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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Countrywide break-up now a possibility, claims former chairman
Former Countrywide chairman Harry Hill has said that he believes an aggressive break-up of the company could now “be a possibility”. The comments came as he hit out at the Alison Platt years, suggesting that the company’s habit of replacing “seasoned professionals” with retail-background management was a mistake. Harry (pictured, left) is also critical of the current non-exec chairman of Countrywide for his lack of property experience. This is Peter Long, who gained much of his track record in the travel industry and who has stepped in to run the company until a replacement is found for Platt. “City reaction has been very muted and most people close to the company appear to think that recruiting a high calibre person will be difficult, and any recovery process will probably [also] be slow and difficult,” he told website Dealmakerz. Although the Countrywide share price has bombed since the New Year falling from £1.35 a share in January to a low of £0.78p earlier this month, its share price has begun a mild recovery. Crunch time? Following early morning trading today it now stands at £0.90p a share. But crunch time for Countrywide is likely to arrive on the 27th April when…
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You’re never gooner guess which football team most agents support!
Football has been a key part of the property industry for many decades and hundreds of agents around the UK support local teams from basic kit sponsorships to major financial support. This includes most recently Purplebricks founder Kenny Bruce, who put £500,000 of his newly-found wealth into a Northern Ireland club, Larne FC. But the clubs which agents support in their greatest numbers has often been a matter of conjecture – and sensitivity – given clients might not like their team of choice, until now. Reviews website allAgents has scanned the profiles of the 50,000 agents on its site and found that the largest group of supporters are Gooners. Premier league Arsenal fans make up a fifth of the property industry, allAgents claims, matching agents’ fondness of being underdogs. The club, remember have not won the Premier league for over a decade despite the more recent efforts of Arsene Wenger.] The next largest groups of supporters within in industry are Manchester (15%), Tottenham Hotspur (13%), Liverpool (11%) and Chelsea (10%). Agents also like to play football, as well as being supporters. Some 56% list it as their main sporting activity, although bowls is less popular – just half a percent…
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A record smashing 2017 for Clive Emson
Clive Emson Auctioneers also reports a record breaking 2017.
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OnTheMarket has been signing up 16 new agents a day since flotation
OnThemarket’s strategy to sign up more agents on the back of its recent AIM listing appear to be working. The formerly mutual portal has signed up 243 additional sales and letting agents to its service, up from the 81 revealed just after its shares were listed on AIM ten days ago. The portal also says independent agency group Chancellors has begun listing its properties on the portal. In November Chancellors agreed to sign a five-year listing deal, but only if OnTheMarket successfully achieved an AIM flotation. This means Chancellors’ 53 sales and lettings branches, which range across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Herefordshire London, Oxfordshire, Powys and Surrey are now listing their properties on both OnTheMarket, Zoopla and Rightmove. The portal says Chancellors’ listing is evidence that agent support for the portal, which is now valued at £101.4 million following the AIM launch, is growing. Chancellors has agreed to more than just a listing with OnTheMarket, though. The company has agreed to actively promote the OnTheMarket.com portal brand with digital and branch-based marketing activity. Chancellors Group Chancellors, which used to be known as Hogg Robinson Property Services, in 2016 generated profits of £2.5 million on a turnover of £26.6 million, its latest accounts…
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Agent behind tenant fees ban e-petition reveals what he thinks of government response
Firstly, thanks to everyone who has supported our campaign so far. It shows the strength in our views and in my opinion outweighs the 4,700 [consultation process] responses on which the draft [Tenant Fees Bill] was based on. Do you think they made the 4,700 people who offered their feedback aware that their rents will be dramatically rising come 2019 (which has been widely acknowledged and wholly ignored)? Perhaps the government should take some feedback from the people who will be losing their jobs/businesses? And perhaps they should take some feedback from the people that will no longer be able to pass references because their affordability no longer meets the higher rents threshold which would you believe, has been acknowledged…and ignored. To say I am disappointed with the response would be a huge understatement and to be honest is a mockery to the hours committed to raising awareness and acquiring signatures. Tenant fees ban At no point does this response consider that a fee cap would be a fair and just solution nor do they make any attempt to explain as to why it would not be a fair and just solution – instead admitting that enforcing a complete ban…
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Network Auctions’ best year!
