Rogue landlord billed £10,000

A London landlord who let a shed for £750 a month, has been ordered to pay £10,000 to Hillingdon Council, which was forced to demolish it after the landlord refused to evict its tenants and destroy it himself in the three month period he had been given. "This enforcement work is part of an ongoing project to clamp down on beds in sheds. The council has a special taskforce of officers dedicated to investigating and taking action against rogue landlords,” said a council spokesperson.

£3.4m for first home

A child born today will pay £3.4m for their first home, according to research by eMoov.co.uk. The online estate agent studied historic house price data since 1954 and found an average annual increase of 8.6%. At the current rate of growth, the house price in 2048 - when a child born now will reach the typical age for a first-time buyer - could hit £3.4m. Even children now aged ten face paying more than £1.6m for a property, requiring a deposit topping £320,000. A youngster now four will most likely need £2.65m for a home. By 2032 the average 20% deposit needed will top £200,000. Of those polled, 67% said they expect to financially help their children get on the property ladder. Russell Quirk, founder of eMoov, said: “Our research shows the staggering truth about prices. If the trend continues, the Bank of Mum and Dad will be even more important."

MPC split on interest rates

Two members of the Bank of England’s MPC voted to raise interest rates in August, the first time in three years that policymakers have done so. The minutes of the most recent meeting show that Ian McCafferty and Martin Weale voted for a 0.25% rise to 0.75%. On the back of the news the pound jumped in expectation that rates may rise sooner than expected. Sterling rose by 0.2% against the US dollar to $1.66. The minutes showed that despite low wage growth both Mr Weale and Mr McCafferty felt that rapidly falling unemployment made it more likely that salaries would pick up in the coming months. The prospect of a rate rise prompted Persimmon and Barratt Developments to lose some of the ground they gained earlier this week, as they fell 27p to 1323p and 9p to 359.6p respectively. The Daily Mail carries a guide explaining the possible effects of a rate rise on readers’ mortgages.

Solar farms could open backdoor to greenbelt

The Campaign to Protect Rural England has expressed concerns that plans for almost 200 solar farms are under consideration for greenbelt land, and that their acceptance could open the protected areas to housing developers. The group has said that current agricultural land that hosts solar farms could be declared brown field when agreements come to an end. “Planning conditions should require that solar sites continue to be classified as agricultural land throughout their life,” the campaign stated. The Times, Page: 13

Walkie Talkie not so Scorchie

The 500ft tower at 20 Fenchurch Street, London – nicknamed the Walkie Talkie – has had its entire south side draped with black netting, in order to reduce the glare created by its unique glass architecture. Last summer, it produced temperatures of up to 110 degrees Celsius, enough to blister paintwork and melt the bodywork of vehicles parked below.

Rising costs hitting builders

Construction firms are being hit by rising material costs and a chronic skills shortage, making the cost of tendering work climb rapidly. Four in five building firms surveyed by the National Federation of Builders (NFB) said that they had experienced rising costs, with 95% having to spend more on materials and three-quarters spending more on labour. Almost half of respondents said they had found it especially difficult to hire bricklayers and carpenters. "The good news is construction output is rising. However, higher tender prices, materials and labour costs and difficulty in securing skilled labour at reas

Buyer demand cools

According to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), buyer demand for property fell for the first time in a year and half in July. Rics said that in London, which has seen annual increases of 20%, indicators such as sales queries were "going into reverse". Across the UK as a whole, Rics predicted 4.7% growth in house prices in the next year, down from 5.9% in March, while in London the forecast has dropped from 9.3% to 4.6%. The survey results came as the Bank of England downgraded its forecast for growth in mortgage approvals, saying this would be a "little less buoyant than previously thought" with a "degree of moderation" in the pace of price increases. The Bank also said that the dampening effect of tighter borrowing rules on the housing market was transitional and was wearing off. Separate figures from e.surv also showed a fall in buyer activity.

Retailers call for business rates reform

Campaigners and retailers have called on the government to urgently review the business rates system, after it emerged that businesses were accumulatively overcharged around £2.1bn over the past five years. Industry experts take issue with the fact that retailers in less affluent areas have seen their rates become artificially high due to a drop in property values, while retailers in thriving areas have seen relatively lower rates due to rising property values not effecting their bill. The Independent, Page: 51 Independent I, Page: 40

Recovery threatened by skills shortages

A survey of 616 business leaders for The Prince’s Trust and HSBC’s Skills Crunch report has found that more than two thirds believe that a shortage of skilled workers threatens to halt the economic recovery. Just over half say they struggle to fill vacant roles and a third say they are witnessing a lack of trained applicants for entry level roles. A separate study by the Institute of Chartered Accountants and Grant Thornton found that the construction, utilities and IT sectors were hardest hit by skills shortages. The Prince’s Trust is calling for employers to provide more vocational training.

The building industry's "lost decade"

According to the Construction Products Association, activity in the UK building industry will not return to pre-recession levels until 2017. Noble Francis, economics director of the CPA, called it a "lost decade" for the building industry as building has fallen by 13% since 2008. Housing starts rose 21% in 2013, compared to the year before, driven in part by government support, and the CPA forecasts an 18% rise this year and 10% in 2015. However, it warned that potential interest rate rises and post-election uncertainties over the future of Help to Buy could constrain growth. Commercial construction is also expected to improve and the CPA predicts 23.4% growth in the next four years.