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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Profits continue to plunge at Foxtons as sales market remains “subdued”
Profits and turnover at Foxtons have dropped dramatically, the company’s half year results reveal. Group revenue reduced to £58.5m, down from £68.8m during the same period last year, while profits before tax nearly halved from £13.1m to £7.1m. The continuing pain comes from its sales division, which saw revenues down nearly a third to £22.2m compared to last year, and which the company says is a “subdued market” that is “negatively weighed upon by continuing political and macro-economic uncertainty”. London’s sales market continued to cool during the first half of the year, not helped by the General Election, the company says. The number of homes sold by Foxtons from January to June this year dropped to 1,544 from 2,314 last year. But the Foxtons lettings machine continues to deliver. Revenue from tenants reduced by only 2% which the company blames on dropping rents, which it says dipped by 4% in June, although volumes increased by 1%. London rents falling The company says it’s becoming increasingly a renters market in London and that fewer overseas tenants and “inflationary pressures on wages” are forcing rents down. Foxtons says overall the overall average rent in London was down 5% during the first half…
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Hunters buys SW franchise firm Besley Hill for £2.5 million
Franchise giant Hunters has bought one of Gloucestershire’s larger estate agency networks in a deal worth £2.5 million, it has been revealed. All 15 franchised branches of 40-year-old firm Besley Hill are included in the deal which are all in Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. Besley Hill began business in 1976 starting with a single branch in Kingswood, Gloucestershire (pictured, right) and then grew organically before expanding via franchising from 2004 onwards. The business also established a foothold in Gloucestershire after buying several branches from The Halifax. “Hunters’ national reach and reputation, combined with its strong focus on local ownership and local knowledge through its franchise model, is very exciting for us and represents great opportunities for the future,” Adam Offer, managing director of Besley Hill, told a local paper. “As all of our branches are franchised, the acquisition complements Hunters’ business strategy very well as well as enabling us to share our principles of delivering excellent customer service in both residential sales and lettings.” Day-to-day running Adam is the only remaining founder of the business, which he set up with Philip Besley and Robert Hill, and he and finance director Allison Firks-Matthews have agreed to stay on in the business…
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Preston estate agent corrects Rightmove listing after complaint
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has investigated a complaint against Preston estate agent Leftmove about two of the company’s listings on Rightmove. A statement from the ASA says the complainant said both properties were advertised as “under offer” even though Land Registry information revealed they had been sold in March and April this year respectively. The ASA says it contacted Leftmove which said the mistake was due to human error and both listings have now been updated to “sold”. Following the explanation and remedial action by Leftmove, the ASA says it didn’t consider that further action was needed and closed the case informally. Leftmove has five branches in Preston, Freckleton, Kirkham, Blackpool and St Annes and has approximately 16 staff. The company was established in 2014 and claims to be one of the fastest growing agents in the affluent area stretching from Preston, along the Ribble river and north to Blackpool. Its Preston branch is listed as 1st out of 172 in the PR4 postcode for instructions and it has sold 20 properties this year according to its Rightmove listing. It lists with both Rightmove and Rightmove and operates an unusual pricing structure, charging different set selling fees for properties,…
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Over 270 Guild agents sign up to be easyProperty licence holders
Over 270 estate agents belonging to The Guild of Property Professionals have signed up to become easyProperty licence holders out of a potential pool of 800, it has been revealed. Online-only agent easyProperty was bought by the Guild’s parent company GPEA last month, a deal that completed on 12th July. This will eventually create a new parent company, e-Prop Services, although back in June the deal was framed as a merger on the main Easy.com site where all the Easy brands established by founder Stelios Haji–Ioannou are listed. The drive to persuade to Guild members to sign up to be geographically-based licence holders for the easyProperty brand and service follows an 11-date race around the country by a roadshow outlining the proposition. GPEA claims 70% of those who turned up to the roadshows signed up via a ‘letter of intent’ to become easyProperty licence holders. easyProperty CEO Jon Cooke (pictured, left) says the business will be relaunched in September as a part B2B, part consumer orientated operation, rather than its current consumer facing only offering. News of the new sign-ups follows criticism of the easyPropery and GPEA deal last month by leading proptech consultant James Dearsley, who questioned the deal’s…
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Fraudulent Essex lettings agency duo narrowly miss going to jail
Two directors of an Essex lettings agency have narrowly escaped going to jail after the couple failed to lodge deposits totalling £42,794 for 73 rental properties with the approved government schemes. George and Kim Overill, who ran two companies in the county – Oakpark Properties (UK) Ltd and Oakpark Asset Management Limited in Harwich – appeared in court yesterday where they pleaded guilty to two counts each of contravening professional diligence as directors and a further two counts of fraudulent trading. In October last year the couple, who previously ran a roofing company before getting into lettings, faced 38 counts of fraud, engaging in unfair commercial practices and fraudulent trading.They originally denied all the charges. The court heard from a former employee that money at the business was “tight” and that one member of staff had injected £6,000 of her own cash into the businesses to keep them afloat while Mrs Overill went on exotic holidays and extended the couple’s home in Thorpe-le-Stoken. Essex lettings agency In mitigation, defence lawyer Stephen Dyble said the couple had not intended to commit fraud when they set the businesses up and that money owed to tenants had been paid back. Alison Lambert, prosecuting,…
