During a recent radio show appearance PrimeLocation.com was corrected on a small but significant piece of property history by the London Evening Standard’s no-nonsense planning correspondent, Mira Bar Hillel.

The mistake had been to claim that Margaret Thatcher (pictured above, before she became Prime Minister) and her 1979 Conservative government had sparked the home ownership revolution that rumbles on today.

Mira, shaking her head vigorously from across the studio, pointed out that it was an earlier Tory administration, not Thatcher’s. Instead, in 1957  Harold Macmillan abolished rent controls and it was this, after rents subsequently soared, that persuaded millions of us to embrace ownership.

Even though Mira was right to assert this, for many people Margaret Thatcher’s ‘right to buy’ council homes scheme (brought in soon after her 1979 victory) was a seminal moment in Britain’s property market, enabling some two million or more people to buy their local authority homes, often at a very substantial discount.

But as many of us queue to see the film Iron Lady starring Meryl Street (pictured above), how has the property market changed since her triumphant, ‘the lady’s not for turning’ speech?

Like today, the economy was in difficulties and Thatcher had to bring in harsh policies to correct the downturn. Nevertheless, in those days first time buyers required just £25,000 to get on the property ladder (compared to £155,000 or so today); a million pounds bought a huge 2,000 acre country estate; and mortgage rates were running at 17%, something we haven’t had to endure this time round.

According to agent Jackson-Stops & Staff, wealthy commuters could buy a good six bedroom family home in the stockbroker belt of Surrey with an acre of garden for £250,000 – today it would cost over £2 million.

And Dawn Carritt, who heads up JSS’s country house department, also remembers how “loans would not be considered for anything more than two and a half times a person’s salary” and mainly came from building societies and that only a few years before women would have needed to get their father’s or husband’s consent to get a mortgage in their own name.

Tax was also in its own bracket in the 1970s, as many rock stars famously grumbled about at the time – including Mick Jagger. Inheritance Tax (then known as Capital Transfer Tax) was 75% and income tax for high earners 83 per cent, though it was reduced by Thatcher in 1979 to 60 per cent. Basic rate tax was 33 per cent but fell to 30 per cent in the first Thatcher budget.

Latest research in from one of the UK’s leading estate agents highlights how important homes to rent are set to become, both in general and at the top of renting sector as the number of households who rent looks set to exceed four million.

Savills says it expects both average UK rents and their Prime London equivalent to rise by 20.5% over the next five years driven by struggling first time buyers unable to get on to the property ladder along with those ‘reluctant to commit’ to moving up it.

Approximately one in five homes will be privately rented by 2016, Savills believes, up from the one in six households rented at the moment (according to English Housing) and a drastic increase on one in ten rented during the early noughties.

Homes to rent: a five-bedroom house currently on offer at £18,417 a month in Knightsbridge, London.

What this represents is a dramatic end to the Margaret Thatcher inspired assumption that everyone has a right to own their own home and eventually gets on the property ladder. Instead, if the trend that Savills highlight continues, it is only a matter of time before we end with a German property market with only the wealthy owning property in early life.

One of the more ironic elements of this situation is that, as the Savills research points out, it is those who wish to live in central London who face the hardest uphill battle to own their first property – a group highlighted by the TV series Made In Chelsea (pictured below); relatively wealthy 20-somethings who can’t afford to buy in London and who have to pay high rents to maintain their chic addresses. But having watched the mockumentary, your sympathies may end there.

The ultimate winners in this type of market is the nation’s 400,000 private landlords. Decreasing or stagnant house prices and rising rents are driving up ‘yields’ for them. Yields are rent as a percentage of property value and Savills they could hit up to nine per cent in areas where home ownership is low but demand for rental properties.

Given that even the best savings accounts and investment vehicles struggle to delivery much better than four or five per cent interest, it’s easy to see why the buy to let market is showing signs of recovery – lending jumped by 16% over the last quarter and is at its highest level since 2008.

It is the greatest publishing phenomenon of the 21st century and yet most experts agree it is still in its infancy -  blogging. And it’s continuing to grow rapidly as a new generation of writers take to the blogosphere, ready to exploit their passion for property and in the knowledge that there is a ready audience for their daily experiences.

But it is not good enough to just have an interest in bricks and mortary – or even be an estate agent – but rather to have something interesting to say. And although at first glance property would not appear to offer the razzle- dazzle of fashion, motorsport or celebrity, a growing army of bloggers is proving that there is plenty to say.

Let me give you an example. Primelocation caught up with an old friend who recently decided to invest in HMOs (or Houses of Multiple Occupation) in a south coast seaside resort. HMOs, to use a more tabloid description, are known as the ‘Rising Damp’ sector and are a profitable but often (literally) low-rent housing sector. It’s a tough, no-nonsense market in which rent often has to be extracted with large sticks and occasional carrots and Primelocaiton was amazed that this friend, a relatively genteel middle-aged, middle-class woman, would want to get involved. But she has, and so fruity is her professional life now (drug addicts, pregnant teenagers, absent fathers, alcoholics, fights and evictions) that it is about to spill out into a blog.

