Money

Home sellers will have to cut the price of their properties or work harder on promoting them if they want to get them sold, a new report suggests. Property listing website Rightmove said a wave of fresh homes coming to market is helping to push asking prices down.

Motorists were paying £752 a year on average for annual cover in the three months to the end of June, which is £16 less than the previous quarter and £95 less than last year, according to the latest figures by Confused.com and Willis Tower Watson. Despite the recent drop, car insurance prices are on average still £253 more expensive than rock-bottom premiums seen 10 years ago, when they were £499 on average.

An Englishman's home is said to be his castle - but when a property comes under unexpected attack from hazards such as flooding, subsidence or damp, it can feel like anything but a fortress. And it's not just wet weather that you need to worry about, it's dry and heat too. Lisa Beeton (pictured) suffered after excess water and poor drainage undermined her house.

My son's mobile phone was stolen in the street in Bridlington, by a woman well known to the police. Within 15 minutes she had sold the phone to a local shop, the CeX Entertainment Exchange. Police found the phone, caught the woman and said my son would get his phone back after she had been to court. When the prosecution ended, police told my son to go to the shop for his phone and I went with him. I have never experienced anything like the awful manner of the manager and his language.

Energy suppliers that fail to calculate bills correctly or deliver them on time are no longer allowed to charge customers out-of-the-blue for usage dating back more than 12 months. This 'back-billing' rule from regulator Ofgem, previously voluntary for suppliers, became official in May. But that didn't stop Co-op threatening Laura Shannon over a 2015 bill.

RA International is valued on the stock market at more than £120 million. The company floated on Aim a fortnight ago, the shares are 69½p and they should move higher as the business expands and profits increase. RA builds, services and maintains sites for UN agencies, Western governments, including the UK, and large multinational companies. Some customers want small camps to accommodate staff for a specific job. Others are looking for barracks, large buildings or even mini-cities.

The new service, called Tiller, will pit against the likes of Nutmeg and Moneyfarm in a bid to win the custom of those investing smaller amounts who are under-served by financial advisers. Like many of its competitors, Tiller creates a personalised portfolio which is rebalanced if necessary, buying and selling depending on what the markets do.

I have a water meter so pay for the water I use, therefore should I be preparing myself for a massive bill? On some days I've even used it twice to make sure my plants and lawn don't die but I am slightly worried about how this will affect my bills.

According to the latest J.D. Power reliability study of more than 13,500 owners, emerging and new technologies found in premium vehicles are resulting in more owner-reported issues. Suzuki, Hyundai and Skoda all fared well while it wasn't such a positive report for Land Rover, BMW and Mercedes.

The company, which makes cakes with Disney logos, fancy cupcakes as well as artisan breads, has been hit by higher prices of imported goods such as sugar and cocoa after the Brexit-induced pound's slump and by a rise in the national living wage. Full year revenues to the end of June fell by 3.4 per cent to £303.6million, although if excluding the revenues from the two bakeries it closed down last year, like-for-like revenues rose 2.4 per cent.

Lovell, an arm of Sports Direct, has paid £261,000 for the Cheshire firm, which collapsed owing creditors £1.6m. Specialist hockey and cricket retailers are said to be concerned that Newcastle United owner Ashley, known for aggressive discounting, could be about to undercut them. After Sports Direct profits suffered a slide last year, this week it has been tipped to unveil a 55 per cent jump to £103.18m. Also later this week, the Women's Hockey World Cup is set to start in London, with 16 nations competing.

Employers might offer you a better pension at the start of retirement if you give up some inflation-protected increases later. So should you accept or resist the temptation? Steve Webb explains 'Pension Increase Exchanges' and what people should consider before taking one.

An IPPR report's real eye-catcher was that the Bank of England should act on high house prices. But Britain is in such a property pickle that a five-year house price freeze wouldn't achieve much, homes would need to fall by 30% to reach their long-term average level against wages.

The Old Vicarage is a six-bed house in Cambridgeshire, which belongs to former British No 2 tennis player and Tim Henman's former coach Nick Brown. Nick has coached six of the top 10 men and women on the professional tour on the tennis court at the property.

The 4.7 litre 430bhp eight-cylinder powerplant has been stripped out of a £100,000 Vantage S and shoehorned into the diminutive Cygnet - the British manufacturers barely-bought city runaround. That means this bonkers bullet on wheels can hit 62mph in 4.2 seconds and has a top speed of 170mph.

Homeowners are moving a lot less than they used to because of high property prices and the cost of moving. It is leading to a boom in extending homes as homeowners stay put. But where is the best place to spend your money? We reveal if it is better to go up into the loft, or out the back into the garden to create a brand new kitchen extension.

Rachel Howkins, 70, was hit by the enormous charge after provider Unicom claimed she had used more than 17 gigabytes of data - which is enough to watch around nine films - in one afternoon. Unicom claims the data charges were incurred between midday and 8pm in February 2018, while she was at home.

No one likes to imagine their dream holiday going wrong - but it's always better to be prepared, just in case. From having your airline or hotel provider go bust to missing your plane or losing your luggage... Here's how to handle the most common holiday disasters.

While many of the changes are focused around the 2040 proposed ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel motors, some of the strategies are already in place today. We take a look at five ways the Government proposes to ease us all into electric vehicles, from converting street lights into plug-in points, chargers exclusively for cabbies, stricter MOT tests and incentives to purchase vehicles and home plug-in points.

Savers who are looking for fixed-rate savings account could grab a deal paying far beyond the current rate of inflation with a simple trick. At present, savings platform Raisin, which This is Money has written about in the past, is offering a £50 sign-up deal for new customers who use it.

A hot hatch must be savagely fast but also practical enough to be used all the rest of the time; tackle trips to the tip, the school run, five-up journeys to the coast. Here are the best ones. Clockwise from top left: Hyundai i30N, Ford Fiesta ST, VW Golf R, Honda Civic Type R.

I need to get a copy of my mother's will. My stepfather's daughters have got all the funds and my brother and I have been pushed out. However, in her will, it was meant to come to us. Lawyer Andrew Wilkinson (pictured) replies.

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee kept interest rates on hold at 0.5 per cent, in spite of forecasts of a 90 per cent chance of a rise just three weeks ago. Policymakers voted 7-2 for a hold, with the two members who called for a rise saying that they believed there were 'upside risks' for inflation.

Choosing the right DIY platform is crucial but a wealth of choice and changes to charges have left many investors scratching their heads. We pick some of the best. We also highlight why investing in an Isa makes sense, as it should protect your hopefully growing investments from tax forever.