Many will never be free from debt claims CAB

Officials from the charity the Citizen’s Advice Bureau have recently claimed that the typical person that is seeking assistance with their finances and debts has no chance of actually ever getting out of debt during their lifetime, which is a daunting prospect for the many people that have found themselves burdened with high levels of debt. Read more

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Energy prices in UK have risen twice as fast as EU

According to a recently released report the cost of energy usage in the UK has increased twice as fast as in the EU. The figures were released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Read more

Tags: energy prices, development, rest of the world, free market, organisation, energy usage, rest

The end of loft conversions?

Builders are warning that a new government white paper, touted as making it easier for people to renovate their homes, will in fact make such work much harder.

The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) is warning that impact tests, included in the white paper, are likely to prevent mortgage holders from carrying out work such as loft conversions.

The white paper says that developments which have more than a “low impact” on the wider neighbourhood will need “specific planning permission from the local planning authority”.

This, says the FMB, could effectively spell the end of loft conversions.

“It is quite devious how the Planning White Paper has emphasised the removal of planning permission for home renovations whilst at the same time hiding the effective removal of permitted development rights for loft conversions,” said Brian Berry from the FMB.

“By applying the impact test to front or side roof extensions and to rear roof extensions that are less than one metre from eaves, ridges, verges or party walls, the proposal effectively wipes out all loft conversions in built up urban areas.”

Mr Berry went on to point out that loft conversions are becoming more popular among homeowners as it is often more financially viable to renovate a property rather than move house.

Tags: house, mortgage holders, low impact, neighbourhood, Loft, government white paper, development, planning authority