Associations & Bodies
News and updates from associations and member organisations in the UK residential property industry.
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Generation Rent worries
Campaigning group Generation Rent is worried that Theresa May’s manifesto promise of a letting fees ban is likely to be ‘kicked into the long grass’ by the hung parliament and the pressures of Brexit negotiations.
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RICS calls for more females in property
We're facing the worst skills epidemic in years, says Lynn Robinson, RICS Regional Director.
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CIELA call for support
Fledgling independent agent mutual body, The Charter for Independent Estate and Letting Agents (CIELA) reports that it is unlikely to launch on October 1st as planned.
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Hatched founder joins easyProperty as Head of Operations
Adam Day, the founder of online estate agency Hatched.co.uk has joined easyProperty.com as its Head of Operations, just 15 months after Hatched was bought by Connells. On his Linkedin profile Adam lists himself as “taking a break” in between leaving Hatched earlier this month and joining easyProperty, although in December last year Adam was on a recruitment for more Hatched agents, saying it was an “exciting time to join our business as we continue to build on the successes of previous years”. Adam (pictured, right) has joined easyProperty to set up the systems and procedures that will transform the website from an exclusively consumer-facing operation into the geographically licensed B2B offering that easyProperty CEO Jon Cooke describes as “the convergence of high street agency with online sales and lettings”. And Adam has his work cut out – easyProperty expects to relaunch in September this year. £60m deal with GPEA Adam’s arrival at easyProperty follows the £60m deal between the Guild of Professional Estate Agents and easyProperty to merge earlier this month and that 270-plus GPEA members have signed up so far to be easyProperty licensees out of a potential pool of 800. In return for a fee, easyProperty is licensing…
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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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Wanted: someone to help shape the future of UKALA
Are you someone who talks about getting into non-exec directorships and leveraging your years of hard work and industry track record to support the property industry? If so, the UK Association of Letting Agents (UKALA) is looking for a suitably qualified and experienced Non-Executive Director (NED) to “contribute to its ambitious plans for the future”. UKALA, which was incorporated in 1997 as a trade association for letting agents working with private landlords, says it needs someone to help steer the organisation so that it is “effective, robust and financially capable of supporting its members” after a period of growth. UKALA’s current management team includes Chairman Tim Clark (pictured, left) who is also a Director at Town & Country letting agent in Southampton and CEO Richard Lambert (pictured below). They say UKALA is seeking someone with commercial experience at director level with a knowledge of relevant company law and corporate governance, as well knowing all about current letting legislation and industry issues. It could be that the winning candidate will be a media representative for UKALA too, as the winning candidate will need sound presentation skills and interview experience. £3,000 a year UKALA needs someone who can work 10-15 days a…
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CIELA waits to see if advertising watchdog decision will go its way
The rolling war of attrition between The Charter for Independent Estate and Letting Agents (CIELA) and Purplebricks has witnessed its latest battle. CIELA says it has been receiving weekly updates from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) regarding its complaint about the hybrid agent’s “misleading representations” within its website and TV advertising. In its statement released to media outlets, CIELA is clearly confident that its arguments to the ASA have done the trick, and that “we look forward to the outcome”. Although CIELA admits that nothing within Purplebricks’ communications is inaccurate, it says the company’s comparisons of its up-front flat fee with a tradition agent’s commission is “irresponsible and misleading”. Elements of its complaint to the ASA were repeated within a Daily Telegraph article published in May, in which CIELA chief executive Charlie Wright questioned Purplebricks’ high completed sales claims. Following the article, CIELA was contacted by Purplebricks’ lawyers and, after responding, CIELA says it has not heard anything since, saying it was “nothing but sabre rattling and a hollow threat”. Membership drive CIELA has also revealed why it believes the number of agents joining the organisation has not been as large as expected. “The last three months have been absolutely…
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Proptech expert heavily criticises merger of easyProperty and Guild
Leading proptech consultant James Dearsley (pictured, below) says he doubts the Guild of Property Professionals merger with online agent easyProperty will deliver the result that the two organisations are hoping for. The key plank of his criticism is that EastProperty has yet to gain the market traction needed to prove that it can work, and that therefore the merger deal is an “enormous risk” for the Guild. Last week it was announced that GPEA, the parent company of the Guild and Fine & Country, was to merge with easyProperty backed by £15 million from venture capital firm Toscafund Asset Management LLP. It was said that the deal would provide independent agents with the option to access easyProperty’s fixed-price sales and lettings packages through a monthly brand and technology licence. The deal creates a new structure for the soon-to-be merged businesses which will all be under an umbrella PLC called e-Prop Services, headed up by former GPEA CEO and industry veteran Jon Cooke. The key focus of the new entity, it says, is to offer sales and lettings services to consumers across the entire market including high end via Fine & Country to mass-market budget vendors via easyProperty. Digital transformation In…
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TPO report reveals one agent’s £21,972 referencing mistake
The value of awards that The Property Ombudsman (TPO) told agents to pay disgruntled customers tripped over £1 million for the first time last year, its annual report reveals, along with details of one case that cost a letting agent over £20,000. Property Ombudsman Katrine Sporle (pictured, right) is to launch the report at an event later today at the House of Lords that will show total awards reaching £1.2 million in 2016 while the number of difficult cases increased by 7.5% to 3,553. Common complaints Lettings attracted the largest number of resolved cases at 1,997 with those complaining being fairly evening split between landlords and tenants. The average letting award was £531 but the highest was £21,972 (see case details below). The most common complaint was about property management. In sales, two thirds of complaints came from sellers and the remainder from buyers and the average award was £397, while the most common complaint was about communication and record keeping. “TPO works with the industry and consumers to get things right, put things right and set things right,” says Katrine. “This year, TPO’s Codes of Practice, approved by Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI), have been revised to clarify many…
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Women fill key positions at Propertymark for first time
ARLA and NAEA Propertymark have revealed who won their recent leadership elections following a secret four-week hustings. Billed as an opportunity that “allows you to shape your organisation and to have your voice heard” the election was for both organisations’ Vice Presidents, whose role is to support the President and President Elect. The elected Vice Presidents are Michelle Niziol for ARLA, who agents will recognise from BBC TV’s The Apprentice from last year, and Lauren Scott for NAEA. It is the first time women have been elected to both positions at the same time. The new line up is: ARLA President Sally Lawson Sally has 27 years’ experience in the lettings industry, and is CEO and Founder of the national lettings franchise Concentric as well as West Midlands lettings agency Lawsons. The two organisations merged recently. President Elect Peter Savage A former professional drummer until the mid-1980s Peter then set up a property business in Spain, which he sold in 1990 and then returned to the UK. He now works as a consultant to an Essex lettings firm and a block management firm. Vice President Michelle Niziol Until recently 35-year-old Michelle was best known as a founder of IMS,…
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