Find a Tradesman - The Vetted Tradesmen Blog

Hips abolition paves way for return of ‘chancers’

The abolition of home information packs (Hips) has opened up the housing market to chancers once again, it has been claimed.

Restrictions imposed by the much-maligned Hips discouraged opportunitists from putting their property up for sale in the hope of being offered a very good price, according to Briffy.com.

Founder of the property website David Amstell explained that getting rid of Hips will see the return of “chancers” and “time wasters” to the market.

He added: “[We have] probably just got a lot of time wasters out there now testing the market.

“If they get a reasonable price they may sell, but if they don’t then they have lost nothing and it has just cost the estate agent his marketing fees.”

His comments follow the publication of new figures from property website Rightmove, which indicated that the number of property listings on the website increased by 35.4 per cent following the abolition of Hips.

Women opt for DIYers over green-fingered men
Survey reveals that women prefer men who can tackle jobs around the home to those who are handy in the garden, despite just 38% of male respondents admitting they enjoy DIY.

The survey by Bosch revealed that 37% of women want a man who can easily put up a shelf of fix a wonky door knob, but just 16% want a green-fingered partner.

Just over a third of women also said they would like their man to know his way around a car engine.

Bosch DIY expert Chris Tidy said: “While all women love to be romanced, it seems your DIY skills are the thing that they are really looking for.

“When looking for a man, knowing they will be able to take care of the practical jobs which will need doing around the house can be a very attractive feature. You never know, next time you’re in a bar, try talking to her about the bathroom cabinet you just fixed - it could be the way to her heart.”

However, despite the British female’s love for a man who’s handy with his toolbox, just 38% of men actually enjoy a spot of DIY. Of the 1,000 respondents, 43% of men said they were worried about DIY jobs going wrong, while 21% admit they are simply too lazy and another 38% said they were too busy to see tasks through to the end.

Tesco announced on Tuesday that Terry Leahy is to retire, bye bye Tel. As one of the greatest business minds of his generation moves from running his “corner shop” to the private investment market we have to ask - does anyone care?

Wow! Last week was a very successful week here at Vetted Tradesmen and Quotation Supermarket. Our find a tradesman service received over 1,000 job leads and more than 300 new tradesmen registered for work. This is fantastic news it means we are well on our way to increasing the amount of job leads we get by 30% by Christmas 2010.

Congratulations to Keith and Alan who have worked tirelessly to increase job leads with our new email and advertising campaign.  We will surely increase our market share in a much shorter time than we previously thought.

Why not tell someone you know about us, help spread the word and stamp out rogue trading in the UK for ever. 

Supply of rental properties rises

Nice houses are in demand, not just flats for students. The number of properties up for rent has jumped as people who cannot sell their homes decide to let them instead.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) says the slump in house sales is forcing many more people to become either landlords or tenants.
In July, Rics members saw new instructions from landlords rise at their fastest rate on record.
But potential tenants are outweighing would-be landlords, and helping to push up rents in many areas of the UK.
The international credit crunch and the subsequent drying up of finance for new mortgages has produced the sharpest housing market slump seen since World War II.
The number of house sales has already fallen by 50% in the past year and with mortgage approvals already down by 70% it looks likely that sales will fall even further in the coming months.
“Frustrated vendors have been placing their property in the market to let as they have been unable to agree sales due to a lack of demand in the housing market,” said Rics.
“Many would-be buyers have been forced to rent as the route to mortgage finance has been blocked,” it added.
Thanks to the BBC for this story read more http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7567963.stm

CUT THE VAT ON HOME IMPROVEMENTS
There is a National campaign running to eradicate VAT on home improvements. Show your support today by visiting http://ping.fm/ScsLG

