Statistics have shown that last year, there were 25 million empty rooms, in privately owned properties, mainly in homes owned by the elderly.

On the basis of this data, Grant Shapps the housing minister developed the FreeSpace Project that is currently being piloted by Redbridge Council. The idea is that the elderly, who own their own property, are given the opportunity to downsize to something more suitable, by renting out their home. They can then afford to rent something smaller or move into sheltered housing without the need to sell up, often making a small profit on the difference between the rent paid and received. The responsibility for renting out their property is with the local council, who are then able to move in a family that would benefit from larger accommodation.

The concept is that local authorities foot the bill for the moving costs, renovations and any financial advice needed. They would also manage the tenancy directly, removing the stress of becoming a landlord, whilst allowing the homeowner to retain their property, which would eventually become part of their estate.

Mr Shapps said in the magazine Inside Housing, ‘Moving to more suitable accommodation can make a life-changing difference for some older people. The Freespace project in Redbridge shows what could be achieved – under this scheme older people will be able to live independently for longer and enjoy more disposable income without selling their home, and other families will benefit from living in an affordable home.’

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The government has a New Year’s resolution to build more homes not only for use as social housing but to encourage development for private buyers as well. There was a significant drop at the end of 2011 in residential property building. Figures show that in the UK, only 115,020 new homes were registered by the end of 2011, compared to 200,700 in 2007. House building has fallen to its lowest level for any peacetime year since 1924.

NHBC Chief Executive Imtiaz Farookhi commented, “While December is always a short month in which registrations inevitably dip, the last quarter of 2011 was particularly weak, with little sign of the cautious growth the industry experienced earlier in the year”.

With 1.7 million households waiting for social housing, and the property market in the doldrums, the government realises the importance of kick starting the building industry again. This would require a loosening of the purse strings by banks and other lenders, not only for prospective purchasers but builders and developers too who are finding it nearly impossible to finance their projects. This in turn would stimulate employment in the building trade and also in the furniture and white goods market as new households would want to purchase these items to put in their lovely new homes. Demand is high but supply is low!

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Leaders is the UK’s largest independent letting specialist with 60 branches throughout the South East, plus additional brands in Cambridge and East Anglia. They offer both tenants and landlords a highly specialised service across all aspects of lettings and property management. They are fully bonded members of ARLA (Association of Residential Letting Agents), an organisation that prides itself on the professional conduct of its members.

As lettings and property management are at the heart of Leaders’ business, they endeavour to provide the best service and advice to tenants and landlords in this specialised area with attention paid to the ever changing legislation that surrounds the industry. Their fully trained staff can take tenants through every stage of the renting process, whilst landlords can benefit from advice on everything from buy-to-let to EPC certificates and the appropriate notices to regain possession of a property.

Leaders also pride themselves in giving something back to the local communities through charitable donations, particularly at Christmas. This year, they opted again to send e-greetings cards instead of posting Christmas cards and the £2500 saved was donated to a number of local charities as well as Help for Heroes.

Leaders predict that 2012 will be another year where demand outstrips supply for rental property. By using the services of both Leaders and LettingSearch, tenants will give themselves the best chance of finding their perfect home and landlords will have their properties let quickly and efficiently.

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Big congratulations to Louise Harper for winning our Christmas Lights Competition. £20 of M&S vouchers are on their way to you – enjoy.

Our runners up are:

In 5th place, Gary Holmes

In 4th place, Teresa Smith

In 3rd place, Mindi Barr

In 2nd place, Harry Plait

Congratulations to you all. We would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. We here at LettingSearch look forward to speaking to you all in the New Year.

We will be back in the office on the 3rd January 2012.

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From Santa to fairy lights, tinsel to Rudolph we all love Christmas. Here at LettingSearch we are running a competition to find the house with the best outside decorations!!! If yours is the best, you could win £20 worth of Marks and Spencer’s vouchers.

Every neighbourhood, village and town has a competitive sprit, so why not showcase your masterpiece here at LettingSearch.

Paul Toole has made a name for himself with his outstanding displays, becoming a Somerset institution. He’s starring in a new Channel 4 documentary entitled The King of Christmas Lights. Most nights he can have up to 150 cars outside his home to see the amazing lights. His computer-controlled light show can last up to 20minutes, and features 40,000 twinkling bulbs. http://tinyurl.com/bvxmnn2

Enter our competition by emailing us at customerservices@lettingsearch.co.uk with your name, telephone number and address with a picture of your house attached. The winner will be announced on the 23/12/2011 and we will put the top 5 photos on our website.

Let’s get in the festive spirit and have some fun.

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Living in a village has always been the ‘dream’ for many people. However with the recession hitting everyone hard, the trend is now for people choosing to be near towns and cities as it is actually a lot more economical than it may first appear.
T
his trend was first spotted by estate agents Knight Frank, in Stratford-Upon-Avon, where it was noticed that the town houses were selling more quickly than the quaint village homes in the surrounding area. In fact there has been an 86% increase in interest in town properties over village ones.

