Docklands News

Property listings are to include more key details to make it easier for house hunters to discover essential information about properties. National Trading Standards said council tax bands and tenure information for sales must be included along with the house price. Experts believe more transparency could save people money, reduce sales falling through and speed transactions. The extra information should be included by the end of May or be flagged as absent. Details on restrictive covenants and flood risk may be added in later stages of the plan.

The Independent (21/02/2022)  

Planning permission has been given to Renewal for a 3,500-home development which will include a dozen towers between 15 and 40 floors across a 30-acre site near Surrey Quays station. It was championed by Boris Johnson, who approved £20m of grant funds to the project during his term as London Mayor and tried to fast-track it through planning. The scheme was viewed by some in City Hall as a crucial part of regenerating land dominated by unused industrial space, and would boost the borough’s house building numbers. Jordana Malik, Renewal's executive director, said the project “will transform an underused industrial area, delivering 3,500 homes and up to 1,250 new jobs, and will enable the proposed new Overground station. This represents 18 years of being on the site, collaborating and working with the community on these proposals, and we are looking forward to progressing with works".

The Daily Telegraph (11/02/2022)  

House prices increased by 0.8% between November and December of last year and 10.8% year on year, according to official figures. The latest UK house price index from the Office for National Statistics showed that the average price of a property in the UK was £274,712. There was an average increase of £29,953 in London, where the average annual earnings are £34,439. The average house price in Scotland rose by 11.2%, with the average price hitting £180,000 at the end of 2021. 

City AM (16/02/2022)   Daily Mirror (16/02/2022)   The Times (16/02/2022)  

Property prices increased across the UK in January, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. On a regional level, the most significant growth was in the North West and South East of England. Enquiries from prospective buyers also reached their highest level since the height of the stamp duty holiday period in May 2021. The lack of homes coming to the market remains a problem, with more Rics members saying they saw a dip in instructions from new sellers in January. But, the Rics added: "More market appraisals were reported by a net balance of +3%, the first time it has been above zero since June 2021." The average time it takes to finalise a sale has dropped to an average of sixteen weeks, the lowest since December 2019. A growing number of estate agents think sales numbers will rise over the next three months, and the number of insiders in the sector who think this is the case has reached a 10-month high. Many also think levels will continue rising over the next year.

Daily Mail (14/02/2022)   The Independent (14/02/2022)  

Government proposals to hold all private rental sector properties to the Decent Homes Standard and introduce a new landlord register, announced in the "Levelling Up" white paper, will bring new costs for landlords, experts have warned. While officials have yet to decide how the policy will be implemented, analysts said existing licensing schemes run by individual local authorities offered a blueprint. However, adopting these schemes would likely result in large bills for landlords. Newham Council was the first to launch a licensing scheme for the private rental properties; Landlords must pay a fee of £750 for a five-year licence. The Government has also been warned that existing structures may not be able to cope with the number of additional homes needing to be assessed.  

The Daily Telegraph (14/02/2022)  

The Greater London Authority (GLA) could take back control of a mixed-use Royal Albert Dock project in the coming weeks, due to the financial issues faced by developer ABP (London) Investment. In 2013, then-Mayor of London Boris Johnson agreed the selection of ABP to regenerate a 15ha swathe of dockside, masterplanned by Farrells. The £1bn development would have hosted 2.5m sq ft of office space, as well as leisure, retail and serviced apartments – creating a “vibrant 24/7 location” by 2021-2022, and 4,000 new homes by 2037-38. So far, only the scheme’s 21-unit first phase is complete, with the exception of two listed buildings earmarked for restoration. The GLA said that since April 2019, no significant activity, lettings or investment had been undertaken by ABP. “The GLA has been concerned for some time by the lack of progress by the developer at Royal Albert Dock and served ABP with a final termination notice in August after the developer proved unable to meet all of its obligations under the agreement in place for delivery of this scheme", a GLA spokesperson said. “ABP’s guarantor Dauphin Holdings Group has now formally stepped into the project and assumed ABP’s responsibilities. As part of this process, Dauphin Holdings Group must comply with all of ABP’s outstanding obligations and bring forward the development of this key site".

Building (08/02/2022)   Building Design (08/02/2022)   The Times (05/02/2022)