Opinions & blogs

Not what it appears

It never rains but it pours. Not only has Stephen’s boiler given up the...

Dealing with the quiet times

I keep an eye on a number of the adviser forums, the Twitterati and...

Big shake-up of IHT next year?

In the early hours of Friday morning (23 Nov), the Office of Tax Simplification...

The case for the Housing Court

The creation of a specialist Housing Court is something that has been discussed for...

‘BOMAD’ product development is vital

Scanning through Twitter recently I saw a tweet which read, ‘TSB will go 90%...

Don’t panic – the robots will not be taking over yet

I sat in on some presentations recently which concentrated on technology and the effect...

Cast aside any landlord misconceptions

There seems to be a misconception in the buy-to-let space at present that no...

Housing wealth to finance retirement

Who should use housing wealth in retirement? That, unfortunately, is not the right question...

We’re facing an incendiary future

It looks like the fireworks are about to start in more ways than one. I...

Will common sense prevail in the Budget?

In the lead up to any Budget announcement, there is a degree of speculation...

There are other ways of making housing policy work

We are just days away from the 2018 Budget and, even with the ongoing...

There’s still much work to do

If a week is a long time in politics – and given recent events...

Group income protection can encourage better mental health

Despite a greater awareness of the issues surrounding mental health, the topic still has...

What brokers need to know about the new HMO licensing rules

The definition of a House with multiple occupants (HMO) has changed this week. This...

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COMMENT

FS25/6 and the execution-only irony brokers can’t ignore

Reading FCA FS25/6, it is difficult not to notice an uncomfortable irony in the regulator’s conclusions around execution-only sales. The paper rightly raises concerns about...

Less Autumn Budget and more Autumn Bodgit

After months of fevered speculation before the Budget residential property transactions juddered to a halt. I always suspected that as ‘confidence arrives on foot and...

What the agents say: 2026 housing market predictions

Next year should be a year of steady progress for the housing market. After a challenging 2025 where we saw little to no house...

Graham McClelland on Britain’s broken mortgage market

When Graham McClelland, the youthful and quietly intense chief executive of Gen H, arrived at the City of London office of the fast-growing mortgage...

Younger consumers are ready for protection. So why aren’t we reaching them?

For years, the protection market has assumed that younger adults are less engaged with financial risk planning. Yet the latest findings from Bruised Britain...

Latest news

Affordability issues likely to intensify until 2027, lenders warn

Mortgage affordability is expected to become a more pressing issue by 2027, according to...

Rising house prices ‘pay for Christmas’ for most homeowners

Most UK homeowners have seen their property rise in value by more than the...

IMLA backs FCA roadmap on mortgage rule review

The Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA) has described the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) Feedback...

Borrowers moved early as rate cut expectations built, Twenty7tec data shows

Mortgage search activity reached its highest level of the month on 9 December, nine...

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