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Nick Dunning snaps up London agent Stirling Ackroyd
Six-branch estate and letting agency Stirling Ackroyd has been bought by Nick Dunning Associates, it has been revealed. Stirling Ackroyd was started up in 1987 in Shoreditch and has grown into a major name in London both for residential and commercial property sales and lettings. It currently manages some 1,400 residential properties in the capital. In January of this year the company’s directors met to agree a Corporate voluntary arrangement, which enables companies that are technically insolvent to continue trading by paying back creditors over a fixed period. Stirling Ackroyds most recent accounts are also overdue, according to Companies House. Stirling Ackroyd has branches in Bankside, Clerkenwell, Hackney, West End and Chatsworth Road, alongside its original Shoreditch branch (pictured, above). Stirling Ackroyd Nick Dunning Associates has ambitious plans for the company including a programme of investment in Stirling Ackroyd’s branch network and infrastructure, and an expansion programme to grow the business three-fold in three years both new branch openings and acquisition. This is the third agent brand Nick Dunning Associates has bought this year, following the purchase of Adams Property in Ealing this June and Badger Holding Group, owner of Townends and Regents, in January. “We are very excited about…
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Consumers warned by The Property Ombudsman over Bucks agency’s conduct
A Buckinghamshire sales and letting agency has run into trouble with The Property Ombudsman (TPO) again after it failed to provide information or a written assurance following a recent complaint to TPO by several of its landlords. This is the second time The Property Ombudsman has had to intervene over complaints about Purfect Property Solutions, which in the past has traded as Purfect Properties(UK) Ltd. That company is now dissolved. Details for both companies include the same address on Temple Street in Aylesbury (pictured) and have one common director, Derek Hall. The most recent issue that TPO dealt with began when landlord clients of Purfect Properties Solutions approached TPO after they were unable to resolve a dispute with the company, details of which have not been revealed. The dispute was resolved in their favour and the award paid, but the case was referred to TPO’s Disciplinary & Standards Committee over the company’s conduct during the case. A warning has now been issued that will last for a year. TPO says this is because the agency “failed to provide information as the Ombudsman had directed or any written assurance that the agency would in future co-operate with the Ombudsman and comply…
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CIELA launch now very likely to proceed, says founder
The CIELA launch strategy to highlight the organisations potential downfall unless agents sign up in enough numbers has worked after founder Charles Wright revealed that it is on track for a full launch on October 1st. In June the Charter for Independent Estate and Letting Agents predicted the organisation would face a bleak future unless independent agents who had shown interest paid to join the organisation and give it enough revenue for a launch. But now Charles says agent recruitment is back on track after initial worries if “current trends continue”. The organisation has also recently launched its full website, positioning itself as a new voice for agents to prevent the “corporate takeover of the industry”. CIELA has set itself some tough initial goals for its first few months following the official launch including stopping the ban on letting fees and locking horns with Purplebricks and other online agents. “It has become clear that the most important post-launch priority for our members is to shine the spotlight on rogue independent agents,” says Charles (pictured, left). “The consensus is that sloppy standards among lower-quality agents, who are the ones most likely to be avoiding legislative requirements, stimulate the most public complaints…
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‘Why does our industry allow rogue agents to continue ripping people off?’
One of London’s largest estate agents has called for greater action by the industry and government to eradicate rogue agents after encountering increasing problems recently with rival companies who don’t comply with industry codes of conduct or regulations. LiFe Residential, which has a large HQ near Acton in West London, 13 offices across the capital and 4,000 properties under management, says since November last year it has received more and more cries for help from landlord clients who say they have lost deposits and rents after switching to rival agents who pop up and then disappear over short periods of time. “The fly-by-night nature of these companies, the fact that regulation of the industry is light and that the police aren’t interested unless dozens of people lose money, means these kinds of agents know they have room to operate,” says Jonathan Werth, a director of LiFe Residential. One particularly extreme example of a London agent that closed down owing tenants and landlords thousands of pounds is Oliver Knights Properties Limited, a company that ceased trading in April last year. There are comments on All Agents and many other forums full of landlords and tenants complaining that they have lost money…
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10% more off-market sales in London so far this year
London’s slowing property market has driven 10% more vendors in its prime central markets to dispose of their homes via off-market sales this year, according to Mayfair-based buying agent Black Brick. The company says it considers ‘off market’ to be those which are sold directly via the vendor to the seller, via an estate agent, who will utilise their contacts to sell a property without any marketing or brochures, or those sold from buying agent to buying agent. Some 38% of all properties sold by Black Brick during the first six months of the year were sold this way, it says, an increase of 10% compared to last year. The company says this is because London’s super-rich are increasingly anxious about putting their homes on the open market, and particularly worried about then having to drop their asking price, as London’s prime property markets cool off dramatically. Off-market sales According to Lonres, prices per square foot in London’s prime central postcodes have dipped by 11% since their 2014 peak and that vendors are waiting five months to find a buyer, on average. And Hamptons recently reported that foreign buyers have all but deserted central London since the EU Referendum, while…
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