Tag Archives: dubai
New £1 million scheme launched to train housing industry staff in UK
A big increase in the number of homes being built in the UK over the past two years and a raft of new home being promised by the Government means that more training is needed in the property construction industry. As a result the Home Builders Federation (HBF) and the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) have launched a new £1 million scheme to train non-construction staff such as marketing, sales and business development employees. This new fund, which will run throughout 2016, is aimed at ensuring the thousands of staff working in these areas are, like their construction counterparts, getting the required level of training to ensure the industry can deliver more, high quality homes. The fund will help HBF members to target training to employees, graduate scheme trainees and those on undergraduate placements to ensure that best practice is applied and high standards upheld. A portion of the fund has also been set aside to fund further training for sales and marketing staff. Driving up levels of customer service is a particular area of focus for the industry as more potential customers visit sales offices and more homes are sold. ‘The past two years have seen tens of thousands of new people recruited into house building and a significant increase in the number of homes being built. As we look to increase output still further it is imperative we continue to increase industry capacity and develop the skilled workforce required to build the high quality homes the country needs,’ said Stewart Baseley, HBF executive chairman. ‘The house building process is an extremely complex one requiring a great number of people with very different skills. If we are to provide the high quality homes and the level of customer service today's new build customer demands we need to ensure every member of staff in every part of the process is trained to the best possible standard,’ he added. ‘Industry told us that more needed to be done to address the range of skills challenges in the housebuilding sector. Working with HBF, this new pilot fund is a first step in addressing that important issue and testing how this approach could be employed in other parts of construction,’ said Steve Radley, director of policy at the CITB. ‘This £1 million pot of money will boost technical skills in the sector to ensure that we can build the homes the country needs,’ he added. Continue reading
Unauthorised residential sub-letting costing UK landlords thousands
The practice of unauthorised sub-letting is still rife in the UK's private rented sector (PRS) and subsequently damaged properties are costing landlords thousands of pounds, it is claimed. The warning from the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC) comes after the National Landlords Association (NLA) recently reported that almost half of tenants who sub-let their property do so without their landlord’s consent. The NLA's findings come in response to government proposals to introduce minimum room sizes in order to crack down on problems such as unauthorised sub-letting. The study also found that of those tenants who approached their landlord about sub-letting, a fifth had their request permitted. The AIIC says that any tenants who are interested in sub-letting must speak to their landlord as if approached officially and properly, there is a chance the landlord will be willing to hear any requests. ‘Unfortunately, the practice of unauthorised sub-letting remains rife within the PRS and can cost landlords thousands of pounds in damages,’ said Pat Barber, chair of the AIIC. ‘There are countless horror stories related to sub-letting. For example, I know of a new two bed flat in which a total of 12 adults lived, although it was only rented to two male tenants. Another case concerned a three bed furnished flat, let to a restaurant and a total of 27 people were sleeping there, on shifts, all workers for the restaurant business,’ she explained. ‘These were both properties that I personally checked-out and needless to say both were wrecked, leaving the landlords thousands of pounds out of pocket,’ she added. It is hoped that the government's new proposals will limit the scope of unauthorised sub-letting but Barber pointed out that it also remains vitally important for landlords, agents and service providers like independent inventory clerks to remain vigilant for the signs of unauthorised sub-letting. She also explained that in the case of unauthorised sub-letting, an inventory carried out by an independent inventory clerk could provide the landlord with the opportunity to recoup some of the costs incurred by property damage. An independently compiled inventory will comprehensively detail the condition of the property at the beginning of the tenancy and it is very difficult for a tenant to argue against such firm evidence of check-in condition. Continue reading
Prime property rents in London set to see recovery in 2016, report predicts
January will be the start of the prime property lettings season in London, kick starting a recovery in top end rents in 2016, according to a new outlook report. Throughout 2015, the pace of rent rises in London slowed, and weaker activity at the top tiers of the lettings market in particular have created a difficult climate for rent growth, says the report from estate agents Marsh & Parsons. However, the firm is predicting a rental resurgence in 2016, forecasting prime London rents to rise 5% in the next 12 months, a significant uplift from a the 1.9% rise in the past year. While rents at the highest tiers of the market, namely over £750 per week, are unlikely to experience major pick up, rental prices below this benchmark have significant room to grow. And much of this growth will come at the very start of the year, with January typically the strongest month outside of the summer for lettings activity. Over the past three years, there has been on average a 34% monthly boost in lettings exchanges from December to January, as people use the New Year for fresh starts. ‘Come January, households will be picking up where they left off on big life decisions – be this downsizing, starting a new job, relocating overseas or even separating. All of these combine to give new impetus to the rental market at the very start of the year, and it’s a time when we experience some of our most zealous lettings activity,’ said Patrick Littlemore, director of lettings at Marsh & Parsons. ‘This initial activity will feed into stronger and more sustained rent growth throughout 2016 as a whole. It is the lower price brackets of the private rented sector that have the biggest room to grow next year, especially in popular hot spots such as Queens Park, lauded for retaining the style and atmosphere of Kensington with more affordable prices,’ he added. The report also points out that the average length of a tenancy on a rental property in prime London has grown 18% in the past year, from an average of 19 months in the third quarter of 2014 to 23 months during the third quarter of 2015. Marsh & Parsons expects the popularity of two year leases to continue growing in 2016 as tenants are increasingly entering into these longer tenancies in search of greater stability in the face of reduced rental properties available on the market, but it is the guarantee of housing they are securing, not rental prices over this period. The report explains that the stock of homes to let in London has decreased significantly in 2015. The total supply of available rental properties across 2015 was 9% lower than in 2014, while the levels of demand experienced throughout the last year has been 7% higher than during 2014. As… Continue reading
