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Morning Briefing: Grenfell Tower fire prompts gas pipe investigation
The Grenfell Tower fire prompts wider gas pipe investigation, housing market slumps for 12th month in a row and tenants overcharged by housing association.
In the news
The Grenfell Tower fire has prompted an investigation into incomplete records of gas pipes in tower blocks, the BBC reports.
Cadent Gas, which operates and maintains local pipes in four regions of England, said some blocks were omitted from its 10-year survey.
The company alerted energy regulator Ofgem, which is investigating.
The incomplete records emerged after Cadent received an information request from a council in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
Information given by Cadent to Ofgem suggested that 1,000 premises were missed off the records, but Grenfell Tower was not one of them.
For the 12th month in a row there has been a drop in demand from buyers in the housing market, The Guardian reports.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said that in March new instructions from sellers declined for the seventh consecutive month and prices were flat nationally. It blamed Brexit and the change to stamp duty.
The downshift is deepest in London and the south-east of England, said RICS, but prices were still rising in parts of the Midlands and north.
A “small number” of social housing tenants have been wrongly charged too much by their housing association landlord Torus after an administration error with direct debits.
Torus admitted one tenant was charged nearly £3,000, the Liverpool Echo reports.
Torus has said it will pay any bank charges that are levied against tenants as a result of the error.
On social media
The RICS survey has sparked debate on Twitter
They could spend a lot more money if house prices became cheaper. Utter BS from RICS plus savers may spend more if interest rates went up. #ukhousing #HousePrices t.co/nhOW3LKRCZ
— Paul Williams (@HIP_Energy)They could spend a lot more money if house prices became cheaper. Utter BS from RICS plus savers may spend more if interest rates went up. #ukhousing #HousePrices https://t.co/nhOW3LKRCZ
— Paul Williams (@HIP_Energy) April 12, 2018
And a documentary on social housing in Yorkshire again riled some but reassured others
Watching #housingyorkshire tonight, showing my husband what it can be like. Great to see staff trying to find the right balance between helping both sides of ASB issues. It’s not black & white. No case, no day is the same in #ukhousing, and it’s about helping as many as possible
— Gaby Wolferink (@drgabywolferink)Watching #housingyorkshire tonight, showing my husband what it can be like. Great to see staff trying to find the right balance between helping both sides of ASB issues. It's not black & white. No case, no day is the same in #ukhousing, and it's about helping as many as possible
— Gaby Wolferink (@drgabywolferink) April 11, 2018
