David Alexander
-
Latest property news
Industry reaction: ‘Have ministers kicked RoPA into the long grass?’
Matt Prior from the MHCLG was unable to confirm or deny that the RoPA proposals may not be introduced during the current parliament.
Read More » -
Our Events
The Negotiator Conference & Expo 2019
The grand halls and corridors of London’s Grosvenor Hotel on Park Lane were buzzing with hundreds of delegates, speakers and exhibitors on the 29th November 2019, as they arrived to join The Negotiator Conference 2019. In this stunning venue, with a reputation for first class guest speakers and panel sessions offering hard hitting debate between property leaders such as Michael Stoop, Nick Leeming, Lucy Morton, Lord Best, Peter Bolton King and David Cox (plus many more), The Negotiator Conference stage was ready. Lord Best drew gasps from the audience when he suggested that the end of the small or ‘accidental’ landlord is nigh, that the PRS will increasingly be supplied by larger-portfolio operators. The focus was the property industry in 2020 – exploring what the future holds for sales and letting agents in today’s volatile business environment, including Brexit, regulation, customer hesitation, technology, online agents, diminishing high street footfall, taxation, money laundering, tenant fees and (the then) looming General Election. Brilliantly chaired by The Times columnist Lord Daniel Finkelstein OBE, speakers included leading estate agency senior management, industry consultants, analysts, regulators, industry association chiefs and tech innovators. Going to conferences is more than just listening to debates and, as ever…
Read More » -
Latest property news
Shocking report reveals rapid growth of Airbnb-dominated short-lets sector
Published today by ARLA Propertymark, the report predicts that up to half a million rental homes could be taken out of the traditional sector as landlords tire of increasing regulations and taxes.
Read More » -
Latest property news
‘Estate agency branches will soon go the way of the horse-drawn bus’
A leading industry figure has ‘reluctantly’ concluded that the estate agency branch will soon be a quaint part of high street history and that the only conclusion he can draw is that agents will eventually all be self-employed, Purplebricks-style operators. That is the incendiary claim made by high profile Edinburgh agent David Alexander whose company DJ Alexander is in the process of launching a platform, Apropos, to offer agents a way to set up their own letting agency business from home. In a column published this morning in The Scotsman, Alexander claims that the recent acceleration of estate agency closures to almost ten businesses a week at the moment is an augur of things to come. “Respected competitors may disagree with the sentiment that High Street estate agency will go the way of the horse-bus and the traditionalist in me partly wishes they were right. But the facts speak for themselves,” he says. Hub offices The 59-year-old founder of DJ Alexander, which has large ‘hub’ offices in both Glasgow and Edinburgh, says he initially considered creating Apropos into a ‘hybrid’ style app that would include physical branches before realising going completely online is the future. Alexander says that when he…
Read More » -
Latest property news
Proptech Lettings platform secures £7m from Santander ahead of January launch
Online property management portal Apropos says it has signed up 25 representatives so far to its lettings proptech service ahead of the official launch in January. At that time it is expected that Apropos’ territory owners will cover 70% of London and 45% of the UK. Developed by Edinburgh-based lettings and property management firm DJ Alexander, Apropos has also secured funding worth £7 million ahead of the launch, via Santander. This is the first time that DJ Alexander has sought exterior funding for the portal, which has taken the company several years to develop, and will be rolled out across the UK over the next three years. “We want the Apropos platform to be the place where the best landlords want their properties listed and where tenants know they can trust our service,” says founder David Alexander (left). “We want our partners, our landlords and our tenants to believe in what we do and ensure that we have the best platform combined with locally based property experts creating a platform that changes the way in which letting is delivered.” Richard Mathieson, head of Santander’s Structure Finance division, says: “We have been working with DJ Alexander over the past 10 months…
Read More » -
Guest Blogs
Rent controls in the PRS
Rent controls in the PRS would not resolve affordability issues, says David Alexander, Joint Managing Director of Apropos by DJ Alexander Ltd.
Read More » -
Latest property news
New homes in the city create strong market for estate agents
Manchester agents make hay in the new property hotspot where average prices have soared in the last five years.
Read More » -
Latest property news
Tenant Fee Ban: “Don’t panic!” say the Scots!
Changes to the law in Scotland to improve tenants’ rights were welcome – but they have produced problematic unintended consequences, says a Scottish property management company Apropos by DJ Alexander.
Read More » -
Latest property news
Leading Scots agent supports rent controls
One of Scotland’s best-known estate agents has said he supports rents controls. David Alexander, whose agency DJ Alexander operates across Edinburgh and Glasgow, says they could help make rental markets “more stable”. His comments come as Scotland prepares to introduce rent controls this December which, as well as ushering in a ‘new model tenancy’ to offer tenants greater flexibility and protection, will enable local authorities to identify rental pressure zones and introduce rent controls within them. David, pictured left, says rent controls could work if “implemented wisely” and that rental markets already self-regulate because landlords often choose tenants who they think will be reliable, and worry less about how much rent a property generates. “He or she will value a tenant who respects the property and who has a good payment record in more than just monetary terms; in other words, to retain such a valued customer, the landlord will invariably restrict any rent increase to the rate of inflation and in some cases not increase it at all,” says David, writing in the Scotsman newspaper yesterday. But David says he does not support the city-wide application of rent controls – which local authorities in Scotland have said they plan…
Read More »
