Rental market
News covering the Private Rented Sector with relevance to letting agents and landlords and the wider residential property industry.
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Fake estate agent reveals ease of scamming tenants via free-to-list sites
Preet-kaur Johal was only discovered at the last moment when the landlord turned up at the property unexpectedly.
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Third of tenants happy to rent property without physical viewing
Surprising comments are made to researchers conducting a survey of the private rental market for letting software company Goodlord.
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Landlord exodus from Airbnb to traditional lets accelerates
The phenomenon is most acute in London where the stay-cation holiday, foreign tourist and corporate short-lets markets are vastly reduced in volume.
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Surge in BTL investors looking to place new properties with agencies
Figures from letting-agent comparison site Rentround show 21% increase in landlord searches for agents.
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Landlords with student property portfolios set for fall as universities go online
‘Armchair’ landlords with student property portfolios face double whammy as universities go online and tenancy law changes.
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Tenant Referencing
Hands-on approach Although many agents do outsource their tenant referencing service to a third-party, there are others who prefer to keep the work in-house. “We have so far avoided the temptation to outsource referencing and continue to undertake the task ourselves,” said Mark Sandall of Andrew Granger & Co. “This means we are able to monitor the situation more closely and build up a better relationship with the applicant. We can also see how the applicants conduct themselves through the referencing process to ensure they are suitable.” Charlotte Baker of Belvoir in Melton Mowbray concurred. “We do our referencing in-house as we see it as an opportunity to really assess the tenant. We find it more revealing than a ‘yes or no’ from a referencing company, although we do use Experian for the credit check.” Rent guarantee For many landlords, their biggest fear is not being paid rent. Yet, despite the recovering economy, Shelter is warning that over 215,000 homes in England are at risk of eviction or repossession, equating to 4,140 households under threat every week, mainly because tenants are struggling to pay their rent, reinforcing the need for tenant reference checks. “We also perform our own internet search…
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