Quality assessment scheme has helped to reduce landed housing construction disputes
Legal disputes between home owners and landed property builders have fallen by around 10%, since a quality scheme was launched last year. The Micro Builders Association's BuildTrust quality assessment sets standards for areas such as floors, walls and electrical fittings. Contractors can get their projects independently assessed against the scheme and receive a report as proof of quality. The industry association said up to 40% of its members have got themselves into sticky situations with home owners over the past three years. Many are over defects identified by unregulated third-party checkers. Alexandra Anand reports.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
16 minutes ago
- CNA
Britain says Google's online-ad commitments no longer needed
LONDON :Britain's antitrust regulator said commitments it secured from Google in 2022 related to online advertising were no longer needed after the tech company decided against a standalone prompt for third-party cookies in April. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had been concerned that Google's original plan to downgrade third-party cookies could have weakened competition in digital advertising. In 2022 it accepted commitments from Google that addressed its concerns about its "privacy sandbox" proposals, specifically around plans to remove some third-party cookies from its Chrome browser.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Greece, UK urge ships to avoid Red Sea, log Hormuz voyages, documents show
ATHENS - Greece and Britain have advised their merchant shipping fleets to avoid sailing through the Gulf of Aden and to log all voyages through the Straits of Hormuz after Israel's attacks on Iran on Friday, documents seen by Reuters showed . Greek ship owners were urged to send details of their vessels sailing through the Strait of Hormuz to Greece's maritime ministry, according to one of the documents issued by Greece's shipping association, which was sent on Friday. "Due to developments in the Middle East and the escalation of military actions in the wider region, the (Greek) Ministry of Shipping ... urgently calls on shipping companies to send ... the details of Greek-owned ships that are sailing in the maritime area of the Strait of Hormuz," the document said. All UK-flagged vessels, which include the Gibraltar and Bermuda registries, were advised to avoid sailing through the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, a separate document issued by the UK's transport ministry said. If transiting these areas, vessels must adhere to their highest level of security measures and limit the number of crew on deck during transits, said the advisory, seen by Reuters. On Thursday, Greek authorities had also warned of increased tensions in the region due to military activity, adding that the duration of the risk period could not be determined, a separate communication said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
CNA
4 hours ago
- CNA
Stocks tumble, oil prices jump after Israel attacks Iran
LONDON :World stock markets tumbled on Friday and oil prices surged as Israel launched a military strike on Iran, sparking a rush into safe havens such as gold, dollar and Swiss franc. An escalation in the Middle East - a major oil-producing region - adds uncertainty to financial markets at a time of heightened pressure on the global economy from U.S. President Donald Trump's aggressive and erratic trade policies. Market reaction was swift. Crude oil jumped as much as 14 per cent at one point to almost $79 a barrel, before pulling back to around $74 - still up more than 5 per cent on the day and set for the biggest one-day jump since 2022. U.S. oil futures rose over $5 t0 $73.14. Gold, a classic safe-haven at times of global uncertainty, rose to $3,416 per ounce, bringing it close to the record high of $3,500.05 from April. The rush to safety was matched by a dash out of risk assets. U.S. stock futures fell over 1.5 per cent, European shares dropped 1 per cent at the open and in Asia, major bourses in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong fell over 1 per cent each. "Clearly the big question is how far does this go?," said Chris Scicluna, head of economic research at Daiwa Capital Markets in London, referring to the Middle East tension. "The market has got it right in terms of stocks down, oil and gold up." Israel launched wide scale strikes against Iran, saying it targeted nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders during the start of a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon. Iran had launched about 100 drones towards Israeli territory in retaliation, which Israel is working to intercept, an Israeli military spokesman said. Washington said it was not involved in the Israeli offensive. The developments mean another major geopolitical tail risk has now become a reality at a time when investors are wrestling with major shifts in U.S. economic and trade policies. "The geopolitical escalation adds another layer of uncertainty to already fragile sentiment," said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo, adding that crude oil and safe-haven assets will remain on an upward trajectory if tensions continue to intensify. The Israeli shekel fell almost 2 per cent and long-dated dollar bonds for Israel, Egypt and Pakistan slipped. SAFE-HAVEN RUSH U.S. Treasuries were bought in the rush for safer assets, sending the yield on 10-year notes to a one-month low of 4.31 per cent. Bond yields move inversely to prices. Germany's 10-year bond yield touched its lowest level since early March at around 2.42 per cent. Daiwa's Scicluna said a further push higher in oil prices could dampen expectations for central bank rate cuts. "The ultimate response in bond markets to geopolitics is going to depend on how sharp the rise in energy prices is going to be," he said. Some traders were attracted to the dollar as a haven, with the dollar index up 0.6 per cent to 98.277, retracing most of Thursday's sizeable decline. Still, the dollar is down 1 per cent for the week in a sign that sentiment towards the greenback remains bearish. The Swiss franc briefly touched its strongest level against the dollar since April 21, before trading 0.2 per cent lower at around 0.8118 per dollar. Fellow safe haven the Japanese yen edged down 0.2 per cent to 143.79 per dollar, giving up earlier gains of 0.3 per cent. The euro was down 0.4 per cent at $1.1534, after rising on Thursday to the highest since October 2021. Sterling slipped 0.4 per cent to $1.3556, after marking a fresh high since February 2022 at $1.3613 early in the day. "Traders are now on edge over the prospects of a full-blown Middle East conflict," said Matt Simpson, a senior market analyst at City Index.
