Pipless fruit salad and peppermint tea on the menu for Oscar Quine's overfed Jack Russell Billie

For more than 30 years it has lain abandoned and derelict on the south bank of the River Thames, but Battersea Power Station is about to be reborn as a luxury residence – with towering asking prices to match its vast white chimneys.

Shadow housing minister will challenge power of councils and developers to help self-build projects

Inspired by New York lofts, photographer Mike Penn turned a central London office into a cool urban living space and created the perfect backdrop to hang his pictures

When Simon Read, The Independent's personal finance editor, hired a roofer to repair storm damage, he was shocked to see that half the bill consisted of travel time. So he wrote about it – and all hell was let loose

As George Osborne plans a new garden city at Ebbsfleet, Sarah Rutherford hopes he'll remember the progressive ideals upon which these urban utopias were founded

Ricky the poodle won the world’s biggest dog show prize after being named Best-in-Show at Crufts from more than 21,000 entrants.

They were built to last only 10 years. Seven decades on, the 187 homes of Britain's largest remaining prefab estate stand strong. But now the local council is set on demolition – so one photographer has given the residents the least their extraordinary homes deserve: a museum

Readers, property professionals and MPs back Independent on Sunday drive to legislate against dodgy practices that ensnare homeowners

Technology is an unavoidable part of the property market, but Barclays and auctioneer Savills have taken it a step further, says Chiara Cavaglieri

With Sochi under way, Richard Way looks at Chamonix, in the French Alps, where the first Winter Olympics were held in 1924

The Independent's economics editor Ben Chu rates the possible culprits and touted solutions and asks how likely they are to help us get through this mess…

The sector provides a steady income that is immune to economic shocks – as long as your property is in the right place. Chiara Cavaglieri reports

Greedy managing agents have been charging too much for too long for routine repairs

Sector back in favour with investors as it 'wakes up' from economic nightmare