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Sound insulation, new deal for rentals, house prices and other property news

Despite stiff competition from other headlines clamouring for space – on the beginning of the Covid vaccination programme and the final instalments of Brexit, to name but two – property, as always, continues to make the news.

Here are just a few of the stories which stole some of the spotlight.

Sales of sound insulation soar during lockdown

Among the surprising winners to emerge from the successive rounds of Covid lockdown have been the manufacturers and retailers of sound insulation – sales have rocketed recently.

That unexpected trend was revealed in an article by Property Wire last month. Householders’ sudden yearning for sound-proofing the rooms in their homes is an apparent reaction to some of the intrusive and unsettling sounds coming from noisy neighbours, suggested the article.

One manufacturer of sound insulating materials reported that sales had shot up by 240% so far this year as households all over the country were complaining that they had not been able to enjoy anything like their normal hours of sleep.

The manufacturer explained that in normal, pre-pandemic times, his principal clients for sound insulation material were recording studios or home-based rock musicians looking to deaden the noise after converting a spare room or the garage into a practice area. Now, though, the enquiries are pouring in from those claiming to have especially noisy neighbours.

Landlords publish new deal for rented housing

Landlords’ pressure groups are pushing back against government plans to make life easier for tenants by abolishing Section 21 of the Housing Act, 1988 – allowing so-called “no-fault” evictions by landlords.

In a press release on the 2nd of December the National Residential Landlords’ Association (NRLA) explained that the new deal sought by their members was intended to promote the creation of a special landlord-tenant conciliation service which would swing into action if tenants contested certain attempts at eviction by their landlords.

In this its contribution to the debate about the Renters’ Reform Bill, the NRLA goes along with a need for reform of the rights of repossession but insists that the processes must be fair to both landlord and tenant. The reasons for a landlord being able to regain possession of his property, for instance, should include the tenant’s failure to pay the rent when it falls due, anti-social behaviour on the part of the tenant, or the landlord’s desire for repossession in order to sell the property.

In its feature article on the Renters’ Reform Bill on the 31st of October, Estate Agent Today confirmed that one of the central planks of the proposed reforms was the abolition of Section 21 evictions. But the proposals also include doing away with individual security deposits and replacing them with a once in a lifetime deposit that tenants could transfer from one property to another.

The Bill would also open up to public scrutiny – including letting agents, tenants, landlords, employers, and professional bodies – the government’s information base identifying so-called “rogue” landlords and agents.

House price growth increases to five-year high of 6.5%

Yet further evidence of a burgeoning housing market was evidenced by a 6.5% growth in prices recorded for November, according to Property Wire last week.

Higher than the 5.8% rise the previous month, November’s 6.5% increase is the steepest leap in building society Nationwide’s House Price Index since January 2015.

A note of warning was also sounded to would-be and hopeful buyers. The current buoyancy of the housing market has been shored up by the tax holiday on Stamp Duty, which is scheduled to end this coming March.

Some buyers may already be too late to enjoy the benefits of that holiday, however, since swollen demand is causing delays in completing transactions that now might not be concluded until after the tax-break ends.

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