Archived Letting Agent Industry News - August 2010
Letting agents to see supply increase
This article was brought to you by Rentman the rent property management system.Letting agents could be set to see the supply of rental properties incr...
31-Aug-2010
Rightmove profits climb 39% as more agents sign up
A rise in the number of agents and an overall willingness to pay more to Rightmove has helped the portal giant to a 39% rise in profits.
Rightmove ...
27-Aug-2010
Portal creates new'check out your competition'stats
Property portal Home has created some new statistic pages on its site which we reckon will make compulsive reading for agents wanting to check out the...
27-Aug-2010
Six in ten mortgages are now for house purchase
The proportion of mortgages being taken out for purchases, as opposed to remortgages, is at its highest level for years, although the actual number of...
27-Aug-2010
Now everyone can do an'EPC'thanks to new phone app
In what sounds like bad news for the already beleaguered energy assessor industry, a new phone app is being launched which will give everyone the abil...
27-Aug-2010
Savills shares plunge despite huge climb in profits
Revenue and profits at Savills for the six months to the end of June soared, but the company warned that things might not be so sunny for the rest of ...
27-Aug-2010
Landlord prosecuted for illegal gas work
This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium rent management software.A landlord from Exeter has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Ex...
27-Aug-2010
Students 'affected by letting agent rent increases'
This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium property management system.Students are increasingly being affected by letting agents charging ...
26-Aug-2010
Over 1m HIPs wasted as majority of homes fail to sell
More than one million unnecessary Home Information Packs were issued in the 12 months to June this year, because so many houses failed to sell.
New...
25-Aug-2010
Mortgage rates'could soar to 14% in next two years'
Mortgage rates could soar to 14% over the next two years.
Moneyfacts is the latest to issue such a warning – the starkest yet.
...
25-Aug-2010
Zoopla throws down TV advert challenge to Rightmove
Property portal Zoopla is today launching its first national TV advertising campaign, which will include a number of prime-time slots across ITV, Cha...
25-Aug-2010
Home ownership unachievable for millions, says CIH
Millions of young people face a complete lifetime of renting as home ownership becomes increasingly unattainable, according to the Chartered Institute...
25-Aug-2010
Personal data firm in'big brother'move
In a ‘big brother’ move, global information services company Experian is to offer a new alert service, tipping off banks, lenders, insurer...
25-Aug-2010
Letting agent 'was not with regulatory body'
This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium property management system.A letting agent that left dozens of landlords out of pocket by hundr...
25-Aug-2010
Letting agents told good properties renting quickly
This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium property management system.Letting agents have been informed that good properties are currently...
24-Aug-2010
New homes for sale at record low in'nightmare scenario'
The number of new homes listed on property portal SmartNewHomes has fallen to a record low.
Steve Lees, marketing director of SmartNewHomes.com, wh...
23-Aug-2010
London tenants in bidding wars for properties
Well-paid bankers are pushing up rental demand once more in London’s Canary Wharf.
Benham & Reeves is reporting a 34.7% rise in new tenan...
23-Aug-2010
High speed rail link already blighting property market
The compensation scheme for owners of properties blighted by a new high-speed rail link has come under fire as being completely inadequate.
The rou...
23-Aug-2010
Online jobs business does deal with NAEA and ARLA
Online recruitment businesswww.propertyjobsdirect.com has launched a new service today in partnership with the NAEA and ARLA.
It will be available ...
23-Aug-2010
Auction activity still hovering at low point
Sales rates at auction sales are continuing at a low level, with around 35% of stock not selling.
In July, out of 3,910 lots on offer, 2,569 sold &...
23-Aug-2010
Private landlord service listing on Rightmove\"an issue\"
A national discount service which puts private landlords and tenants in touch with each other is advertising on all the main property portals, includi...
20-Aug-2010
Transaction levels topple by 28%, says London agent
A top London agent has broken ranks by admitting that transactions are down with falling demand.
Ivor Dickinson, managing director of Douglas &...
20-Aug-2010
Estate agent to star in TV reality show
A new star of the estate agency world is born. Or at least he will be next week.
Derek Richardson, of Squarefoot estate agents in Cardiff, will be ...
20-Aug-2010
Lending levels to be'subdued'for rest of year
Gross mortgage lending totalled an estimated £13.6bn in July, a 3% drop from the £14bn lent in July last year, although 5% up on the month...
20-Aug-2010
Conman caught money laundering in house purchase
A conman has been jailed for 11 years after wordwide property and finance scams worth an estimated £23m.
Eric Fitzpatrick Danison, 51, also k...
20-Aug-2010
Letting agent urges landlords to provide inventory
This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium property management system.A letting agent has voiced its concern about landlords failing to pr...
20-Aug-2010
Letting agent: Demand may make people homeless
This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium rent management software.A letting agent has stated that increasing demand for rental property ...