The 2 main reasons are to save money and time. Most people now want to live within walking distance of a town centre or a station. Having to spend hours in the car each day either driving to and from work or to and from school, is not only tiresome but very expensive. Thanks to the internet, working from home is more common place than it used to be, however many companies still prefer their employees to come into the office as it improves interaction between people and allows face to face contact. Also, families want to send their children to good, local secondary and primary schools and there is generally greater choice in a town with the added advantage of good transport links.

Easy and affordable travel therefore becomes essential.

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We all love keeping up to date with what is going on in the world, as well as being able to connect with someone instantly. How can this help your business? Well according to the experts, in many ways, most importantly by making you more profitable.

Through social networking a business can project a much more friendly and trustworthy ‘face’ to the world, as well as giving you a forum to promote your brand.

It allows you to keep control of your brand and business and relay the message you want to the public. On a daily basis you can reach over 46% of the world’s population, and within the last year the amount of internet users connecting with a brand on social networks has increased by 20%. This is great news for agents and landlords who have improved leads, sales and brand building through the use of mass audience social network platform sites.

The best thing about social networking sites is that they are all FREE!

More than 70% of professionals find it easier to locate information on the web than on internal systems. A third of users want to use the same social networking techniques for communicating with colleagues as well as existing and potential clients, as they do with friends and family. For example currently over 2 billion people worldwide view YouTube videos and Twitter is the best social network site to use to broadcast events and news to your followers, as it reaches thousands in a matter of seconds.

Less time, more return. As businesses constantly evolve, social media gives them the chance to interact with their followers/fans and embark on meaningful dialogues with them. This can only be positive.

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George Clarke is the hero of the moment in his crusade to get the one million empty properties around the UK back into habitable use. Tonight’s show focused on refurbishing one such derelict home, turning it from three uncomfortably small and empty flats into a spacious family home, for much less than it would cost to build new.

Currently councils all around the country are spending hundreds of thousands of pounds just keeping these properties secure from squatters and vandals. His argument is that the money could be better used transforming them into comfortable homes. Recycling is the mantra.

His big idea is for an affordable loan scheme, enabling cash-strapped landlords to refurbish their otherwise unrentable properties. This is a win-win situation: the landlord moves from negative to positive equity by successfully renting out their property for a fair price and a family can move off the waiting list and move into a safe home.

The government’s plan to dilute the planning laws, which prohibit the construction of new housing on protected countryside, also comes under fire in the programme. Although Clarke is not against building on green belt land he feels there is still plenty of opportunity to increase density in the cities.

Most importantly he is against the right-to–buy policy of the current government. More than 1.5 million affordable homes have been taken out of the social housing system in the last 30 years leaving 2 million families on waiting lists for council housing in the UK.

If you want to support his campaign then sign the petition on the Channel 4 website:

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-great-british-property-scandal/articles/home/

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What is your worst nightmare? I think for most people it would be not having a roof over their head. For many, homelessness is not a choice.

At this time of year particularly, people are seeking shelter and warmth. But what if you are a young lad who has been thrown out of your family home or you have run out of favours from friends after the breakup of your marriage. Hostels do such fantastic work, however, they rightly give priority to those who are in ill health – but where do the homeless who are fit and healthy go?

Real Lettings is a property angel for these people. They are a charity for the homeless and they put people before profit. They help by giving the vulnerable and homeless the chance to get back on their feet and improve their quality of life. They do this by sourcing properties from private landlords and then letting them out at an affordable rent on a long-term basis. However, they don’t stop there. They give on-going support to the tenants in maintaining their tenancy.

They are based in London but also have offices in Hampshire and West Berkshire. All the money they receive is ploughed back into the charity Broadway who actually set Real Lettings up, so that they can help more people. They support tenants, throughout the journey, from street to home and beyond.

We can only admire what they do and support and help them in any way we can.

For more information visit www.reallettings.com

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We are reminded nearly every day that we should try to be greener and that we need to reduce our carbon footprint. To achieve this we are advised to; turn off the lights when we aren’t in the room; ensure electrical appliances aren’t left on standby; recycle our plastic, glass and cardboard; and even recycle our Christmas tree- you get the idea.

Perhaps we should all consider Nano living! Everything you need in one small space of 200 square feet that can house a family of 4 and can support up to 4 stories. You can also have a larger model of 325 square feet.
Within the structure you have a living room, bathroom, kitchen and bedrooms. All of the furniture is pre-installed to maximize space. Beds descend from the ceiling and are a generous king size. All the houses have a green roof, rainwater catchment and solar panels.

The idea behind them came from a US based bridge development corporation with the design being solar passive. It is built from SIP’s which are structural insulated panels. They are so well designed that they harness free and renewable heat and energy from the ground and have high efficiency heating systems.

Not only are the houses green but they even been designed using ‘Feng Shui ‘ to enhance and attract good health, wealth and relationships. If only it was that easy!

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