Landlords and tenants will be able to rate each other on a trust website designed to remove some of the risk of renting property. www.Trustedlets.co.uk allows property owners and residents to build up an online reputation for themselves and aims to cut the likelihood of ending up with the tenants from hell.

Working in a similar way to auction site eBay, the firm could help landlords cut out the use of expensive agents and could also prove popular given the buoyant state of the rental sector in the UK. Quoted by Property Investor News, site director Charles Peak-Smylie said:

“The idea behind trustedlets.co.uk was borne out of the change in the law regarding deposits, we wanted to offer a service to landlords who wanted to find tenants but who did not want to have to take a deposit.”

The site’s about section says it is the first business in the world to offer landlords and tenants the opportunity to mutually rate each other and to develop an online reputation. It states:

“Our belief is that current approaches to improve the experience of tenants and landlords (particularly recent changes to the law) were not addressing some of the root causes of the problems. We developed TrustedLets as a result.”

UK property builders could end up paying car tax-style fees for houses which fail to reach certain environmental requirements, experts warn. The British Property Federation (BPF) released a statement on the points raised by the head of sustainability at EC Harris during a conference. Matt Fulford also told the SCORe event

“up to 35 per cent of carbon savings could be made with little or no cost”

, meaning property owners should look at tenant behaviour before engaging in costly refurbishments. He warned:

“The future for properties could be like vehicle excise duty, perhaps linked to business rates or stamp duty. We know there is a showroom tax on high polluting cars and this is very similar to stamp duty.”

The BPF’s chief executive Liz Peace added

“the property industry should not be expected to run power stations”

, in relation to increasing renewable energy commitments. The All Party Urban Development Group, a committee of MPs and peers, will publish the first ever parliamentary report on existing buildings on 16 July. Details of the report are expected to make hard-hitting recommendations to the government on how to minimise the environmental impact of property.

It is estimated about half of the UK’s carbon emissions are in some way related to buildings.

A UAE property developer has launched a seven tower commercial and residential project collectively valued at AED 1.3 billion. Sweet Homes is building the community in Ajman Uptown a township project in the Emirate also featuring luxury villas and town houses.

The company hopes to tempt property investors with five mixed-use luxury towers including Heliconia, a 42,936 sq m building, and the smaller Iris and Jatropa constructions. Sweet Homes boss Fahad Sattar Dero said:

“Our vision of establishing Ajman as a new real estate destination in the region is fast becoming a reality, and with the launch of these seven towers we are on track to achieving this ambitious objective.”

Ajman Uptown will also incorporate two office towers, Freesia and Gardenia, which will offer an tempting location for commercial and retail spaces due to the projects’ prime location, accessible directly from the Emirates Road and adjacent to Emirates City.

The prime residential development will also include a school, healthcare centre, a fire station and several mosques. Mr Dero hinted further projects could be announced in future, saying Sweet Homes was “certainly looking” at further servicing the growing property demands of Ajman.