Terrific investigation by @manumidolo.bsky.social. How gangs are renting out properties before stealing landlords' identities, using the homes as brothels and then using weak tenancy laws (and lax policing) to prove impossible to evict - often for years. www.thetimes.com/article/513a...

Stamp duty rises for second-home buyers, a doubling of council tax for existing second-home owners, a hike in mortgage rates and a dramatic reversal of the Covid-era work-from-home ethos have created an unprecedented slowdown in rural areas. www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

Exclusive: Portakabin is to strike deals with several British urban councils to build emergency prefab housing - its first ever homes - amid a sharp rise in homelessness. It has also offered its services to the Home Office for asylum-seeker housing. www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

Millennial investors will account for half of the new buy-to-let limited companies to be set up this year — the first time this generation has ever reached this threshold — as older landlords cool on property investment. www.thetimes.com/article/c005...

He made his fortune from a toilet roll empire, but multimillionaire Majid Hussain’s attempts to build his own castle unravelled when plans for a mock-Georgian mansion in the middle of the green belt were defeated in court. www.thetimes.com/article/c88a...

This week the government announced significant changes to the way people in England and Wales will buy and sell homes, shifting the system towards Scotland. Will this be a silver bullet for our housing market or bring about its own problems? www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

Required reading www.thetimes.com/article/650a...

Residents of one of the government's proposed new-towns are somewhat incredulous at the plans... because they have been inundated for years by appalling floods... www.thetimes.com/article/166b...

The government’s pledge to build 1.5 million homes in five years is doomed to failure because construction costs are too expensive for builders in half of the country, a damning report revealed. www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

Former Tory minister David Mellor and Lady Cobham are selling their extraordinary London mansion for £16 million - 30 years after the Westminster affair that brought them together. www.thetimes.com/article/2c8d...

In praise of the humble bungalow. Naff, perhaps, but a key solution to our housing crisis www.thetimes.com/article/8a93...

First-time buyers are knocking a rung off the housing ladder and going straight for their “forever home”, according to Barclays data. The buyers now can't buy until they are older (average age 34), so they frequently have families and need bigger homes. www.thetimes.com/business-mon...

Landlords are selling off more properties while an ever-diminishing number invest in the sector amid suggestions of tax rises in the autumn budget. Data shows property investors’ appetite has waned after years of costs imposed by consecutive governments. www.thetimes.com/business-mon...

A coalition of powerful firms - including our biggest banks, legal firms and brokerages - have signed a striking pledge to reduce the process of buying or selling a property to 28 days. Is this property revolution for the masses - or pie-in-the-sky? www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

Fewer than 1 in 10 properties up for sale are under offer in the most affluent areas, as tax changes bite. Analysts worry that pre-Budget kite-flying will worsen the situation. www.thetimes.com/article/ea05...

Research carried out for The Times shows that, while few high-end homes are selling, the market in ultra-high-end rentals has more than doubled in size in the space of a year as multimillionaires make London a temporary base instead of a permanent home. www.thetimes.com/article/d83b...

The Cotswolds has made headlines as a magnet for A-list celebrities, royalty and tourists. But thieves are staging a wave of break-ins, hunting high performance cars. Residents say police seem powerless to stop them. www.thetimes.com/article/7af2...

Terrific illustration of the failings of the Help to Buy scheme by @georgenixon97.bsky.social It was meant to be a leg up onto the property ladder, but more than a third of those who used it to buy a flat could now be worse off than when they started. www.thetimes.com/article/f3c3...

What's that you say? You want to read about how Britain's Grand Designs self-build dream died in a section illustrated by sad-looking Lego men? Of course you do @thetimes.com

Tax is driving swathes of London's property market towards the cliff-edge. Our exclusive analysis www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

Almost 150,000 homeowners would have to pay billions of pounds more tax if the government bows to pressure from backbenchers and introduces a wealth tax on homes worth £2 million or more, an analysis for @thetimes.com has shown. www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

What a great splash in today’s @thetimes.com by @davidbyers26.bsky.social celebrating the importance of SAVE’s work safeguarding historic buildings - from castles to cotton mills, dept stores to stations - for future generations ♻️ #SAVEcampaigns #SAVE50 #reuse 🏫 www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

An analysis for The Sunday Times by the charity Save Britain’s Heritage has revealed that 1,257 historic buildings of all types — a record — are now on its carefully curated “at risk” register, with 50 new ones added this week alone. www.thetimes.com/article/c945...