The range of blogs emerging from the digital woodwork was also reflected in the most recent Primelocation Property Blog Awards, the results of which were announced the week before last. Nearly 50 blogs were offered up for both public and judge-led scrutiny and some 1,500 votes piled in, followed by a Tweeting storm. The range of people blogging also widened – whereas it used to be a small community of enthusiasts and a small bevvy of keen estate agents both here and overseas, it now includes interior decorators both professional and amateur, several dozen agents big and large, national newspaper property journalists, keen amateurs, bemused home owners, professional and amateur home finders and many people who just love bricks and mortar.

There is one opportunity here. Where is the celebrity property blogger for property? Most of the big names in ‘homes’ don’t seem to have the time to write blogs and instead - as in the case of Kirsty Allsopp – restrict themselves to endless Twittering.

Too many for sale? How can there be so many homes for sale but no buyers?

After this blog last month started a healthy debate both here and on Twitter, let’s take it to the next level. House price analysts say a glut of homes on sale and falling numbers of buyers are causing small price drops now, with perhaps more to come.

But if people buy and sell at the same time, as most surely do, why are demand and supply out of line?

The mismatch
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors says in mid-2007, before the credit crunch, estate agents typically sold 45% of their stock every three months. That fell to 15% in mid-2008 before rising to 30% early this year.

But now, with more homes on sale, the sale-to-stock ratio is back down to 24%.

Exploding a myth
This increased supply suggests that in reality selling and buying do not necessarily happen simultaneously. There is a small but important time gap.

Research by Santander says 1.1m homes in Brtain were put on the market in the year to  August but did not sell, often because would-be buyers could not get a mortgage.

Some estate agents say that as a result, more sellers now wait to find a purchaser before registering as buyers themselves to avoid spending time and energy finding a dream home only to lose it because they cannot sell their old property.

“Supply and demand balance over time but there’s always a lag, never an exact balance. A year ago there were more buyers but fewer homes, so prices rose. Now it’s the reverse” says Lucian Cook, research guru at estate agent Savills.

In addition the new-build sector, which slumped in 2008 and 2009, is recovering and adds 120,000 new properties on sale per year without creating new buyers.

Dying, divorcing but not buying
A further factor is probate sales; elderly owners die and their properties are sold by relatives who already own homes – so they inherit the proceeds and do not buy. Land Registry figures show that in 2007 some 7% of deals were probate sales. But now, with home sales halved but death rates static, they account for 15% of the market.

There are also 120,000 divorces a year. Analysis by Savills shows that in a third of cases the couple sell their home and, at first, each person rents before buying later.

In the past these ‘sell-but-not-buy’ figures have been balanced or outweighed by first time buyers, who purchase with nothing to sell. But tougher mortgage conditions and average deposits rising to £35,000 mean FTB numbers are 50% of the level in 2007.

Let’s see if that starts a debate.

Q. My friend and I have rented a flat for the past six months. During that time, we have paid our rent on time and kept the flat in remarkably good order. However, on giving notice to the landlord, he has deemed to withhold our deposit without citing a valid reason. Can he do this?

A. Tenant’s deposits are usually required to protect the landlord against you leaving outstanding bills or causing damage to the property. A landlord is not permitted to withhold your deposit simply because of wear and tear or some other insubstantial reason. In April 2007, new laws came into force which provided protection for tenants with regards to their deposits. Under these rules, landlords must protect deposits by either paying into an insured deposit protection scheme or keeping the money themselves and insuring it independently. Either way, your landlord must tell you in writing within 14 days of you paying your deposit which of the two schemes he is using. Deposits secured this way are safe and should be returned to you when the tenancy agreement ends.

Let’s tackle this head-on. Firstly, look over your tenancy agreement and carefully check for any terms of conditions which you may not have been aware of which might permit the landlord to withhold your deposit. If, as I suspect, there are none, I would formally write to the landlord as well as the letting agent reminding them both of this fact, that the property and any contents remain in good condition and that you consider unwarranted withholding of your monies a breach of contract which, if the money is not returned, will lead you to seek recovery. This could either be, initially, via the deposit scheme’s own resolution procedure but, if still not resolved, ultimately through the County Court as a small claim.

West Lodge, in Hyde Park

It’s not often that you get the chance to find a rental property in the heart of a city, yet surrounded by nature and wildlife. But that’s the case in the city of London, where a few unusual properties have recently come up for rent – located in some of the best loved Royal Parks.

As part of the Royal Parks’ Better Buildings Programme, seven lodges in various Royal Parks in London have been decorated and updated and are now being let to tenants. The idea is that letting the buildings out will be a better way of generating revenue and a far more effective use of the buildings. Plus, they make very unique homes to lucky renters.

The buildings all have a long history, which is fascinating in itself, and offer tenants the chance to live in the midst of some of the best green spaces in London, which are packed with nature and wildlife. But most are also located very close to the life of the city and benefit from sought-after parking spaces. Tenants also get the added advantage of having a gardening service thrown in too, as the Royal Park gardeners mow the lawns on a regular basis.

Blackheath Gate Lodge, in Greenwich Park

Two of the Royal Park homes that are currently still available are West Lodge, in Hyde Park, a striking neo-classical style pavilion lodge with one bedroom, located minutes from Knightsbridge and the Royal Albert Hall, and Blackheath Gate Lodge in Greenwich Park, a three-bedroom early Victorian house, which backs onto the deer enclosure. For city fans who are lovers of history and nature, you can’t get much better than this.