The Portland Road is known by many people in London as the place to go in terms of fancy shopping. It’s full of elegant houses, antique shops and art galleries, all within the upper class’ price range. The Cross, for instance, sells gorgeous cashmere dressing gowns costing around £400.

Yet while the street on the edge of Notting Hill in West London appears to be one of the most exclusive in Britain, it is also the most divided.

Only 600 yard away from these fancy shops, around which the rich and wealthy businessmen gravitate, a different life is being lived. Behind black gates, the most socially deprived people are living either in the Winterbourne House or the Nottingwood House.

The different residents are obviously divided from their neighbours, with a barrier what they like to call their own Berlin Wall.

Besides the standard of living, the most significant difference is the difference in house prices. In 2011, an amazing five-bedroom house with Bulthaup kitchen and private cinema, was sold for £6 million. About 700 yards along the Portland Road, a modest £244,000 was paid for flat 14 at the .

This extraordinary story is also told BBC documentary series in order to show that in Portland Road, some of the richest people in Britain are living side by side with some of the poorest.

Picture by: Alan Cleaver / Flickr

The 310m high Shard in London, which will be opened in July this year, is not even half as high as this master piece. Neither does the Eifel Tower come close to the top of the new broadcasting tower in Tokyo. After 52 years, the Tokyo Tower, which was the city’s most famous tower, has been replaced by a skyscraper which is twice as high.

It is expected to be Tokyo’s new main attraction for tourists as it includes two observation decks, the first one at a height of 350m and the second one at 450m. In total, the two decks of the Tokyo Skytree can fit 2900 people at once, 2000 people at the first one and 900 people at the second one.

Nevertheless this is only a new record for the tallest broadcasting building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai is still world’s tallest building counting 828m from top to bottom.

To get an impression of the needle-shaped broadcasting tower in Tokyo, take a look at this youtube video.

Photo by: hirotomo / Flickr

The Olympic Games are being held in UK’s capital city this summer. Although, London has been host of the Olympic Games twice before, in 1908 and 1948, this year will be remarkably spectacular. Restaurants, bars, hotels and hostels are getting ready for the main event. Obviously, for the UK sport fans this year is the moment they have been waiting for their entire lives. Believe it or not, but not every citizen of London is as enthusiastic as the main stream. There are inhabitants who are subletting their property and moving away from London for a couple of weeks. “I’m not into sports and I’m sure London will be overcrowded. So instead of staying here and getting irritated, I sublet my flat and go on a short holiday myself!” is what they say.

Finding a nice hotel room, hostel or flat in London is extremely hard at the moment. Besides looking at hotel sites, I would recommend trying to find the actual inhabitants who want to leave London. The funny thing is, it is actually really easy to find them as many of them are “complaining” about the Olympics on Twitter. They tweet about not being able to wait to leave London and offer their property for sublet. This is an example of such a tweet: “Booked tickets to leave London the day the Olympics start and come back when they finish…Don’t think of robbing me though. Will sublet ”

All in all, are you going to the Olympic Games in London this summer and you didn’t find a property to stay yet, just go to Twitter. Type in keywords in the bar saying “leave London Olympics” and you will find any tweet that include those words. Good luck and enjoy!

Photo by: Flickr / DC07703

More London 2012 Olympic tickets going on sale

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt bought themselves a gorgeous mansion for a rough 10 million pounds in Richmond. Last year, when Pitt was filming thriller ‘World War Z’, he, Angelina and the six kids were staying there too and decided to buy this dream property. This summer they are planning to spend a lot of time there.

Jennifer Aniston, who divorced Brad Pitt in 2005, is shooting a low-budget comedy drama called ‘Miss you already’. Therefore, she is currently house hunting in South West London, which is in the same area where Brangelina just bought their property. It is said that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston haven’t had anything to do with each other since the 2005 divorce, but now they might move close to each other it could cause some awkward encounters.

Where in South West London Anniston is going to live exactly is still unknown.

Picture by: Chesi – Fotos CC / Flickr

London is becoming more and more popular for celebrities. In the last couple of weeks not only Rihanna, but alsoAngelina Jolie and Brad Pitt purchased their dream property in the capital.

As new parents of beautiful baby daughter Blue Ivy Carter, the celebrity couple didn’t feel like staying in posh hotels anymore. For that reason, they decided to move into a fancy five-bedroom townhouse in West-London. For celebrities, this is one of the most popular areas in London. Other well know celebs such as X-Factor boss Simon Cowell, Virgin founder and CEO Sir Richard Branson and director Michael Winner are living there too. Both Jay-Z and Beyonce are going to be spending a lot of time in London over the next couple of months.

Kayne-West and Kim Kardashian on the other hand won’t be moving into their own property. Instead, Kayne rented an entire floor at central London five star hotel The Lanesborough to live in during their time in London.

This Tuesday they will fly by private jet to London City Airport. Exactly when Jay-Z and Beyonce are moving into their gorgeous property in West-London is still unknown.

Photo by: Love Meagan / Flickr

The days when house hunters flicked through the local paper to find their next home are long gone as the nation turns more and more to the internet. This has presented an expensive problem for private landlords, who are typically charged in the region of a month’s rent by a letting agent to advertise their property.  In the past, landlords have not been able to advertise privately on the big property websites such as rightmove and PrimeLocation, and the only solution has been to use a letting agent to give them exposure on these sites.

The agent receives and screens tenant enquiries and may also arrange viewings for the landlord.  The landlord then conducts all tenant viewings.  This gives them an opportunity to assess whether the tenant is suitable.  Once a tenant is found, you should always ensure you get full references and proof of identification.  This can all be done online now, so your internet agent should have no problem assisting you with this, and may even provide them for you.

