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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UK’s ‘largest letting agent by listings’ OpenRent raises £4.4m from VC firm
OpenRent, the online-only company that claims to be the largest letting agent in the UK, has secured £4.4 million in funding from a Berlin-based venture capital firm. Global Founder’s Capital, the venture arm of Rocket Internet, is the second organisation to invest in the business since 2014 when Express Newspapers and OK! Magazine owner Northern & Shell gave OpenRent an advertising deal in return for equity in the company. OpenRent has 4,237 properties on its own website but also advertises on Rightmove, Zoopla and PrimeLocation and operates a low-fee basic model that’s free for landlords to use the first time, and then after that £29 for a basic package and £49 for a premium one, which includes tenant referencing, contract drafting, deposit registration and collection of rent. STANDALONE SERVICES The company then also sells standalone services including referencing, gas safety certificate and electrical safety checks, energy performance certificates, inventory services and photos and floor plans. OpenRent says it has 640,627 registered landlords and tenants on its books, promotes itself as the “service high street agents don’t want you to know about” and says it advertised 50,000 properties last year, although it does not reveal how many of these it rented. The…
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Hybrid agent ‘concept’ for build-to-rent sector is launched
More proof that the build-to-rent sector is establishing a significant foothold in the UK property market has come today with the launch of what is claimed to be new kind of hybrid property company. Two London-based firms, specialist block management company James Andrew Residential and new-build property management and lettings outfit LiFE Residential, have combined their expertise to create The PRS Partnership to manage one-owner apartment blocks. The two firms say their new partnership is the first to be created specifically to offer a one-stop-shop service for this market. Both companies say they already have 6,000 properties under management between them in the capital. Although The PRS Partnership claims it a new kind of company, several of the larger agents including Savills and CBRE offer block management services. Also, several specialist property management companies such as Trinity, which until now have managed estates for house builders and management companies, are active in this market. According to build-to-rent consultant Dustin Fjeld (pictured, left), there is a growing market for these kinds of companies. This is because he says, some of the larger US build-to-rent operators are already in the UK managing their own apartment blocks. “One company running these blocks will become a requirement for…
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Four Somerset agents admit sales fee cartel and are fined £370,000
Four Somerset estate agents have admitted being involved in a price-fixing sales fee cartel in and around the seaside resort of Burnham-on-Sea and in total have been fined £372,233 by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Gary Berryman Estate Agents Ltd (and its parent company Warne Investments Limited), Abbott and Frost Limited, Greenslade Taylor Hunt and West Coast Property Services (UK) were found to have colluded together to set minimum commission rates for residential sales at 1.5%. This follows a year-long investigation by the CMA. Abbott and Frost Limited has agreed to pay £30,099, Gary Berryman Estate Agents £97,807 and West Coast Property Services £58,273. Greenslade Taylor Hunt, a partnership, received the largest fine, of £186,054. FINE REDUCTIONS All the fines involved included a 20% reduction for assisting in the investigation while Greenslade Taylor Hunt received a further 15% reduction ‘for leniency’ while West Coast Property Services’ fine also included a ‘leniency’ reduction, of 35%. The cartel was brought to the attention by a whistle-blower, Annagram Estate Agents which trades as CJ Hole locally and that, consequently, has not been fined. This is part of a strategy introduced by the CMA in 2015 to persuade errant agents to report competition law…
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CIELA kicks off with an assault on Purplebricks
Embryonic industry organisation The Charter for Independent Estate and Letting Agents (CIELA) has asked the hybrid agency Purplebricks to withdraw its current TV advertising campaign and stop making comparison fee claims. The request was made in a letter sent yesterday to Purplebricks’ West Midlands HQ in Solihull, on what was CIELA’s inaugural day. The ‘club’ also says that it will be submitting a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority about these matters if Purplebricks does not take “reasonable steps” to address the issues. The letter, which runs to some 900 words, claims that some of Purplebricks’ advertising is “misleading to consumers” even though CIELA admits they are “not factually inaccurate”. FEE STRUCTURE The letter also goes on to criticise Purplebricks for comparing its fee structure and operation with that of traditional agents and the way the company calculates the vendor savings that its adverts are based on. It also explains why Purplebricks’ business model should be looked again given current Consumer Protection legislation, and why it thinks the company’s advertising may require scrutiny by the Advertising Standards Authority. CIELA is also worried that vendors do not understand the difference between the hybrid Purplebricks model and traditional agents, in particular that Purplebricks…
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Jackson-Stops & Staff now does holiday lettings
