Search Results for: Tenant Fees Act
-
Features
Content and conversion
Do you measure your bottom line? Nelly Berova MD, Art Division, offers seven digital marketing secrets that will put yours in better shape.
Read More » -
Latest property news
Knight Frank partners with Housing Hand
Knight Frank, Northwood and Liv Group have joined them to offer the Housing Hand guarantor service to tenants, through their branches and websites.
Read More » -
Features
A question of property: Isobel Thomson, NALS
Nigel Lewis talks to the industry’s leading lights about the big issues. This week, it’s the turn of Isobel Thomson, CEO of the National Approval Lettings Scheme (NALS).
Read More » -
Latest property news
Humberts launches first dual online and high street lettings service
Humberts has launched the UK’s first switchable online-only and traditional managed lettings service for landlords. The announcement comes five months after the company said it would be relaunching its lettings operation headed up by high-profile industry executive Suzanne Diamond (pictured, below). The new online offering is called Humberts Lettings Direct and will charge landlords £199 plus VAT for advertising on Rightmove and OTM as well as deposit and first-month rent collection, referencing, contract management and legal protection insurance. Humberts says the £199 will then be deducted from any fees charged should a landlord then switch to the traditional approach. But rather than the company build its own technology, 175-year-old Humberts is partnering with proptech start-up Propoly. Propoly started up three years ago as Nanoget before changing name and joining angel investment firm Pi Labs, initially presenting itself as an alternative to lettings agents for landlords and tenants. The company’s board includes non-executive director Margaret Longden (pictured, right), who is Countrywide’s Retail Programme Director and who, from 2010 onwards, helped expand the PLC’s lettings business. Also, Countrywide holds 366,034 Series A shares in Propoly. White label technology Humberts is using a white-labelled version of Propoly’s technology, which is essentially a messaging platform…
Read More » -
Latest property news
First system of star ratings for letting agents launched
A council in London is to introduce the UK’s first local star ratings for letting agents. The London Borough of Newham is to publish a ‘star rate’ for all agents advertising properties for rent or managing properties within the borough, giving them between one and five stars depending on their track record. The list will then be published on the council’s website and updated regularly. Newham has already rated local agents but until now has not published the detailed list of results. It says 71 per cent, or 109 businesses, are 3 stars or above, while 29%, or 43 agents, remain non compliant with the council’s Fair Lettings Projects and fall below 3 stars. As part of the initiative, the council has spent the past two years auditing all agents operating within the borough. Agent audit The audit looked at agent performance, compliance with the law, delivery of best practice, and customer feedback, as well as which agents have in the past “failed to refund deposits, pass on rental income, charged unjustified and astronomical fees or failed to address complaints”, the council says. After an agency has been awarded a star rating they have 21 days to appeal if they…
Read More » -
Latest property news
Rents rising again across the UK, index says
Average new tenancy rents in nine out of the UK’s 12 regions increased last month, according to the latest rental index from Homelet. The letting services firm says rents increased on average by 1.1% across the UK year-on-year, and that rises were highest in Northern Ireland where they increased 2.4% during July alone, and 5.4% year on year. Tenants are now paying £10 more a month to rent a property than a year ago, or £925. Scotland had the next highest rents rises at 3.6% followed by the East Midlands at 3.2%. Rent reductions But rents have continued dropping in London, the South East and North East, the index shows, by up to 1.7%. This follows national decreases in rent during April and May this year, and the rent reductions in London are the fourth in a row for the capital. A year ago rents in London were rising by 6.6%. “It’s often been the case in recent times that rents have strengthened over the summer period,” says Martin Totty, CEO of Homelet (pictured, left). “It’s a time when renters contemplate moving, demand increases, tenancy terms are set, and when the anniversary of the tenancy often occurs. “This year, that…
Read More » -
Features
Naming and shaming
All agents must, by law, register with one of the three approved property redress schemes – and the system has just been strengthened, so read on.
Read More » -
Features
£25 a year per agent would improve the property industry’s image
"Negative press is seriously damaging estate agency, says Adam Walker, but who will defend us? Agents continue to take the blame for everyone’s frustration with the market."
Read More » -
Latest property news
TPO awards to complainants rise to over £1million
The value of awards that The Property Ombudsman Service (TPOS) told agents to pay disgruntled customers tripped over £1 million for the first time last year...
Read More » -
Features
Landlord insurance – why it’s time to cover your assets
Are your landlords’ properties covered? Joanne Christie says that with increasing pressure on their margins, any uninsured damage could leave them scrabbling to survive.
Read More »