Good morning.
The £6.6bn bet made by local authorities on commercial property is a “disaster waiting to happen”(£), according to the Taxpayers Alliance. Incomes are now well below expectations.
Simon Carter has been officially announced as British Land’s new chief executive. The current chief financial officer will replace Chris Grigg(£), who is stepping down in November(£) after more than a decade at the helm(£).
British Land fell 3.25% on the FTSE 100 yesterday, after making the announcement.
TSB will offer 90% mortgages(£) from 8am today until 5.30pm, unless they sell out first. It is the latest lender to offer loans with as little as 10% deposit in a time-limited ‘fire sale'(£).
Meanwhile renters facing eviction have been offered a reprieve by the housing secretary, but only in areas under local lockdown.
And the PM has been urged to focus his ‘levelling up’ agenda on the communities at the edges of towns(£) in order to help the most disadvantaged.
Former Pizza Express boss Hugh Osmond has launched a new restaurant company on Aim(£), but says he has no desire to buy up distressed brands (like Pizza Express).
LMVH is now countersuing Tiffany(£), following the souring of their budding romance(£).
JP Morgan has set 21 September as the deadline for leaders of its trading teams to return to the office(£).
Meanwhile, Lloyds of London(£) expects thousands of its staff to be back in the building by the end of next month.
But, if we want the workers to return to their desks, cities have to become greener, says Clive Aslet in The Times (£).
Supercar builder McLaren is planning to sell and lease back its Norman Foster designed HQ in Surrey.
The Royal Shakespeare Company(£) has hinted that it may ditch some of its ‘bricks and mortar’ as it moves away from “buildings-based presentations”.
Game of Thrones author George RR Martin has been told that a seven-sided mock-medieval castle would be out of place at his Santa Fe compound.
And finally, the “ultimate piece of Rihanna memorabilia”(£) has come up for sale in St John’s Wood, NW8. The eight-bedroom, five-storey mansion rented by the music star for a cool £18k a week is now on sale for £32m. Not only does that get you Rihanna’s pad, you also get all her furniture too. “There might be some international Rihanna fans with deep pockets who would be keen to own not only the house she lived in but with the furniture she used too,” says joint selling agent Jeremy Gee. We assume that sounded less creepy in his head.
