Sechin, the head of Russia’s state-backed oil producer Rosneft, is due to speak at the Financial Times Commodities Global Summit on Tuesday and his words will be closely watched for any signs of Russia’s intentions, with the country’s output running at a post-Soviet record. The US crude oil benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, gained 8 per cent last week to near $40 a barrel, but data released on Friday showed hedge funds had lowered their bets on a further increase in prices. There are signs the physical market is strengthening, however, ahead of the meeting, suggesting that low prices may prove more effective at balancing the market than any artificial production restraint. The price discount for barrels for immediate delivery narrowed sharply over the past week, which is generally taken to be a sign of tightening supplies and ample available storage for barrels. Related article Historian Daniel Yergin says group is unable to reverse the current slump in crude prices Global demand is also seen rising strongly for a second consecutive year as lower prices encourage higher consumption, with Chinese vehicle sales rising 8 per cent in March on the same time last year. US oil output has started to decline as shale producers have cut drilling rigs, laid off staff and redeployed capital towards paying off debts accrued during the four-year period when oil averaged closer to $100 a barrel at the start of this decade. David Hufton, at oil brokerage PVM in London, said that the output meeting in Doha had the potential to provide support to prices, but failure to provide a concrete result could once again spook traders. “Perhaps the meeting will create the $40-a-barrel floor price that producers are hoping for and lay the foundations for a move to $50 a barrel in the second half of the year as US production continues to tick downwards,” Mr Hufton said. “On the other hand it could also be a complete flop or unconvincing, leaving more questions unanswered than answered. The signs are not particularly promising but the participants need a deal and are well aware of what is at stake and the consequences of failure.” After losing ground in earlier trading, Brent was up 0.6 per cent at $42.19 a barrel, while WTI rose 0.7 per cent to $40 a barrel. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. All rights reserved. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. Source link

National home sales in Canada increased by 3.1% from March to April and prices were up 13.1% year on year, the biggest gain since May 2010, the latest index shows. The data from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) also shows that actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity was up 10.3% compared to April 2015 while the number of newly listed homes was little changed with a decline of 0.2% from March to April. Sales were up in April compared to the previous month in about 70% of all local markets, led by the National Capital Region and Edmonton. Following small declines the previous month, activity held steady in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and edged lower in Greater Vancouver. ‘National home sales set new monthly records over the past two months, even as activity in Greater Vancouver and the GTA appears to have topped out,’ said CREA president Cliff Iverson. ‘With almost three quarters of all local markets posting sales gains in April, there are plenty of other places where sales are climbing as we head into the busiest time of the year for home buyers,’ he added. CREA chief economist Gregory Klump pointed out that supply shortages and tight housing market conditions have become self-reinforcing in the GTA and the Greater Vancouver Area appears to be heading in that direction too. ‘While significant home price gains may entice some homeowners in these markets to list their home for sale, the issue for many is that the decision to move means they would also be looking to buy while competition for scarce listings is fierce,’ he explained. ‘As a result, many home owners are deciding to stay put and continue accumulating capital gains. That’s keeping listings off the markets at a time when they are already in short supply,’ he added. Actual (not seasonally adjusted) sales activity rose 10.3% year on year ago to shatter all previous records for the month of April. It also marked the second highest level for transactions for any single month and stood 16.5% above the 10 year average for the month of April. Activity was up from year-ago levels in about 70% of all local markets, led by a number of markets in British Columbia as well as the GTA and the number of markets where new supply rose and where it fell was fairly evenly split. New listings were up most in Edmonton and on Vancouver Island but fell in the GTA, London and St. Thomas as well as Newfoundland and Labrador. The national sales to new listings ratio rose to 64.5% in April 2016, the ratio’s tightest reading since October 2009. A sales to new listings ratio between 40% and 60% is generally consistent with balanced housing market conditions, with readings below and above this range indicating buyers’ and sellers’ markets respectively. The ratio was above 60% in about half of all local housing markets in April, virtually all of which are located in British Columbia, the Greater Toronto Area or in Southwestern Ontario.The number of months of inventory is another important measure of the balance between housing supply and demand. It represents the number of months it would take to completely liquidate current inventories at the current rate of sales activity. There were 4.7 months of inventory on a national basis at the end of April 2016, the lowest level in more than six years and a reflection of increasingly tighter housing markets in B.C. and Ontario. The number of months of inventory currently sits at or below two months in a growing number of local markets in British Columbia, the GTA and environs and in Southwestern Ontario. For the third consecutive month, year on year price growth accelerated for all property types tracked by the index. Continuing the trend seen in recent months, two storey single family home prices posted the biggest year on year gain at 12.3%, followed by townhouse/row units at 9.8%, one storey single family homes at 9.4% and apartments at 7.9%. While nine of the 11 markets tracked by the index posted year on year price gains in April, price growth among housing markets continues to vary widely. Greater Vancouver, up 25.3%, and the Fraser Valley, up 25.6%, posted the largest gains, followed by Greater Toronto up 12.6%, Victoria up 12% and Vancouver Island up 8.2%. By contrast, home prices fell by 3.5% and 2.4% in Calgary and Saskatoon respectively, which are smaller declines than those posted by these markets in March. Year on year price growth advanced further into positive territory in Regina with growth of 1.9% and was up 1.1% in Ottawa, by 1.3% in Greater Montreal and up 6.6% in Greater Moncton. The national average price continues to be pulled upward by sales activity in Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto, which are among Canada’s tightest, most active and expensive housing markets. Indeed, if these two housing markets are excluded from calculations, the average is a more modest $369,222 and the year on year gain is reduced to 8.7 %. Even then, the report says this reflects a tug of war between strong average price gains in housing markets around the GTA and in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia versus flat or declining average prices elsewhere in Canada. The average price for Canada net of sales in British Columbia and Ontario in April 2016 was down 1.7% year on year to $301,951. BOOKMARK THIS PAGE (What is this?)      Source link

