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1 week ago | 
telegraph.co.uk | Maya Wilson Autzen
The number of households not paying their council tax has risen to 4.4 million, the highest amount in 14 years. Research by Debt Justice, a campaign group, found the figure increased by 40pc last year, from 3.2 million in 2023. It amounts to the largest number of households in council tax arrears since 2009, when the global financial crash wiped out families' savings. In total, taxpayers owed around £6bn to cash-strapped local authorities last year, up from £5.5bn the year prior.
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1 week ago | 
telegraph.co.uk | Maya Wilson Autzen
As of 2019, there were 730,000 retirement housing units in the UK, according to the Elderly Accommodation Counsel. However, in recent years, their appeal has dramatically waned due to their hefty service charges, which are payable whether or not the property is lived in. When an owner dies, their immediate family is forced to foot the bill while the home is on the market. This issue is being compounded by the council tax raid.
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1 week ago | 
telegraph.co.uk | Maya Wilson Autzen
As Covid-fuelled coastal migration wanes, movers looking to buy near the beach are in luckThe allure of living by the sea can be felt by everybody, no matter your tax bracket. At the top end of the spectrum is the exclusive Sandbanks, in Dorset, with the average property costing £965,708. Meanwhile, the most affordable seaside towns can be found in Scotland, with all 10 of the cheapest spots located north of the border.
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2 weeks ago | 
telegraph.co.uk | Maya Wilson Autzen
While rate cuts are usually good news for mortgage holders and first-time buyers, the opposite is true for savers. Falling savings rates mean investors can lose thousands in interest. However Sarah Coles, of Hargreaves Lansdown, said savers can still protect their cash and that switching to a more competitive rate will "keep you ahead of inflation".
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2 weeks ago | 
telegraph.co.uk | Maya Wilson Autzen
In order to qualify for the incentive, you will need to switch to a TSB Spend & Save current account by July 19. You'll need to do this via the Current Account Switch Service (Cass), which covers most major UK bank providers. You'll receive the £100 cash switching bonus if you log in to the TSB banking app and make five payments on your TSB debit card before July 19. The money will be paid between August 2 and August16. A spokesman said the bank was "pleased to be able to reward new customers".
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2 weeks ago | 
telegraph.co.uk | Maya Wilson Autzen
Helen Whately, shadow pensions secretary, said: "This is yet another example of Labour not keeping their word. It's just like when they said they wouldn't remove the winter fuel payment, only to then betray 10 million pensioners the first chance they got. "With each day it becomes clearer their pre-election promises aren't worth the paper they were written on."Dennis Reed, of charity Silver Voices, said: "In some cases, the service charges amount to daylight robbery of vulnerable older people.
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3 weeks ago | 
telegraph.co.uk | Maya Wilson Autzen
An investigation by the Times last month found that one in 50 McCarthy Stone homes have lost more than half their value when resold. The average loss is 16pc for properties built between 2010 and 2019, while the Halifax house price index grew by 42pc over the same period. It comes after The Telegraph heard from dozens of readers who complained their retirement properties were "impossible to sell" because of their high fees which have become the norm across the industry.
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3 weeks ago | 
telegraph.co.uk | Maya Wilson Autzen
John O'Connell, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "These latest revelations only further demonstrate how disastrous this policy has been, with taxpayers footing the bill for avarice of England's town halls. "When designing this policy, ministers anticipated it would only be used in certain cases, and would be accompanied by impact assessments. Yet this has not been the case and in most of the country councils have simply used it as a naked cash grab.
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3 weeks ago | 
telegraph.co.uk | Maya Wilson Autzen
Hundreds of thousands of Londoners left the city during and shortly after the pandemic, with around 100,000 people departing in 2022. It comes after figures last month revealed Moscow was the only major city to lose more millionaires than the capital over the last decade. The statistics, compiled by analytics firm New World Wealth, showed 30,000 had gone between 2014 and 2024 amid high taxes, a 12 per cent fall. The Russian capital suffered a 25 per cent drop over the same period.
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1 month ago | 
telegraph.co.uk | Maya Wilson Autzen
'Estate agent deserves champagne'Ms Daley-Frank's mother, Mari, bought her retirement property in Chippenham, Wiltshire, in 2014 and lived there until her death, aged 92, in September 2020. It is run by the charity and provider Methodist Housing Association (MHA), which operates around 65 retirement living schemes in the UK. The service charge was £6,000 a year, which funded the swimming pool, gym and cinema as well as the cleaner and gardener.
