In November, a lobbying firm approached me and asked to pay me to write articles critical of the Building Safety Regulator for newspapers. Filmed undercover, their staff admitted secretly paying reporters for copy in British newspapers friendly to their clients: www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Lobbying giant filmed offering reporter payment for flattering client coverage in national press

Exclusive: Guardian investigation of CT Group uncovers practice that appears to seek hidden influence over public opinion

theguardian.com

Great to chat how we got into this housing mess - and what we might do about it with @AaronBastani and @novaramedia's Downstream. Currently premiering here, podcast to follow: youtu.be/_loukG73N6M?...

You Will Rent FOREVER. Here’s Why | Aaron Bastani Meets Peter Apps

YouTube video by Novara Media

youtu.be

Progress on fixing buildings with dangerous cladding calcified under Starmer. The switch to Burnham is possibly the last chance at meaningful reset: peteapps.substack.com/p/burnhams-g...

This model of building new homes is not serving us well. The dominance of the big builders needs to break – at least a bit – for any new model to truly flourish. Perhaps this case can be among the catalysts that bring that about www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

UK housebuilders have far too much power. Now a £4.5bn lawsuit could change that for good | Peter Apps

A legal case on behalf of some 700,000 people against the country’s biggest housebuilders could be a catalyst for much-needed industry reform, says Inside Housing’s Peter Apps

theguardian.com

Overheating in blocks of flats is a problem, but it's worse if you're banned from opening the windows. Blocks undergoing cladding works need some bespoke guidance urgently: peteapps.substack.com/p/what-does-...

Nigel Farage’s housing policy is a racist misrepresentation of what social housing is and who gets it peteapps.substack.com/p/nigel-fara...

Nigel Farage’s housing policy is a racist misrepresentation of what social housing is and who gets it

In threatening to deport 'foreign nationals' who live in social housing, Farage paints a distorted picture of who lives in council housing and how it works

peteapps.substack.com

Has social housing really changed since Grenfell? Reflective (hopefully) piece in today's Substack as we approach the ninth anniversary of the fire on Sunday: peteapps.substack.com/p/has-social...

Has social housing changed since Grenfell?

Nine years ago, a different government promised reflection and transformative policies for social housing tenants. But did it come to anything?

peteapps.substack.com

Safe to say that Grenfell survivor Ed Daffarn is not overwhelmingly impressed with the current housing secretary:<img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HKmpFgUWgAAjHYI?format=jpg&amp;name=small" alt="Image"/>

Not much in this. Fixing legal gaps around the eviction of domestic abusers is good, but it can't be spun as a transformative housing policy and nothing else is remotely new. Also, the numbers he's boasting about come from programmes started by the prior govt www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A place where everyone has somewhere of their own, to thrive and feel safe – this will be my politics of home | Keir Starmer

Underfunding, systemic failure and awful Tory policies bequeathed us a public and private sector housing crisis. As a priority, we will now fix that, says UK prime minister Keir Starmer

theguardian.com

This is an excellent exercise in genuinely constructive disagreement (from which I learnt more than reading polemics on the same topics)

Pete Apps@peteapps.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Dining across the housing divide with Jamie Ratcliff - We debate housing supply, rent control, building safety and more: peteapps.substack.com/p/dining-acr...

Dining across the housing divide with Jamie Ratcliff - We debate housing supply, rent control, building safety and more: peteapps.substack.com/p/dining-acr...

Dining across the (housing) divide with Jamie Ratcliff

Too many people disagree on the internet these days. So Jamie and I did so in person instead.

peteapps.substack.com

Latest Substack - - An update on where we are with prosecutions for the Grenfell Tower fire - Some loose thoughts on what Burnham might be like as PM from a housing/building safety perspective peteapps.substack.com/p/whats-the-...

What's the latest with the police investigation into the Grenfell fire

PLUS - some thoughts on Burnham and the King's Speech

peteapps.substack.com

Estate agents offering private landlords 'guaranteed rent' deals rake in millions every month from London boroughs to house homeless families. A mini-investigation by me for the @bigissue.com looks to a put a name to some of the biggest recipients: www.bigissue.com/news/housing...

How estate agents are earning millions housing homeless families

‘Guaranteed rents’ sees middle-man firms paid millions to help London local authorities find temporary homes for homeless families.

bigissue.com

Going to do the occasional history post on Substack, largely guided by something I've read about housing and thought 'huh, that's interesting, didn't know enough about that previously'. This time it's the Glasgow Rent Strike open.substack.com/pub/peteapps...

The Glasgow Rent Strike and a fire in Manhattan

The first in a new (occasional) series of posts about history, and a look at the significance of a deadly blaze in New York where three residents were trapped in a single staircase building

open.substack.com

Renters reform, the risks of regulating the private rented sector and why we have to do it anyway peteapps.substack.com/p/renters-re...

Renters reform, the risks of regulating the private rented sector and why we have to do it anyway

Plus, more revelations from the inquiry into the horror fire in Hong Kong

peteapps.substack.com

We do not talk enough about the way homelessness drives 'guaranteed rent' housing, and the negative impact that has on everyone. There are many better ways: inews.co.uk/opinion/uk-r...