This excellent piece by Jane Mulkerrins about systemic poor practice among rip-off lettings agencies needed to be written. Such behaviour ultimately drives up rents for tenants. www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

A shortage of thatchers and terrible harvests have left desperate owners of Britain's 60,000 thatched cottages waiting for five years for repairs to be done. Enter your intrepid reporter. www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

This is a v funny piece by colleague @melyorktt.bsky.social, but there is a serious point behind it - a huge number of newbuilds simply aren't built for our changing climate and, pretty soon, may be unlivable. www.thetimes.com/article/49fb...

Demand for homes in coastal areas has fallen off a cliff in recent months thanks to steep tax changes for second home-owners — but it has also trapped downsizers or movers who live there and are desperate to sell. We tell their story. www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

An excellent analysis of today's housing policy announcements by my colleague @melyorktt.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/article/faf7...

This is an extraordinary little piece about utterly extraordinary parents. It reminds me not to sweat the small stuff, but concentrate on what's truly important in life. www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

Padworth College, established in 1963, is one of 20 private schools closing this year. Its owner cites Labour's decision to impose 20% VAT from last January as the final straw, as pupil numbers sank. So what lies ahead for Britain's small private schools? www.thetimes.com/article/e100...

Fascinating interview by Hugh Graham in @thetimes.com today. It's a disgrace we do not support our farmers better. www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

Homes in Britain’s most expensive coastal locations dropped in value by tens of thousands of pounds last year due to the effect of higher taxes on the second home and holiday lets market, data has revealed. www.thetimes.com/article/4f3b...

When asked what young people can do to improve their chances of ever buying a home I ruefully suggest "Choose your parents carefully". As @davidbyers26.bsky.social points out, they may be more important than a squeaky-clean credit file! (£) www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

The Bank of Mum and Dad has created a warped world of haves and have-nots in the housing market www.thetimes.com/article/f978...

🏆 #cpfc #coyp

The number of Americans seeking homes in Britain is at an eight-year high, in what analysts believe is at least in part due to the Trump effect. www.thetimes.com/article/fd05...

Chelsea's branded luxury flats in Dubai will have blue sand on their artificial beach, a "sky pitch" on the roof and will light up blue when they score. The launch event last night at Stamford Bridge was ... quite something... www.thetimes.com/article/41d0...

Buy-to-let investment levels are lower than at any time since before the financial crisis thanks to the impact of higher taxes. www.thetimes.com/article/99af...

Punchy column from @dalevince.com on why the government's heat pump rollout is a hugely expensive and ineffective way to help the environment and heat people's homes www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

They moved to the countryside for a new life, many during the Covid "race-for-space". Now, the Londoners are going home. Here's why. www.thetimes.com/article/1146...

Another phenomenal, and vital, investigation by Martina Lees of @thetimes.com, exposing corruption and rottenness that left thousands of lives in mortal danger in Britain's flats. www.thetimes.com/article/1b57...

Interesting initiative from government, proposing allowing people to pay for heat pumps in instalments or lease them - would potentially remove a major barrier to ownership. www.gov.uk/government/n...

Heat pumps have, oddly, become part of the culture wars, as they're caught in the battle over net zero. Now, 500 eco-evangelists have thrown open their doors to give guided tours of their pumps in an attempt to combat misinformation. www.thetimes.com/article/f5f9...

♥️💙#cpfc

It has been described as England’s own version of Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island, a secluded 380-acre private retreat connected to the mainland twice a day at low tide by a Roman causeway. Now Osea Island has been put up for sale - for £25 million www.thetimes.com/life-style/p...

SPECIAL REPORT: the declining birthrate, particularly in London, and the private school VAT hike are both having a lasting impact on parents' ability to get children into state schools of their choice. More here: www.thetimes.com/article/ff2b...

Alternative intro: Britain's second-biggest developer thinks it will be able to sell absolutely loads of houses at vastly inflated prices if the government bungs first-time buyers a huge amount of cash.

Exclusive: after a decade-long dispute, Christian Candy has been awarded a £2 million stamp duty rebate - plus approximately £270,000 in interest - over the purchase of a Chelsea mansion. www.thetimes.com/article/168f...

Homes in parts of the north of England are now selling almost three times faster than those in London, partly due to stamp duty and an outflow of millionaires in the pricier housing markets. www.thetimes.com/article/9dad...

Remarkable property has gone up for sale this morning. A window into a largely lost world. www.thetimes.co.uk/article/padd...