UK has ‘fourth highest’ investment in renewables Published:  03 June, 2016 The UK has been ranked the country with the fourth highest investment in renewable energy in a new global report, despite a series of significant cuts to green subsidies over the past year. In 2015, the UK’s solar industry saw a 60% tariff decrease in a year that saw new solar, wind and hydropower sources added at the fastest rate the world has yet seen. In total, about 147 gigawatts (GW) of capacity were added in 2015, according to the Renewables Global Status Report. China, the US, Japan, the UK and India added the largest share of green power, despite the fact that prices of fossil fuels have fallen significantly. The costs of renewables have also fallen. The report also revealed 2015 was the first time that emerging economies spent more than developed economies on renewable power and fuels, in a year that also saw a new peak for global spend on renewables. John Thompson, chief executive at the Association of Plumbing & Heating Contractors (APHC) said: “We welcome the news of these statistics, however, it must be stressed that the UK’s high position on the renewables table has been achieved in spite of ever-increasing cuts to renewables subsidies. We would urge government to ensure these are not taken any further to avoid causing further adverse impact on the UK renewables job market, and a significant dent in our positioning in dealing with the renewables agenda on the world stage.”   Source link

3 October 2016 | Herpreet Kaur Grewal The demand for regional offices has returned to pre-recession levels over the past three years as strong economic growth has driven increased letting activity, according to a report by Bilfinger GVA.   While the traditional sectors of financial and professional services still provide the largest share of demand the strongest growth can be found in the technology, media and telecommunications sectors, says the report, which analyses office take-up trends across the UK’s main regional office markets.   A key trend in the demand for offices is continued changing working methods and technology, it adds.   While flexible working means desk space is being occupied more densely, collaborative working and informal meeting spaces means that this is not necessarily leading to a reduction in the overall requirement for office space, the research reveals.    Ian Stringer, a senior director at Bilfinger GVA, said: “The total regional office demand from tech companies in the past five years has increased from 8 per cent in 2009 to 20 per cent in 2015. In quantum terms an increase of 240 per cent”.   Offices: Who needs them? Source link