Jackson-Stops & Staff’s Sherborne branch has moved into holiday lettings, expanding its residential sales business by amalgamating with a well-known holiday letting company, Sherborne Cottages. Owned by its Branch Director Philip German-Ribon and wife Arabella, Sherborne Cottages has been amalgamated into the current business, which will now act as the go-to branch for both buyers in search of property in Sherborne and those looking to spend a few weeks taking in all that the historic market town has to offer. Philip German-Ribon, Director of Jackson-Stops & Staff’s Sherborne branch and owner of Sherborne Cottages, said, “The holiday lettings market goes hand in hand with our already well-established residential sales business as we often receive interest from buyers outside of the West Country who like to ‘test-drive’ the area. “Dorset has much to offer, with glorious beaches and stunning countryside, but it is especially famous for offering the quintessential thatched cottage holiday experience, attracting visitors from around the world”, says Philip. “Sherborne is a beautiful town and the properties available to let through Sherborne Cottages make a great base for those looking to explore its history and rolling countryside across the county of Dorset, but also surrounding areas such as Somerset and…
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ASA investigates agent over number of homes sold
A recent complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has highlighted the perils for agents of incorrectly using sales data taken from Rightmove’s Intel tool. The case involves an estate agent in Leicestershire who was reported to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for using a ‘misleading’ leaflet that used Rightmove data to claim that it had sold six properties in a specific postcode. Sales and letting agent CHQ Properties, which is based in the town of Shepshed just outside Loughborough and was set up two years ago, came to the attention of the Leicestershire County Council Trading Standards Services after it used a flyer distributed to homes in the LE11 central Loughborough postcode that included the claim ‘after selling six properties last week surely the best way of selling your property is with us’. Within its complaint to the ASA, CHQ Properties was challenged on whether it had really sold that number of properties in LE11 between 27 October and 2 November last year, as claimed. Trading Standards believed the flyer was misleading because it did not make clear which postcodes were included in the comparison, and that CHQ had not sold any properties in LE11 during that period. CHQ…
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Pastoral Real Estates new sales office
The new sales office on 11 Curzon Street is a welcome addition to their business.
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Senior Countrywide figure Ian McKenzie to head up Guild
Senior industry figure Ian McKenzie (pictured, right) has left Countrywide after five and a half years as its South Central Retail Director to take up the position of CEO at The Guild of Property Professionals. McKenzie replaces Marcus Whewell, who for the past nine years has steered the organisation and has been promoted to Chief Financial Officer of parent company GPEA. “I have worked for The Guild for the past nine years and have seen it grow and develop into a network of nearly 800 Members. I am very proud of this achievement,” says Marcus. GPEA includes agent Fine & Country, media services company PropertyLogic and online-only agent PropertyPlatform as well as the guild. McKenzie has worked in the industry for 30 years including running three West Country branches for Hambro Countrywide during the 1990s, then as an area manager for Halifax Property Services plus running his own property and financial services business. He later went on to be managing director of franchise-based agency Enfields in Hampshire before joining Countrywide in 2011. “I am delighted to be working closely with The Guild again, to support and enhance the excellent relationships we have with our members and expand the network further,”…
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Connells Group pre-tax profits rise, helped by £17m ZPG shares sale
Agent giant Connells Group has today reported a strong performance for 2016 including pre-tax profits of £73.4 million, an increase of 17.4% on the year before. This includes £17 million gained from selling some of its shares in ZPG Plc last year. Until then Connells Group had been one of ZPG’s top ten major shareholders with 16.73 million shares held, a million less than Countrywide – the two were part of a trio of agents including LSL to sign strategic partnerships with what was then just Zoopla in 2010. But Connells Group is doing well even with the ZPG windfall taken out. The group, which includes Connells and William H Brown, Barnard Marcus and Peter Alan, says it sold 8% more properties last year, 5% more new homes, generated 44% more income from its land division and 19% more cash via its new homes team. Other indicators twitching wildly include those at its mortgage arranging business where income rose 18% based on a lending total of £8.2 billion and 10% more mortgages arranged. There were also rises in income for its conveyancing and survey and valuation businesses. “All parts of the business delivered a strong performance and, considered alongside the…
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Unusual marketing tactic? Agent runs competition to rename development
“I name this building…” Normally it is an honour bestowed upon royalty and celebrities, but this could be your chance of fame. Norwich estate agent, abbotFox is about to launch a competition in which the winner will choose the name of a new apartment building in the centre of the city. This once in a lifetime opportunity is the consequence of abbotFox gaining permission to be able to re-name Elliot House on Ber Street, which is currently being converted into 45 luxury apartments. The competition will run until the 24th March when the winner will be announced. abbotFox would like to receive as many ideas and suggestions as possible, from famous people in the area, to your favourite things and anything else you can think up – the quirkier and more unique, the better. Two answers will be picked and then the public will cast the final vote on what the building will be named. BE PART OF THE LANDSCAPE Entering the competition will give participants the rare prospect of becoming part of the Norwich property landscape. In a years’ time, if you know somebody who is moving to Norwich, you will be able to drive past and tell them that you…
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