Search Results for: Tenant Fees Act
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Latest property news
COMMENT
This year a bright and harsh light has been shone onto the letting industry. Agents now face compulsory redress scheme registration and there’s a voluntary code for property management. And model tenancies are in the pipeline too. These all pale into insignificance compared to lettings fees. Agents, of course, have been charging registration and application fees for decades and most feel that they are a legitimate charge for the paperwork, reference checks and deposit chasing that tenancies require. But in recent months a well co-ordinated campaign to abolish these fees has been underway, led by housing charity Shelter, which has persuaded Labour to pledge to abolish lettings fees for tenants in the private rented sector if it forms a government after the next election. Unless the industry comes up with a solution the criticism will not go away.” It is not difficult to see why Ed Milliband wants to join in. Campaign organisations such as Generation Rent have painted a national picture of low paid tenants, high rents and young tenants being ‘ripped off’ by landlords and agents – all natural territory for Labour. The response of the industry thus far has been defence and it’s been a successful tactic…
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Features
Stress in the PRS
11,000 tenant evictions in three months – will the problems for landlords and tenants worsen in 2015, asks Paul Shamplina of Landlord Action.
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Associations & Bodies
Information, reputation, accreditation
Professional industry bodies support their members and act as a kitemark that gives the public peace of mind, as Marc Da Silva reports.
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Associations & Bodies
OnTheMarket – it’s finally here!
OnTheMarket.com, the much anticipated new property portal from Agents’ Mutual, finally launched on Monday, going live with simple, fast and state-of-the-art website that adapts seamlessly to fit the screen of any device being used to view it. Designed to disrupt the portal business and break the ‘duopoloy’ held by Rightmove and Zoopla, OnTheMarket, the new industry-owned portal, which only features properties marketed by high street agents but not those with an online-only presence, is causing quite a stir in the property market, with various arguments and legal threats already being made. OnTheMarket.com will aim to challenge the duopoly for the portal top spot while giving estate agents the opportunity to regain control of their online advertising costs. Ian Springett (left), Chief Executive of OnTheMarket.com, said, “We are proud to present OnTheMarket.com as a much-needed competitor in the online property search market. We have launched an outstanding website using the latest technologies which presents properties in the best possible light for consumers and avoids unnecessary clutter.” The new portal, solely owned by the agents that list on the website, with around 4,600 estate agency offices already signed up, has had a dramatic early impact on the market with its ‘one other…
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Features
The pros and cons on an Offshore Company sale
Using an offshore company to buy and sell UK residential property can a smooth process, says Christopher Sykes, if buyers can navigate the channels.
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Regulation & Law
Money laundering legislation – why you must comply
Jeremy Leaf FRICS, reviews the current regulation of estate agents and the need for change.
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Features
Why is buy-to-let booming?
Demand for buy-to-let is booming spurred by increasing rents and property prices as well as low-cost mortgages, says Marc Da Silva.
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Guest Blogs
How good are you?
The first thing that I ask for when I carry out a business review or meet someone who is thinking of selling their business, is their key performance indicators. It amazes me how many businesses do not know them. Your KPIs can tell you at a glance how your business is doing and where there is the greatest potential for improvement. SALES For a residential sales business, the main KPIs are: The number of valuations Your market share The conversion of valuations to instructions The conversion of instructions to sales The fall through rate The average fee percentage The average selling price The profit margin Different businesses have very different problems. If you only get to see ten per cent of the properties that come to the market in your area, your problem is likely to be poor marketing. You need to look at your online and conventional marketing strategies and compare them to those of your competitors. In other businesses, the problem is a poor conversion ratio of valuations to instructions. If you only convert 20 per cent of your valuations to instructions, you need to review who does the pitches and how they sell the service. Another problem…
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Regulation & Law
How to be a better lettings industry?
Jeremy Leaf looks at how we could improve the reputation of the industry.
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Features
Let’s eject rogue letting agents
From charging ‘rip-off’ fees to a lack of transparency, the lettings sector comes under strong criticism because of a few rogue agents. Jane Ingram, Head of Lettings at Savills, says it is time for decent agents to fight back.
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