Agencies & People
News covering the businesses, activities, people and personalities in estate agency and letting agency and wider residential property industry.
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Record breakers across the auction market
David Sandeman, Managing Director at Essential Information Group, reports...
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OnTheMarket founding agency Douglas & Gordon signs up with ZPG
Douglas & Gordon, one of the most vocal founding members of OnTheMarket.com, has returned to ZPG on an unspecified but likely five-year deal. The 18-branch agency, which is one of London’s better-known agency brands, has signed up with ZPG after OnTheMarket dropped its one other portal rule ahead of the portal’s recent stock market flotation although it “remains a strong supporter and investor in OnTheMarket and has recently signed a new five-year listing agreement with us,” an OTM spokesperson told The Negotiatotor. Douglas & Gordon continues to list its properties on Rightmove as well, suggesting a new trend in the industry following the OTM share launch; that agents with generous marketing budgets will now choose to list with all three portals. Douglas & Gordon was one of several high profile agents who founded OnTheMarket in 2015 including Savills, Strutt & Parker, Knight Frank, Chestertons and Glentree Estates following two years of behind-the-scenes discussions. James Evans (pictured, left), Douglas & Gordon’s current CEO, says, “We are delighted to be marketing all of our property listings with ZPG again. “ZPG have historically served our business very well and have considerably developed their platform over the past few years in terms of the…
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Christmas crackers at Symonds & Sampson auction
People in search of building plots and renovation projects flocked to The Memorial Hall in Sherborne, Dorset on 8th December for Symonds & Sampson’s final auction of 2017.
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Both Purplebricks and OpenRent change claims made on their websites following ASA investigations
Two of the UK’s largest online agents have been reported to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) about misleading claims on their websites. The first is Purplebricks, its 11th referral since it started up in 2015. A complainant challenged whether the way the company provides information about its standard fee of £849 was misleading. An icon is positioned next to text saying “our standard fee £849” which, when hovered over, pops up with the text: “This is our standard fee for everywhere outside of London and surrounding areas, where we charge £1199 inc VAT. Around 40% of our customers pay us a fixed fee of £300 to cover ALL viewings”. The complainant understood that the average fee was therefore likely to be higher than £849 and challenged whether this was misleading. The ASA says it agreed, saying that “we noted that it was only when a user hovered over the icon that information about the additional cost for the viewing service became visible”. “We approached the advertiser with our concerns and they agreed to amend their website.” Instead, the Purplebricks site now says “viewing service is optional £300” on the main page, rather than as a pop-up. OpenRent complaint The second…
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Rogue estate agent forced to cash in pension to pay back fraud victims
A rogue estate agent has been reduced to living in a caravan and has had to cash in his pension after being returned to court two years after initially being convicted of fraud to pay back the friends and clients he stole money from. Russell Baker, 60, is now thought to have taken £400,000 from people in and around Bovey Tracey (pictured, right) and South Dartmoor in Devon during 2013 to help keep his sales and lettings business, Ashby’s, afloat even though he knew the people he borrowed the money off would not get it back. Baker was a director of three companies which claimed to operate as estate agencies in Devon, all of which have now been dissolved. These are Ashby’s Estate Agents (Devon) Limited, Ashby’s Estate Agents Limited and Baker Lewis Ltd. He had originally told those giving him the money that he wanted to use the cash to buy out a business partner and solve a cashflow bottleneck, but also used classic ‘rob Peter to pay Paul’ tactics to try and keep his business going. This included pocketing one couples’ £22,500 pre-contract deposit for a property purchase, Devon and Somerset Trading Standards Service found during its investigation…
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Hunters acquisition rebrands
Hunters branches in Buntingford, Stevenage and Baldock Lettings opened in Hertfordshire on 1st December...
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Traditional agents just ‘twiddle their thumbs’ in their high street branches, suggests Purplebricks
A video published recently on YouTube by Purplebricks suggests that traditional estate agents just sit and “twiddle their thumbs” in their high street branches. The 30-second video, which has attracted nearly half a million views since it was published both on its own website and on Youtube, features an apathetic woman reclining on a couch who asks whether, if she uses Purplebricks, she will have to “do everything myself?”. The video goes on to make the claim that its Local Property Experts can “manage every aspect of your sales wherever and whenever you need – we think that’s far better than then them twiddling their thumbs in an office on the high street”. Designed to allay consumer fears about using Purplebricks, the video is believed to have been produced by Snap, the same agency that cooked up the company’s ‘commisery’ TV campaign. Three other videos have been filmed for the ‘series’ including ‘how can you charge so little’, ‘why would I sell with someone new’ and ‘why would you get me the best price’. Investor worries The videos have done little to allay City investor worries about Purplebricks. Its share price has yet to recover from the report published recently…
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Stamp Duty changes to blame for 14% dip in property sales volumes says Your Move
The changes to Stamp Duty ushered in by George Osborne in 2014 have reduced property sales in London and the South by up to 30%, analysis of Land Registry data has revealed. The number of homes sold each year has plummeted by nearly a third in London and by 20% in the South over the past two years, according to the monthly Your Move/Acadata house price index, although the sales volume reduction has been less acute nationally, at 14%. These figures are also very different across the UK. For example, in the northern regions the volume reduction is just 11% while in Wales the number of homes sold increased by 2%. “The slowdown in London can now also be seen in the South East. Time will tell if the rest of England and Wales remains resilient,” says Oliver Blake (pictured, left), Managing Director of Your Move. His company’s index reveals one silver lining and potentially brighter times ahead for agents. The Christmas/NY shutdown for 2017/18 did not depress sales volumes as much as it usually does during the festive season. “We estimate that the number of housing transactions [during] January 2018 in England and Wales at 64,000, down by 15%…
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Tenant fees ban and extra red tape will cause ‘bonfire of the small letting agents’
Before you read on, if you haven’t signed the petition against the ban, SIGN HERE! It needs just a few more signatures for it to become a question that the House of Commons must examine. The lettings sector is to see many smaller agencies exit the market as increased regulation and next year’s tenant fees ban began to bite, it has been claimed. Franchised lettings giant Belvoir has revealed in its latest trading update that the group expects to help its franchisees ‘mop up’ as increasing numbers of smaller local rivals shut down over the next year or more. Belvoir also says it is doing well, despite its failed attempt to merge with rival The Property Franchise Group – owner of Martin & Co – in October last year. Fees from franchisees increased by 22% and overall group revenue increased by 13% to £9.9 million, both figures boosted by its first full-year contributions from Northwood, which it bought in June 2016, and the recruitment of six new franchise owners. Belvoir also says it is helping its franchisees expand as much through rental portfolio buy-ups as franchised branch openings. The latest results show that its network hoovered up 23 such portfolios,…
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All good cheer at Andrews & Robertson
Andrews & Robertson ended its 2017 calendar of auctions on a high with a strong 82 per cent sale.
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