19-Aug-2010
Probe ordered into'confusing'house price surveys
The Government is to launch an investigation into the usefulness of its own house price indices – the Land Registry and CLG surveys.
The Offi...
18-Aug-2010
Take cover, Welsh agents: Liz Jones heading your way
It is reassuring to hear from the West Country that agents in that neck of the wood are so far unscathed by the experience of having to deal with wasp...
18-Aug-2010
Help wanted from West London agents
An estate agent specialising in mobility-friendly homes is asking agents in West London for help in finding a property.
The buyer has mobility diff...
18-Aug-2010
Average house purchase loan up as lending volumes fall
The average size of a house purchase loan stood at £139,404 in July – the highest since before the credit crunch in 2007.
The finding c...
18-Aug-2010
Landlords 'pay up to £1,000 to remove tenants'
This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium rent management software.Landlords can pay up to £1,000 to remove tenants, according to t...
18-Aug-2010
Brian Murphy Blog
The stand-out trend in July’s National Mortgage Index, a new index jointly collated by the Mortgage Advice Bureau and Coreco Group, a broker f...
18-Aug-2010
Letting agent 'should deduct tax from rent'
This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium property management system.Landlords have been advised that their letting agent is responsible ...
17-Aug-2010
Your chance to bid for Adam Walker training
Here is an offer you can’t refuse – and in a great cause.
One of the industry’s top trainers, Adam Walker, made a best-selling tr...
16-Aug-2010
Asking prices slide as sellers show signs of desperation
Asking prices for property new to the market have dropped by 1.7% over the last month – an average of £4,091 – as over-supply coinci...
16-Aug-2010
Letting agent calls for TDS to show common sense
Cambridgeshire letting agent Ian Sanford has reacted angrily over a response he received from the Dispute Service – the body that is responsible...
16-Aug-2010
Buy-to-let lending shows signs of recovery
Buy-to-let lending is showing signs of recovery, according to figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
The number of buy-to-let mortgage...
16-Aug-2010
Digital appoints new technology chief
The Digital Property Group has appointed Richard Yeo as its group chief technology officer.
Yeo joins TDPG after similar roles at Fish4 and most r...
16-Aug-2010
Brussels ruling on EPCs set to overturn Shapps'decision
An EU Directive will make it compulsory for energy efficiency ratings to be published in all UK homes ‘for sale’ advertisements, including...
16-Aug-2010
Landlords 'need to carefully assess rental demand'
This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium rent management software.Landlords need to carefully assess an area's rental demand before ...
16-Aug-2010
Thousands more properties have their asking prices cut
More properties on the market had their prices slashed last month, bringing annual asking prices to just below – by 0.2% – what they were ...
13-Aug-2010
Gloomy CML cuts lending forecasts for this year
The Council of Mortgage Lenders cut its forecasts for lending this year to be at, or below, last year’s low levels, and said transactions would ...
13-Aug-2010
Agent protests over tripling of Digital portal charges
An agent in Sutton, Surrey, is protesting over huge hikes in his rates to FindaProperty. Dozens of other agents are affected.
He has been tol...
13-Aug-2010
Eviction specialist bids to resolve squatting case
Landlords’ hero Paul Shamplina has offered his services for free in the case of the Brighton landlady and her four-year-old son forced to live i...
13-Aug-2010
New free portal jumps in to challenge Rightmove
A new UK property portal has launched, claiming to be mounting a completely serious challenge to Rightmove and the other paid for portals. Free to use...
13-Aug-2010
Sales levels notch up– but there's a long way to go
Transaction levels edged up 11% in July compared with the previous month, says the LSL/Acadametrics report this morning.
It said there were an esti...
13-Aug-2010
Letting agent 'will provide students with inventory'
This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium property management system.Students have been advised to expect their letting agent to provide ...
13-Aug-2010
Letting agents 'have seen industry change over 20 years'
This article was brought to you by Rentman the rent property management system.Letting agents have watched their industry change in the last 20 years....
12-Aug-2010
New homes industry plunged into fresh turmoil
Housing shortages look set to worsen while the future of housebuilding looks beset with uncertainty after developers made earlier efforts this year to...
11-Aug-2010
TDS announces new chief executive
A former management consultant and housing association boss, Steve Harriott, has been appointed as chief executive officer of The Dispute Service, the...
11-Aug-2010
Tenancy deposit rules side with tenants, says agent
A letting agent has accused the TDS of failing to address the fundamental problem of tenants raising spurious disputes, knowing that it costs them not...
11-Aug-2010
Marathon 103 bids for a single property at auction
There were only three bidders, and one of them dropped out early.
The other two battled it out for 20 minutes, seeking to buy a four-bedroom end of...
11-Aug-2010
£140m flat sale sets a new world record
The world's most expensive flat, in Hyde Park, London, is changing hands at a record-breaking £140m.