Getting Help With The Cost of Home Improvements.
Improving your home doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. The Government offers a wide variety of home improvement grants and low interest loans. See this link for more info.
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Nick Clegg - Deal or no Deal?
Well I hope he’s ready for the questions Noel because the banker is on the phone in the form of the Great British Public and we want an answer.
I’ve been on to the Conservative and Labour websites and read their Housing and Construction policies. The put what I think, I’m no Ian Hislop but I hope you found it as enjoyable to read is as I found writing it.
Who to choose Blue or Red?
BLUE - Conservative
“Increase stamp duty threshold to allow nine out of ten first time buyers to pay NO STAMP DUTY.” - This does sound promising but we have to ask how are they going to pay for it, and are they actually going to do it?
“”Abolish Home Info Pack’s.” – BOO! We think HIP’s are a bit of a pain but they do contain some pretty useful info - it’s like getting a user manual for your home which is pretty cool.
“Recognise the importance of social housing and the security it provides. We will protect and respect the rights of social tenants. Many social tenants have great pride in their homes and the neighbourhood in which they live, and deserve to be encouraged” - What a load of tosh! Have you seen a tenancy agreement lately - tenants have so much legal protection already what more could they ask for!
“Introduce a comprehensive national mobility scheme for good tenants who wish to move to other social sector properties, and pilot a Right to Move scheme to allow every family in social housing the chance to relocate by exchanging their home for another one – anywhere in the country.” - This does sound like a great idea in theory but I think it could be quite difficult to structure the evaluation criteria to ensure fairness and I can see some less reputable housing associations simply shipping problematic tenants to other areas.
“Abolish the unelected Infrastructure Planning Commission and restore the discretion of the Secretary of State. National Policy Statements will be ratified by Parliament to speed up the system, and hybrid Bills will be used to authorise complex national projects like high speed rail.” Not really sure what all this babble means if I’m honest, too many big words!
THE RED’s – Labour
“We have announced a £1 billion package of support for homeowners and first time buyers to: Help first time buyers get onto the housing ladder with increased shared equity support; Help homeowners in difficulty; Support the house-building industry; and bring forward £400 million of government spending to deliver up to 5,500 new social rented homes over the next eighteen months.” – Bloody hell Gordon that sounds a bit pricey, with the country skint can we afford this.

“We have extended the stamp duty holiday on properties under £175,000 to the end of 2009.” – Not quite what the Blues are offering but it’s a step in the right direction.

“We have set a goal that from 2016 all new homes should be zero carbon.” – GREAT! This is the best idea yet. We may be going through some economic issues but we still have to live on this planet long after being skint is a distant memory.

“We are putting in place arrangements to allow local authorities and housing associations to start delivering a new generation of social housing.” – This is just generic sales speak, I’d really like to know what the next generation of social housing is and how it differs from this one – are they building spaceships for council estates now!

“In Budget 2009, we announced a £600 million funding package to build more homes through unlocking sites currently sitting dormant.” – No mention of progress on this issue - never a good sign.
The Lib Dems are not exactly making friends in the construction industry at the moment. They propose to add VAT to new homes. People buying new build homes would pay on average an extra £14,119 in VAT alone. That money would not go into the value of the house. We just can’t afford this kind of tax on homes from the Liberal Democrats. With over 8,000 jobs gone in the house building sector since 2008 it just means more people on the breadline!
We just hope that the successful party can get Mr Clegg to reconsider on this point.
As usual all thoughts and comment very welcome.
Speak to you all very soon.
Martin

Hi Everyone, sorry about the gap between posts i’ve been quite ill over the last week or so.

This week we have a new marketing avenue to pursue that we envisage bringng an additional 4,000 job leads per week taking us to nearly 10,000 job leads sold EVERY WEEK. WOW!

I’m going to go and have a flick through the last weeks news stories and get some interesting ones posted here. Spk soon.

Royal Liverpool Hospital plan backed by ministers

Work on the new hospital could start in 2012

Plans for a new hospital to replace the Royal Liverpool have been approved by the government.

Trust bosses said the £451m development would transform health services for communities in the city.

All in-patients will get private rooms in the 643-bed hospital, which will also have parkland outside.

Health Secretary Andy Burnham, giving the go-ahead for the plans, said the new Royal would “lead the way” in regional healthcare.

Subject to planning approval, work on the new hospital could begin in 2012 and the facility could open in 2016.

Judith Greensmith, who chairs the hospital, said: “This is fantastic news for the people of Liverpool and beyond and means that our patients will be cared for in world-class facilities by staff providing high-quality services.

“The new Royal will be a landmark building for Liverpool and means that we can continue to lead the way when it comes to research and innovation.”

The plan will now go out to tender as health chiefs choose a building partner for the project.

Building work on the new hospital will cost £328m and be funded through Private Finance Initiative (PFI) cash.

The remaining £123m will be spent on purchasing equipment and demolishing the old Royal.

Click here for a picture of how it will look - http://ping.fm/7WSBd