Shapps outlines plans for elderly downsizing

This old house

Peer in bid to make welfare reform transparent

Crossbench peer Lord Richard Best has tabled a last-ditch amendment aimed at making the impact of controversial welfare reforms more transparent.

Bedroom tax 'defeated' in the House of Lords

The government has been defeated over controversial plans for a ‘bedroom tax’ for social housing tenants deemed to be underoccupying their homes.

DWP anger at defeat of bedroom tax

A Department for Work and Pensions source reacted angrily to the government’s shock House of Lords defeat over welfare reform.

NHF: ‘government inflated cost of benefit defeat’

The government’s claim that its ‘bedroom tax’ defeat will cost taxpayers around £300 million in lost savings has been disputed by the National Housing Federation.

Going spare

The government’s contentious ‘bedroom tax’ on under-occupying tenants is set to become law this month. Alex Turner looks at the disproportionate effect it’s likely to have in the north

Q&A: The Ecological Sequestration Trust

Eco-cities guru Peter Head has just left contractor Arup, where he headed an 800-strong global urban planning team, to set up a charity with the ambition to transform planning. Here he explains the thinking behind his latest project

Calling in the movers

The ‘bedroom tax’ is meant to encourage tenants to downsize if they are under-occupying their homes. But, especially in the north of England, social landlords say there are simply not enough smaller houses and flats to move tenants into.

Getting connected

In the second of our Focus pieces on digital inclusion, Liverpool Mutual Homes chief Steve Coffey outlines the work his organisation is doing.

Fielding opposition

Proposed legislation on registration of village greens would reduce risk to developers. Eollyn Ives, solicitor in the property team at Devonshires Solicitors, explains