Agencies & People

News covering the businesses, activities, people and personalities in estate agency and letting agency and wider residential property industry.

  • Agencies & People

    Agents prepare for a knockout event

    The estate and letting agents taking part in a charity white collar charity boxing event – Rumble with the Agents – met each other last week for their first group training session. The sporting event, which took place at the world famous Peacock Gym and was filmed by Channel 5 as part of a wider documentary, offers the agents the opportunity to try their hand at a boxing whilst raising money for The Rainbow Children’s Trust, a leading organisation providing emotional and practical support to families who have a child with a life threatening or terminal illness. Being billed as the biggest white collar boxing event ever brought to the property industry, ‘Rumble with the Agents’, which is due to take place at The Holiday Inn in Finchley Central, north London, on Thursday 21st May 2015, has so far signed up 10 fighters. The confirmed agent boxers taking part in the event are: Simon Welch- Savills Simon Hills- Life Residential Dave Ronson- The Heron Group Simon Peters- Panther Securities Kevin Pearcey- Winkworths- Willesden Nick Vent- Winkworths- East Dulwich Scott Hume- Infiniti Properties Paul Shamplina- Landlord Action Kendall Fleming- Life Residential Ahmad Baghbani- Fraser and Co Paul Shamplina (fourth from left,…

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  • Agencies & People

    Countrywide Residential Lettings Celebrate ‘100 Deals’

    Countrywide plc has capitalised on the growth of the UK rental market and significantly increased its regional footprint. Over the past five years Countrywide has invested over £80 million in acquiring over 100 lettings businesses throughout England and Scotland. During that period, Countrywide has opened over 100 offices in a number of key town and city locations. In celebration of succeeding more than 100 acquisitions during that period of time, Countrywide Residential Lettings held a celebratory boat trip last week. The boat trip launched from Embankment Pier, London and began with a Champagne reception followed by a River Thames tour of London Countrywide employees enjoyed a gala dinner. Commenting on the event, John Hards, Managing Director, Countrywide Residential Lettings: “Countrywide has a unique ability to grow businesses by ensuring they operate autonomously, retain their local heritage and benefit from Countrywide’s ongoing investment and support. “We have built a very strong and successful network of branches in the UK, via strategic acquisitions and new branch openings and we are delighted to be able to celebrate ‘100 Deals’. We would like to thank DWF legal businesses who sponsored the event. “Countrywide Residential Lettings value the importance of all our acquisitions and it…

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    Agencies & People

    LSL acquires major stake in Thomas Morris

    The acquisitions arm of LSL, LSLi, has acquired a significant shareholding in Thomas Morris estate agents which covers Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. Four of the seven previous partners have now exited the business as a result of the major stake snapped up by LSLi, the holding company for several estate agency brands based largely in the Home Counties with a combined network of 57 branches made up of wholly owned and franchise branches, including Intercounty, Frosts, JNP, Goodfellows, Davis Tate, Lauristons, Lawlors, Hawes & Co and Thomas Morris. Simon Bradbury (left), who along with Russell Sansby and Kevin Thomas, is remaining with Thomas Morris, keeping hold of an equity share, said: “Our experience with LSLi over the last few months has been extremely positive. “What we’ve found most appealing about the whole experience is that we will continue to run Thomas Morris but we also now have the backing of the second largest estate agency group in the UK, who understand our business, and which means that together we will continue to invest in Thomas Morris. “Most importantly the deal provides added security and additional opportunities for all the staff at Thomas Morris. We’re all really excited about the future.”…

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  • Agencies & People

    Tenant bargaining power grows

    New figures from the National Landlords Association (NLA) show that tenants are securing a larger proportion of private rented homes in the UK at below, rather than above, advertised rents. The data shows that 16 per cent of private rented homes are let to tenants at below advertised rents, with eight per cent of homes being let to tenants at above the asking price. Three quarters (76 per cent) of private rented homes are let to tenants at the advertised rent. The difference means that tenants in the UK are benefitting from a net proportion of 8 per cent – or an estimated 320,000 – homes let at below advertised rents. The NLA’s analysis found that more than a quarter of new tenancies in central London (27 per cent) are agreed at lower than advertised rents, with the North East and outer London close behind (both 22 per cent). However, just nine per cent of properties in the East Midlands are let to tenants below the asking price. Yorkshire and the Humber and the South West are close behind on 11 per cent. At the other end of the scale, more tenancies in outer London are agreed above the advertised…

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    Agencies & People

    Zoopla sees mobile traffic soar

    Zoopla Property Group (ZPG) reports that its mobile traffic is up by over 40 per cent so far this year compared with the corresponding period last year as more consumers than ever use the Group’s services to search for properties while on the move. ZPG claims to have delivered a record 45,000 enquiries during the first two months of the year from prospective vendors requesting appraisals to ZPG member agents, supported in part by its appraisal tool which allows homeowners to contact local agents to arrange a valuation of their home. Lawrence Hall (left) of Zoopla Property Group said, “We’re delighted to see that the various product improvements and innovations we are making continue to result in record levels of engagement with our tool sand leads and instructions for our members, reinforcing the exceptional value that we provide.” Rightmove is another portal that has enjoyed growth in web visitors, supported by higher levels of mobile traffic. Over 100 million people visited the Rightmove site in January, a record month for the property portal, helping to boost profits. The company reported that it made an average of £684 per month from each estate agent branch that uses the service, up 13…

