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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Picture of the week: Purrfect lettings?
There was a time when ‘not pets allowed’ was the norm in rental adverts and most landlords were happy to steer clear of drooling dogs and sharp-clawed cats. But the rise in the number of accidental landlords who rent out their homes while travelling round the world or who relocate to a new job but can’t take their four-legged friend with them, is driving a rise in the number of rental properties available to rent with one unusual caveat included in the listing; to look after the ‘house cat’. Agents clearly don’t think it’s a ‘purrfect storm’ to ask potential tenants to feed and look after a feline friend as part of the monthly rent, and there have been several recent examples. In Cardiff agent Northwood was recently asked to list one such ‘miaowse’ house; a two-bedroom terraced property to rent on Daisy Street near Victoria Park (pictured), two miles west of the city centre. The furnished property has recently been let despite coming with an unusual rental ‘claws’; to feed and look after the property’s resident cat. Northwood’s listing also included a picture of the mog, which is called Smokey (see above). The property was advertised for £650-a-month and described…
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Former footballer leads a different kind of team
Estate agency directors are used to seeing unusual CVs crossing their desks but the award for this year’s out-of-the-ordinary career goes to Chris Galley, 46, a recently-appointed branch manager at Centrick Property’s Nottingham outpost. Chris is well known locally, although not just for his property skills. He was a professional footballer in the region between 1986 and 1993, playing for both Nottingham Forest and Coventry City, which included in 1987 playing in the FA Youth Cup winning team, the same year the senior squad also won the FA Cup. But after an injury ended his career, in 2006 Chris set up and ran his own estate agency for four years. He subsequently worked for Belvoir in Grantham, Bourne and Spalding and then joined Zoopla as a regional manager, where Chris says he increased the portal’s local market share from 11% to 47% in three years. “When I left football I bought and sold a few properties so the sector has always been something I’ve been interested in,” he says. Chris is now running Centrick Property’s recently-refurbished Nottingham city centre branch (see pic below) which has a café-style design with a bar where customers are offered free coffee, soft drinks and, unusually,…
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More cities consider To Let boards ban in student areas
Two more city councils are considering bans on To Let boards in student areas, hot on the heels of Leicester where last month its local authority asked the government for statutory powers to ban the boards outright. Leicester, like other cities hoping to restrict agent boards, is seeking a Regulation 7 Direction from the Secretary of State that would give it powers of control under the Town & Country Planning Act 2007. Both Durham in Northumberland and Belfast in Northern Ireland are now considering such bans following public complaints within both cities about the number of boards on display and the length of time they remain outside properties. In Durham local councillors are considering a ban within the city’s mainly student areas after the local MP and campaigners supported the move, despite a voluntary code of practice introduced in 2011. “Whilst the introduction of the voluntary code for letting boards has seen a significant improvement in the situation we are aware that there continues to be breaches in some areas by some agents,” Stuart Timmiss (pictured, left), Durham City Council’s head of planning and assets, told The Northern Echo. In Belfast its local authority today began a public consultation on…
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Gender pay gap narrows among estate agency employees
The gender pay gap between men and women’s pay within the property industry has narrowed significantly to 14.3%, down from 18.1% a year ago and 27.5% in 1997 when the government first started collecting figures. Out of the main 20 employment sectors property now possesses the 13th lowest gender pay gap. The three worst sectors are financial and insurance services (37.4%), energy workers (28.1%) and teachers (26.7%). Overall the UK gender pay gap is now 18.1%, the lowest on record and down from an average of 27.5% in 1997. “No woman should be held back just because of her gender,” says Justine Greening, Minister for Women and Equalities (pictured, left). “The changes we’ve made so that men and women can share their parental leave, the support we’re giving to get more women into the top jobs at our biggest companies and our drive to get more girls taking STEM [science, technology, engineering and maths] subjects at school are all helping to reduce this gap.” But the figures for the property industry mask one uncomfortable truth – the gender gap is worse among part-time workers, who are a significant part of the workforce for many agents. The government figures show that…
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FOREST MARBLE JOINS 80 OFFICE NETWORK
Forest Marble, an independent sales and lettings agency based in Frome, Somerset, has joined 80 other estate agency offices in Property Sharing Experts (PSE)...
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CENTURY 21 BIGWOOD OPENS IN BIRMINGHAM
Birmingham’s newest estate agency and letting agent Century 21 Bigwood has launched in the heart of the city...
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How do you recover from a flood?
How long does it take to get your business back on its feet after a flood? In the case of an agent in York the answer has been nearly ten months. The ordeal started for Letters Property Management when during Christmas Day and Boxing Day last year water started pouring in through its branch front door after up to 100mm of rainfall fell on the city over a 48-hour period (see picture, below). Letters, which was one of 650 homes and businesses deluged during the floods, has been owned by Anya Matthewson (pictured, left) for the past decade since she bought company after a stint as its finance manager. Her office is on the city’s famous Walmgate thoroughfare which, at one point during the floods, was under two feet of water and many of its premises were damaged including Letters and three others agents. Ten months later and Anya is only just ready to re-open her office, although luckily for her she had upstairs premises from which the business has been operating while the office downstairs has been drying out. This has now been reclaimed and refurbished and the business’s ten-strong team have moved back in. But despite it being a…
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Hunters launches ‘first of its kind’ qualifications
Franchise estate agency chain Hunters has revealed details of its new national qualifications, which it claims are the first to be created by an estate agency for its staff. Called the Hunters National Qualifications (HNQs) each of the six different courses are delivered through both classroom training and e-learning via the company’s Training Academy platform. The qualifications will be recognised by both the NAEA and ARLA, and those achieving the HNQs will then be able to join the organisations. “There are still far too many stories in the media about rogue estate agents; we aim to set industry standards by ensuring all our staff are trained to their best ability, which we hope our peers will follow,” says Glynis Frew, Managing Director of Hunters Property Group (pictured, left). New and existing Hunters employees are now able to attain three different levels of qualification in either sales or letting. The highest is an HNQ Award, the middle rung an HNQ Certificate and base qualification an HNQ Diploma. Staff progress through each qualification in three steps or levels and, unusually, the training is linked to their work practices and uses Hunters’ software to ensure they are applying their training correctly at a branch level. The…
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Ain’t no mountain high enough
A dozen people from the Bidwells Project Management Team took part in a hazardous event to raise money for the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB).
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