All online agents vary in the service that they offer, some even offering a service which closely resembles that which you receive from a traditional high street agent, although of course the cost rises according to the level of service you require.  Web-based agents can also offer the same on-going care as a high street agent, including rent collection and full tenancy management with 24/7 emergency care.

Internet based letting agents will not suit every landlord’s requirements.  The serious cost savings come when landlords invest time and effort in the process.  Landlords who do not live near to their properties should question whether the use of an online agent is suitable, as they may be required to travel to their property on potentially numerous occasions for viewings.

However, on the flip side, online letting agents are a perfect solution for hands-on landlords, living close to their property and prepared to dedicate time to the tenant find process.  The time required will, of course, depend on the demand for the property in the area.  The reward in exchange for this effort is the opportunity to personally screen tenants during viewings, and of course to make considerable cost savings, and really maximise their investment.

Recent house market trends have been pretty abysmal and seem to be in line with the UK’s dip back into recession.

For many property owners, the prospect of placing their house on the market just does not fill them with optimism. It’s an expensive game with all the associated fees, it can be tiring too, with time-wasters, or people who are viewing just to be nosey. Very often householders will be going into negative equity too with very low house prices.

One positive thing house owners can do, is consider sprucing up the home over a one or two year period in hope of a more buoyant property market further down the line. You’ll also have the benefit of any home improvements in the mean time. One such way is to employ builders to add that extension you’ve always dreamed of, or maybe a new bathroom, and if you’re a bit more practical why not consider doing this yourself? There are plenty of DIY blogs with great advice, or home improvement books, magazines and plenty of online forums where DIYers can ask questions on DIY topics.

Trying your hand at DIY can be time consuming and a real learning curve, some home improvements are highly skilled jobs such as plumbing, gas fitting, roofing and electrics and these should always be carried out by a qualified professional. But for more basic improvements such as decoration, carpet laying, painting, tiling and similar DIY projects, you can stand to save yourself a great deal of money and end up with a home to be proud of.

Any such DIY or building work will only add value to your property if carried out tastefully, there’s no rush if you’re doing it yourself, some home owners actually work hand in hand with builders too, carrying out basic preparation work themselves under the guidance of the builder to save costs such as sanding down old paintwork or removing old bathroom and kitchen tiles.

Either way, whether you do it yourself, or employ a builder, home improvements are definitely a way to increase your house value and when you do finally come to sell, you’ll benefit from your hard work now.

Article by Simon Lucas, Blog About DIY

London’s new pride is expected to be ready around July this year. The skyscraper will include UK’s first five star Shangri-La Hotel, which is known worldwide for its expertise and luxury. On top of that, there are offices, restaurants and an observatory deck where you can enjoy London’s most stunning view. And last but not least, the most luxurious and expensive flats of the UK are located in the London Shard.

The Italian architect of the Shard, Renzo Piano, has created 13 floors for ten dream apartments that are estimated to cost between £30m and £50m each. This is said after a research conducted by Savills.

The the 1,017ft glass building is built only two streets away from the London Bridge, which is in contrast with the most prestigious neighborhood in London, Knightsbridge.

Actually, on average a house costs £520 per square foot. This is not even then percent of the price you pay per square foot for one of the new apartments, which will is between £5,000 and £6,000 per square foot.

All in all, for most of us it’s unfortunately not possible to make an offer. Nevertheless, everyone is welcome to spend a night in the Shangri-La Hotel, to have an exclusive dinner or go up to the top to lose your minds while watching London’s sunset.

Photo by: Matt From London / Flickr

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High housing costs within London have meant that many couple feel obliged to move in with each other, or that former partners must remain in the same home.

A survey by Shelter has found that couples moving in together for financial reasons was around 235,000 whilst a further 128,000 had to stay living with their ex. One example which was given by Shelther was the case of 37-year old ‘Carla’. Although she earns nearly £50,000 she cannot afford to move out and must still live with her ex-boyfriend. Carla believes that the reason she is finding it hard to find another property is due to the fact that the London property market is so competitive and some people secure properties by paying the rent for the next six months in advance.

Shelter’s chief executive Campbell Robb spoke before the London Mayoral Election on Thursday by stating how the current housing market was unfair in determining how people lived. He also added that the elected mayor would need to do something about the current situation. After Boris Johnson’s victory at the said election, he signed up to a campaign held by Shelter on behalf of ‘Homes for London’, an agency helping the current housing crisis being experienced in London.

Shelther have also warned that the situation of a housing market experiencing such problems is not only in the case in London, but can also be found in the south-east. The problem is caused by the fact that rental costs in 55% of England are 35% pricier than wages taken home, therefore making renting an pricey option.

Image: flickr/Ed Yourdon

Linden Homes is one of the biggest residential developers in the UK. They are good for almost half of the houses needed and absolutely disagree with the current policy plans of the government. The government would like to raise the efficiency requirements of new houses. These new Building Regulations would guide developers to build ‘zero carbon’ houses, which will press the energy bills. The only thing is, this policy goes along with increasing building costs.

According to Linden Homes, these increased costs would make developments unfeasible and would slow down the house-building industry as people are unlikely to pay more for efficient homes.

These thoughts shared with the Home Builders Federation (HBF), who also estimates a tremendous raise in costs. From their perspective the new Building Regulations for 2016 would mean up to £15,000-£20,000 extra costs per new home.
That could make some developments uneconomic unless the government eases financial burdens from other schemes such as affordable housing and community infrastructure requirements.

Photo by: liftarn / Flickr