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  • Agencies & People

    Hamptons International acquires John Curtis

    Hamptons International has this week announced that it has acquired John Curtis, a sales and lettings agency based in Hertfordshire. John Curtis, a well established agency with offices located in Harpenden and Wheathampstead, offers a full range of sales and lettings services. The acquisition of John Curtis demonstrates Hamptons International’s willingness and ambition of wanting to grow and strengthen its service further, according to Mark Goldberg (left), Head of Sales at Hamptons International. Commenting on the acquisition, he said: “We are delighted to start 2015 with such a strong acquisition. John Curtis is the leading sales and lettings agency in Harpenden and the surrounding area and will help to significantly strengthen our footprint in the Hertfordshire region, while bolstering our profile north of London. Today’s acquisition signifies a key part of the company’s strategic plan to expand its UK network, which includes 85 branches across London and the South of the UK.” Ken Whittaker (right), Director at John Curtis, which has been established in the community for over 40 years, also expressed his delight at the fact that his firm has now been integrated into the Hamptons International network. He commented: “We look forward to strengthening our position by being…

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  • Agencies & People

    Connells profits rise from £50.2 million to £63.2 million

    The Connells Group has announced pre-tax profits of £63.2 million compared to £50.2 million last year, thanks in part to the Group’s decision to sell its shareholding in Zoopla Property Group plc following the successful flotation of Zoopla on the London Stock Exchange in June 2014. The result represents a 26 per cent increase in pre-tax profits for the year and a combined 77 per cent rise over the last three years. “Today’s results see another outstanding year for the Connells Group. The housing market which started off strongly, cooled significantly in the second half however, due to our diverse offering and robust business model, we were able to get the best out of the market,” said Connells CEO David Livesey (left). “We are reaping the benefits of prolonged investment particularly in mortgage services, surveying and lettings,” he continued. “Demand for rental property has soared and to take advantage of this we have grown our operations through a combination of organic growth, cold start openings and acquisitions.”

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  • Agencies & People

    Hunters announces flotation plans

    Hunters, the sixth largest UK’s estate agency group, has announced that it is planning to float on AIM, the London Stock Exchange’s market for smaller growing companies, later in the year – with the aim of expanding the network to over 500 offices in five years’ time. Hunters will aim to raise funds privately on a pre-IPO basis by inviting investors, including both staff and partners, to buy shares. Hunters is looking to raise up to £2.5million of new equity, to enable it to accelerate further growth. Hunters is one of the major players on the national property scene having opened its first branch 22 years ago in York. The network is mainly franchised and now has 128 branches nationwide in key cities across the UK including London, Birmingham, Leeds, Leicester, Manchester, Middlesbrough and Liverpool. In 2014, Hunters opened 31 branches and increased the overall income by over 40 per cent. Hunters says that it has already invested millions in all areas of the business including staffing, training, marketing, technology, growth of the franchise network and premises to produce a first rate business with over 90% customer satisfaction rating; in comparison to the national industry average of 78%. In preparation…

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  • Agencies & People

    US giant Keller Williams launches in UK high streets

    A fresh wave of competition is set to hit the UK’s high street estate agents as US giant Keller Williams opens two offices in the UK. Following another year of growth, productivity and profitability gains in 2014, Keller Williams now claims to be the largest real estate franchise by agent count in the world. The Austin, Texas-based company added a net gain of 17,000 associates in 2014, increasing its worldwide associate count to more than 112,000, and now it has its eyes firmly set on further expansion by opening an office in London and another in Leeds over the next fortnight. “We’re number one and we’ve just begun,” co-founder and Chairman Gary Keller (left) said. “Keller Williams truly is a company built by agents for agents,” he added. “We’re all agents. And we share the same mindset, values and vision.” Franchising of estate agents has long been big business in the US, but it is now growing increasingly popular here in the UK, as a growing number of national and international firms view the franchising route as the best possible way to expand their own businesses in the UK. Century 21, is another American real estate agent franchise company that…

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  • Products & Services

    Sellers warned to beware of agents who list homes on OTM

    Homeowners who want to sell their properties could miss out on potential buyers, as thousands of estate agents continue to stop listing homes on either Rightmove or Zoopla, as a result of OnTheMarket.com’s (OTM) ‘one other portal’ rule requiring their member agents to stop advertising on either website, Zoopla has warned. Various agents have in recent weeks stopped listing properties with Rightmove, but it is Zoopla that has been most affected by the new OnTheMarket website, with a larger share of agents opting to cancel their subscriptions to Zoopla, in accordance with OnTheMarket.com’s strategy. Ian Springett (left), Chief Executive of OnTheMarket.com, in a press conference recently, said that OnTheMarket “want to keep growing” and get to the “number two position” in the portals market “as quickly as possible” and at the expense of Zoopla. But by preventing their member agents’ from listing homes on both Rightmove and Zoopla, which between them get more than 100 million hits a month, Zoopla argues that OTM is restricting consumer choice and the potential market reach of those vendors and landlords trying to find buyers or tenants for their properties. Lawrence Hall (right) of Zoopla said, “Marketing a property as widely as possible is…

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