At last, our reluctant moving saga is almost at an end, and I’m happy to report that great progress has been made in the past week, despite a bit of a false start.
Last weekend, we decided to postpone Valentine’s Day even though it was our first one as a married couple. (Should I be concerned…??!)
Instead, [...]

And soooo, the end is near, it’s time to faaaace, the final cuuurtain.
Oh god, that reminds me, I need to wash the curtains. Yet another thing to add to the ever-increasing list of Stuff To Be Done before we move out of our house in a week’s time.
Number one, of course, should really be packing.  [...]

Just as Jane has kicked off a diary of her house buying adventures, I thought I’d be regaling you for weeks to come with tales of woe as I searched for a rented home.
But no!  Call it luck, call it fate, call it an over-saturated rental market – hell, call it whatever you like, I [...]

This morning, I got woken up, not by the familiar sound of my alarm, but by a series of thumps on my front door.  Not knocks: thumps.
By the time I’d recovered from leaping out of bed at high speed, scrambled for my dressing gown, and stumbled down the stairs, two workmen were emerging through the [...]

As of today, Energy Performance Certificates become mandatory for all new tenancies, and landlords will face charges of up to £200 per property if they don’t provide them.
The certificates, which will be valid for a period of ten years, must be issued by an accredited energy assessor, and provided free of charge to tenants.
EPCs rate [...]

Here’s a little multiple choice question for you.
Buy-to-let will:
A. Contract significantly as landlords cut their losses and sell, sell, sell
B. Hold firm in the short term and expand thereafter as landlords rake in the profits thanks to rising demand
Skandia, the savings and pensions chappies, would definitely put their tick next to ‘A’ – [...]

A recent article I wrote about the problems of renting a property with a pet seems to have struck a chord, judging by the number of responses we’ve received.
We even had a woman from Holland demanding, rather haughtily, to know what had happened to ‘animal-friendly England, the one time leaders of animal protection’.
Why, in her country, [...]

The Association of Residential Letting Agents has just published a new report on the Private Rented Sector.
Its author, Professor Michael Ball, argues that rents could rise by 10-15 per cent in 2008 and 2009.
Rents, he claims, will be especially strong in London and the South East where demand is highest, but will slide in northern [...]

How would you feel about renting a flat from Google or Apple?
That may be on the cards if the property industry succeeds in convincing the Government to back the introduction of build-to-let schemes in the UK.
Build-to-let encourages big business to buy whole blocks and rent them out as branded accommodation.
So instead of paying your rent [...]

I was in a taxi the other evening making a big effort to increase my carbon footprint (difficult when you don’t have a car, but I try to make up for it by not recycling).
Anyway, the driver was Polish – a sort of thoughtful, well educated and very polite Travis Bickle with a Masters in [...]