The mystery buyer – alm...
11-Aug-2010
Closure of courts 'will impact upon landlords'
This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium property management system.Landlords are likely to be adversely affected by the closure of coun...
11-Aug-2010
Landlord confidence increases, survey finds
This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium rent management system.Landlords are more confident about their futures than previously, accord...
10-Aug-2010
TDS tells agents to try and settle their own disputes
The Tenancy Deposit Scheme has apologised to its agents over its failure to communicate the enormous price hikes in this year’s subscriptions.
...
09-Aug-2010
Letting agents prove better at avoiding voids
Letting agents are more successful at keeping rental properties occupied than individual landlords, according to the Deposit Protection Service. ...
09-Aug-2010
Eight in ten people do not understand house buying
A new report from comparison website Confused.com has shown that most people do not understand the processes involved in buying and selling a house.
...
09-Aug-2010
Righmove most active tweeter
Rightmove is the most active of the property portals in its use of social media.
Research company Greenlight has monitored the number of Facebook p...
09-Aug-2010
Foxtons release iPhone app
Foxtons has launched an iPhone app, enabling users to search for thousands of sales and rental properties across London and Surrey.
The uniqu...
09-Aug-2010
Letting agents 'more successful at filling void properties'
This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium property management system.New research has suggested that landlords who rent their properties ...
09-Aug-2010
Enormous surge in profits for LSL
LSL Property Services made an astonishing £19.7m in profits during the first six months of this year.
The figure compares with £4.3m p...
06-Aug-2010
New iPhone panic alarm backed by Suzy Lamplugh Trust
An ingenious new iPhone panic alarm app has been launched by Legal & General, and supported by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, set up in the memory of th...
06-Aug-2010
Nation takes over from Longden at Sequence Lettings
Sequence, part of Connells, has appointed Stephen Nation as its new divisional managing director for Sequence Lettings.
The appointment follows t...
06-Aug-2010
Valuations rise– but first-time buyer volumes shrink
Despite sluggish sales and lending levels, valuations activity rose year-on-year last month, according to Connells Survey and Valuation.
But with b...
06-Aug-2010
New apprentice academy fast-tracks expansion plans
Bloom, the new apprenticeship academy for letting and estate agents, has merged with a major national training company two months before its launch.
...
06-Aug-2010
Landlords 'must provide decent standard of living'
This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium property management system.Landlords have been told that they need to ensure the properties the...
06-Aug-2010
Landlords 'only pay small commission' to letting agents
This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium property management system.Landlords should employ the services of a letting agent in order to ...
05-Aug-2010
Connells snap up national energy assessor firm
Connells have bought a very large energy assessor firm, Vibrant Energy Matters.
The deal, which was not publicly announced, completed towards the e...
04-Aug-2010
Streets Ahead go goals ahead to win estate agency cup
Well done to the 200 or so who took part in Sunday’s Estate Agency Foundation Property World Cup held at Wembley – raising £4,500 in...
04-Aug-2010
Prime central London property prices finally dip
Prices for prime London property fell in July by 0.5%, the first monthly decline since March 2009, Knight Frank has reported.
Despite the fall, pri...
04-Aug-2010
RLA calls for landlords tax relief
This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium rent management software.Landlords should be subject to tax allowances for money spent on home ...
04-Aug-2010
Asking prices slashed on one-third of all homes for sale
One-third of all properties currently on the market have had their prices cut – by an average of 6.1%.
Zoopla, reporting the figures, says al...
04-Aug-2010
Generous funds coming in to boost Sean Newman appeal
It’s great to get news of those in the industry who are helping Sean Newman and James Golding ‘complete their journey’.
Sean Newm...
04-Aug-2010
NLA landlords offered deposit scheme discount
This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium property management system.Landlords who are members of the National Landlords Association (NLA...
03-Aug-2010
Chinese buyers flock to purchase homes in London
London estate agents say Chinese investors are flocking to the capital eager to buy and one has had to recruit Mandarin and Cantonese speakers.
In...
02-Aug-2010
Public told to beware of using high street mortgage advisers
Consumers have been urged to give high street mortgage advisers a berth after two different reports said that virtually all the best deals are to be h...
02-Aug-2010
Agent is banned from using'win a car'advert
A complaint about an advertisement by an Essex estate agent has been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority.
The ad stated: “By appoin...
02-Aug-2010
Andrews hand over£350,000 of profits to charities
Andrews & Partners, the estate agents owned by three charities, has handed over £350,000 to its shareholders.
The company, which has over...
02-Aug-2010
Connells surveyors appointed to Savills Private Finance
Connells Survey & Valuation has been appointed to provide valuation services to Savills Private Finance.
Savills Private Finance is one o...
02-Aug-2010
Letting agent aiming to improve standards
This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium property management system.A letting agent has stated that he is aiming to improve the standard...
02-Aug-2010