Network Auctions has reported an 82 per cent sales result, raising £3.4m in its last sale of the year on 7th December, marking a record beating year for the company.
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Exclusive: Leading online letting agent ditches up-front fees for its premium service
Online letting agent Upad has abandoned its up-front fees for landlords who use its most expensive service. Called ‘Pay On Success’, it replaces its ‘Complete’ service which landlords used to pay up front for but, unlike traditional agents, now pay for only when tenants begin referencing. “We appreciate that landlords don’t come in one size and that, therefore, we shouldn’t offer one single pricing package,” says James Davis, Upad’s CEO (pictured, below). The new service is essentially the same as the old one. For £399 including VAT landlords get tenancy compliance, a landlords’ club, personal property expert, tenant enquiry handling service, referencing, contract and payment management and photos. Its two more basic services called ‘Standard’ and ‘Essential’ continue to be paid for up-front by landlords. “We continually review our service to landlords,” says James Davis. “This ensures that the options we provide to them not only meet their current needs but exceed expectations and allow us to stand-out compared to traditional high street agents. “The launch of our ‘Pay On Success’ package is one such innovation and has already been very positively received. “Early performance data shows that this package is proving twice as popular as the ‘Complete’ offer it…
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Butler Sherborn in new corporate move
Butler Sherborn, the Cotswold property specialist with offices in Cirencester, Burford, Stow-on-the- Wold, Oxford and Wantage, has changed its business status to become a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP).
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Hunters opened 37 branches during 2017 and increased income by nearly 10%, results reveal
Franchise sales and lettings group Hunters says it outperformed the market during 2017 and increased its income by 9.8% to £38.9m, up from £35.4m in 2016, despite the “well-documented challenging conditions in the UK”. Today’s results come from its latest trading update to the City and includes details of its aggressive expansion, which included 37 new branch openings last year, taking it to a total of 213 branches. Like its competitors Martin & Co, EweMove and Belvoir, Hunters is hoping the choppy trading conditions within the UK property market at the moment will persuade more independent agents to seek safe anchorage in its branded franchise network. Cost reductions “Market conditions will continue to encourage independent operators to be part of a stronger group that can also offer significant cost reductions, particularly in terms of portal charges for Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket,” its update says. “We are already seeing an improved level of enquiries from high quality independent businesses. Our financial strength will enable us to both expand our network and reward shareholders with an attractive dividend.” In December last year Hunters began listing its properties centrally via OnTheMarket.com, rather than leaving it to individual franchisees. The City would seem to…
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Ewemove poach senior Countrywide branch manager to lead its franchisee support team
Hybrid agency Ewemove has poached a senior member of the Countrywide team to help its existing network of franchisees grow their businesses, and also recruit more businesses to the brand. Chris Webb (pictured, right), who until last month was a Senior Branch Manager at Countrywide and before that worked at Winkworth, has a 14-year track record in the industry starting out as a negotiator at a Winchester independent aged just 18. Now 32 years old, he will hold the title of Performance Director at Ewemove and report to Head Shepherd Nick Neill (pictured, below). “What especially drew me to the brand was its effectiveness in bringing together the very best aspects of traditional and online estate agency,” says Chris. “Having come from a very traditional background, I’m looking forward to further establishing EweMove as a serious alternative, and the go-to estate agency.” Ewemove, which is part of the Property Franchise Group, is unusual within the industry because, although it originally launched as an online agent, the company is keen to position itself as a ‘high street but hybrid’ operator and in January revealed it had six high street offices. “With our unrivalled commitment to customer care and our use of…
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