The UK’s new rental scandal that no one is talking about

Middle-men and landlords are seeking an easy return from homelessness

inews.co.uk

Solutions are available. What is missing is the political will to say that enough children have died peteapps.substack.com/p/this-shoul...

'This shouldn't be acceptable if it was just one child' - why are so many children losing their lives in temporary housing?

Data shows a deeply disturbing link between homelessness and the deaths of very young and stillborn babies. What is going wrong? And how can it be stopped?

peteapps.substack.com

There are small group of people whose views on housing I hold in such high regard that if I see them arguing a point, I naturally just think 'well I better cross the road to whichever side they're on, because I already know they're right'. Giles was probably top of that tree

Pete Apps@peteapps.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I'm extremely sorry to read this. I interviewed Giles many times and followed his writing for years. He was one of these people who shared his thoughts and expertise so generously...

I'm extremely sorry to read this. I interviewed Giles many times and followed his writing for years. He was one of these people who shared his thoughts and expertise so generously...

Justin Bates KC@justinbates.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I am very much saddened to report that my friend, @nearlylegal.co.uk passed away this weekend. nearlylegal.co.uk/2026/04/gile...

Fire alarms had been deactivated for eight months in the Hong Kong building which suffered a devastating fire last year. A fire safety professional noticed, but said 'it didn't have to do with our work' open.substack.com/pub/peteapps...

Haunting echoes of the Grenfell Inquiry in probe into devastating Hong Kong fire

The Wang Fuk Court inquiry has uncovered some disturbingly familiar failings. PLUS - PEEPs, the NPPF and an alternative plan for London

open.substack.com

Behind the fatuousness and oafishly offensive comments made by Simon Dudley on Grenfell, lurked a dangerous idea which tells us something about Reform and the pushback against fire regulations in general: peteapps.substack.com/p/the-fall-o...

The fall of Simon Dudley - and what it tells us about the pushback against change post-Grenfell

Reform's former housing secretary's comments were almost cartoonishly offensive, but the ideology which sits behind them is also dangerous

peteapps.substack.com

This is a quote about building safety, but I think it is reflective of how big industry-wide scandals often manifest, not just in construction and housing but across the board: peteapps.substack.com/p/nothing-ne...

Next week, rules come into effect for residents who live in high rise buildings and would struggle to evacuate in an emergency. Seven years since the Grenfell Inquiry recommended this change, I've dug into what it means and why it's still controversial: www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/resi...

Residential PEEPs: how will they work and are landlords ready?

Residential PEEPs will require landlords to identify residents in higher-risk buildings who may find it difficult to escape from a fire. But will they work?

insidehousing.co.uk

'It's fundamentally unfair to expect leaseholders to pay for cladding remediation when their building has already burned down' Latest Substack looks into an eyebrow raising dispute between burned-out residents and the GLA: peteapps.substack.com/p/its-fundam...

'It's fundamentally unfair to expect leaseholders to pay for cladding remediation when their building has already burned down'

The Greater London Authority seeks its money back at a block ravaged by fire - but leaseholders will pay if it succeeds. PLUS - heat soaked glass, fire doors and a review of Eviction by Jessica Field

peteapps.substack.com

open.substack.com/live-stream/...

LIVE NOW: Live with Pete Apps and Giles Grover

Peter Apps on Substack

open.substack.com

Live in 25 mins ⏰ Follow me here to join in: substack.com/@peteapps

End Our Cladding Scandal@eocs-official.bsky.social · 5mo ago

📆 This Friday at 12pm We’re joining journalist @peteapps.bsky.social for a live Substack chat on the building safety crisis. We’ll discuss what’s going wrong and how Labour could fix it. 🔗 Link and how to join in next post.

📆 This Friday at 12pm We’re joining journalist @peteapps.bsky.social for a live Substack chat on the building safety crisis. We’ll discuss what’s going wrong and how Labour could fix it. 🔗 Link and how to join in next post.

Today, an investigation featuring multiple interviews, dozens of leaked documents, several trips out to meet sources, multiple Right of Reply exhanges, a 1,000+ word write up (including edits taking in legal advice) will do you for about two weeks' rent on a single room

John Self@john-self.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Ian McEwan speaks fondly of the late 70s when a fee for one review would pay six months of his rent - in London.

Hello! I'm chairing a session at the forthcoming London Housing Summit where we will be discussing the distribution and demand for housing in the capital. Lots of great speakers across the day - register to attend here: forms.office.com/pages/respon...

Submitting a 'safety case' proving a block is safe to occupy is a core part of the building safety regime. For resident directors, it is becoming a bureaucratic nightmare peteapps.substack.com/p/this-is-go...

'This is going to turn into a whole new version of the EWS1 debacle' - the Building Safety Regulator and resident-managed blocks

Submitting a 'safety case' proving a block is safe to occupy is a core part of the building safety regime. For resident directors, it is becoming a bureaucratic nightmare

peteapps.substack.com