A new scheme launched by the Housing Minister Grant Shapps will improve removals amongst social housing and help tenants swap homes easier.

The government has brought together four existing services- House Exchange, Abritas, Locata and Homeswapper- to create HomeSwap Direct. The provider will enable social housing tenants to look at properties across the UK and move nearer to family or to find work.

An estimated eight million people currently live in social housing across the UK and from April, all UK social landlords will have to make properties available for swaps under the Localism Bill.

Mr Shapps says that only 5% of people in social housing moved each year, compared with 20% of people in the private sector.

He said: “This quite literally gives millions of people the ability to be able to see whether there is somewhere else in the country they can swap with, if they want to move for absolutely any purpose at all. It’s good for them in terms of perhaps pursuing employment or being closer to family.”

Before the services were brought together, each site had different information and they didn’t share it. It meant that not everyone had all swaps available across the country and that social tenants could only use the swap service their current landlord was registered with.

The new system will enable families looking for bigger properties to swap with those whose children have left home and who want to downsize.

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According to the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), the private rental sector in the UK is running out of properties due to such high demand.

The self-regulating body states in its latest report that the private property rental sector is nearing capacity and that the number of new tenancies over the past year has been at a record high.

This corresponds with the fact that many Brits are struggling to get onto the housing market as fewer mortgage loans are being given and deposit requirements are high. Therefore, families all across the UK are turning to renting and as a result, the sector is running out of space to cater to demand.

ARLA claim that there are more tenants than properties as according to their latest survey, some 74% of respondents believe that demand is outstripping supply.

Findings from the study show that the demand in rental properties is high in London and the South East of England.

And furthermore, the length of tenants stay has increased to 19 months.

Tim Hyatt, ARLA President, said: “The Government is doing little to encourage landlords to invest in new properties therefore we are running out of quality stock to offer to tenants. This is reflected in rent increases and a lack of choice for consumers.”

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Image Courtesy of GoTRISI and reused under the terms of the Creative Commons Licence.

The world’s most expensive house is a 27-storey block called Antilia in Mumbai.

But the billion-dollar tower is lying abandoned at night-time because its owners refuse to move in with fears it will bring bad luck.

The property, which cost $1 billion to build, boats three helipads, six car parks, a ballroom, theatre and floating gardens; and it dominates the Mumbai skyline. Built for India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, who ranks as the ninth wealthiest person in the world by Forbes, the home has everything a family could possibly need.

But the clan reportedly won’t stay overnight and haven’t moved in since it was completed last year because it has fallen foul of ‘vastu Shasta’, an obscure Hindu version of feng shui.

Ambani, who is worth $27 billion, and his wife and two children are allegedly concerned that the building doesn’t conform to the ancient Indian architectural principles of ‘vastu Shasta’ and therefore fear the home will curse them of misfortunes.

Dinners and film screenings have taken place at the property so it is not completely being unused, however after every party the owners return to their former home.

The Hindu tradition of vastu Shasta emphasises the importance of facing the rising sun but Antilia is said to not have enough windows on its eastern side, despite the staggering amount of money spent on it.

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