A 44-year-old former helicopter pilot committed suicide due to the possible homelessness of his family after the changes to Housing Benefit in November. The Coroner commented:

“What I find particularly tragic in this case is this act appears to be pursued by a man who was not suffering from an illness and appears to have made a considered act in response to his inability to find employment. The fact his housing benefit was about to be cut and the family would be at risk of having nowhere to live, and being ordered to give up his training course because of the Job Centre's rules, would appear to be especially poignant and tragic.”

Suddenly it's all starting feel so much more real.

Technorati Tags: property, real estate

Wandsworth's three hotspots, according to the Telegraph:

These are the Nightingale Triangle, a trendy pocket of cottages and terraced houses near Balham and Clapham South tube stations; the so-called Toast Rack – a cluster of larger Victorian and Georgian houses located near the restaurant Chez Bruce, where a young Gordon Ramsay honed his skills; or The Tonsleys, an area of smaller houses close to Wandsworth Town train station. The last of these is where BBC One’s hit comedy Outnumbered is filmed.

And prices are - according to the piece - rising at particularly alarming rates, leaving anyone renting in the borough with the idea of swooping on a family home as soon as it hits the market  in a very expensive position.

Technorati Tags: property, real estate

In Blackpool, a tenant's revenge [Blackpool Gazette]
Posen downplays inflation risk [Reuters]
Take That's "Metric" Mark Owen sells Wandsworth house after "10 affairs"... vowing it's time to "start again" [New Magazine]
Why not buy in London? [Hong Kong Standard]

The Rat and Mouse - it's about your house

Technorati Tags: property, real estate

The Telegraph takes a look at SW18's most expensive home, ever. The former Gabonese Embassy, in Parkside, Wimbledon, has been redeveloped by re-developer Bob Camping, and has apparently had interest from Andy Murray (who knew he was so loaded?) and Russell Crowe, despite a record-breaking £18m price tag. Wimbledon, you see, has unique appeal:

"People want to live in Wimbledon," says Camping. "You are close to village life without moving out of London. Women don't want to be stuffed away while their husbands are at work."

Hear that? Husbands... don't stuff your women away while you're at work.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

The deal includes a £100-per-month mobile phone bill, £80 a week in Waitrose vouchers, a Virgin Active gym membership worth £75 a month and a 12-month travelcard for zones one and two.

Okay, give me one year's Groucho Club membership, tickets for Rigoletto and an hour with one of your fleet in the UK's most icy car park, and I'll take two.

Technorati Tags: estate agents, London, property, real estate, real estate agents

Just a fortnight ago, the Rat and Mouse pointed its whiskers at Earlsfield, and it smelt good. Now - here's the Times - with a few more reasons why buyers looking for a value foothold into the London's south west might want to look at SW18.

property for sale

All eyes on Earlsfield [July 11, 2007]

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

Property portfolio managers Young Group have bought into The Retreat - a gated development of 26 apartments by Findon Urban Lofts off Garratt Lane, on Furmage Street - and are extolling the virtues of Earlsfield as south London's next hotspot. Although the Rat and Mouse knows little about The Retreat, it agrees with Young that Earlsfield has everything going for it in terms of location... situated, as it is, close by the Wandsorth-Putney-Clapham triumvirate, which has been making astonishing ground in property prices recently. Young Group buys properties off-plan for private investors, and lets them out for them too. They claim to have "successfully let all investors' apartments within a week of completion". The Retreat will be ready in the summer of 2008. More here.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

Londonist points to news that Youngs might be about to sell their famous Ram Brewery in Wandsworth (original story here). It's all a bit of a shame - as we've suggested before - but it's also a prime chunk of south west London, a five-and-a-half-acre site with a book value of £11.3 million. When we brought you rumours of an impending sale just over a year ago, the story was that the brewery was in negotiation with Multiplex. God, tell us this isn't still so! The statement currently mentions advanced negotiations with a developer, but doesn't name them. We still think it's all a shame.

The Rat and Mouse - now you can comment [May 22]

I would never aspire to live in Wimbledon, the shops are too chichi and the houses being built here are hideous, mock-Tudor monstrosities.

Designer Ab Rogers lives in Wimbledon, but in a hyper-cool Zip Up House, designed by his father. HIs children sleep in pods, complete with DVD players and stereos. And Rogers himself has a micro-office - a complete office-in-a-chair. It's a good read, and it's on the other side of this link.

Somebody is going to fall in love with this two-bedroom converted 19th Century coach house in The Tonsleys. Check out the two front arches (now French doors)... they were the original Hackney carriage entrances. There's a 30ft garden, too, and a small roof terrace, and the ground floor is open-plan in a very airy and cool way. Interestingly, the property still comes with its commercial license. It's with Foxtons, at £595,000. Find particulars on the other side of this link. (Incidentally, the agents seem to have really gone to town on this one, even featuring a glossy photograph of the inside of the owner's pantry. Say what you will about Foxtons, that's what I call attention to detail.)