Jon Notley
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Latest property news
Jon Notley’s Zero Deposit launches with backing from four key agents
Tenant deposits alternative Zero Deposit has launched, several months after it was originally expected kick-off, as deals with several key agents were negotiated. Co-founded by Jon Notley, the former commercial director at ZPG, Zero Deposit now says it has the financial and distribution backing of Connells, LSL, Knight Frank and the Acorn Group. “The robust nature of its offering is why we have given it our backing,” says Tim Hyatt, Head of Lettings at Knight Frank (pictured, left). “Given the constant raft of legislative changes taking place in the lettings industry on an almost monthly basis, it is great to see such a positive, well-executed initiative coming to the market.” Zero Deposit also has deals set up with the insurance company providing cover for its product, Munich RE as well as ZPG and TDS, which is providing its dispute resolution. 1,000 branches The agent deals are arguably the most crucial, giving Zero Deposit access to tenants renting properties through some 1,000 branches across the UK. This morning’s launch is restricted to the four named agents backing the venture and who will now be rolling out the Zero Deposit product, although Jon Notley says after a few weeks his company will…
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ZeroDeposit start-up receives total £5m funding
Zero Deposit, the alternative tenant deposit scheme being set up by former ZPG commercial director Jon Notley has received a second round of funding taking the total invested so far to £5 million after it secured commercial and partnership deals with insurer Munich Re and ZPG. Zoopla’s parent company ZPG initially invested £250,000 in Notley’s start-up in May, a month after Notley was appointed as a director of Global Property Ventures, the Stevenage-based company behind Zero Deposit. Jon Notley (pictured, left) is joined at the start-up by Simon Embley, the former CEO of Your Move, and Gavin Wiseman and Ben Austin, both serial start-up entrepreneurs and co-founders of removals comparison website Buzzmove. The new investors backing Zero Deposit are Grenville Turner (pictured, right), the former CEO of Countrywide and JamJar Investments, who set innocent drinks and now also back deliveroo and graze. The two other investors are Vanneck Ltd and KM Capital. Such early and high-profile funding is unusual to say the least partly because start-ups normally need to at least launch before receiving a second round of funding. Zero Deposit, which says it will pay agents referral fees, currently features a holding page inviting tenants to register their interest,…
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OnTheMarket wins claim against Gascoigne Halman in long-awaited tribunal decision
OnTheMarket has won the Competition Appeal Tribunal case it brought against Gascoigne Halman after the agent, following its acquisition in October 2015 by Connells, refused to abide by OnTheMarket’s ‘one other portal rule’. After the ruling OnTheMarket Chief Executive Ian Springett (pictured, below) accused Zoopla of funding the action, and also said that he intended to recoup legal and other court costs from Gascoigne Halman, particularly so because “the manner in which our opponents conducted the case has caused us to divert considerable resources and management time”. Gascoigne Halman said during the hearings that its contract with OnTheMarket was in effect void because what it believed are restrictive clauses within it were in breach of Section 2 of the Competition Act 1988. These include the ‘one other portal rule’ which requires participating agents to only use two property portals, the ‘bricks and mortar rule’ prohibiting online agents from joining OnTheMarket, and the ‘exclusive promotion rule’ that prevents agents from promoting their membership of Rightmove or Zoopla. The legal process was triggered when Gascoigne Halman listed its properties on all three property portals in defiance of OnTheMarket. OnThemarket subsequently sought a judgement on the matter through the tribunal system to prove…
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Zoopla delivers record number of appraisals to agents
Zoopla Property Group’s (ZPG) appraisal tool, which allows homeowners to directly contact prospective local agents to arrange a valuation of their property, delivered record levels of appraisal referrals to ZPG members in the first half of 2015, according to ZPG. ZPG reports that since January, prospective vendors and landlords have already sent in excess of 135,000 enquiries to ZPG member agents requesting appraisals, up 40 per cent on the corresponding period in 2014, and potentially worth in the region of £100 million in fees, based on Zoopla’s calculations, from resulting instructions so far this year. Given that the vast majority of property searches now start online, it is perhaps unsurprising that more prospective vendors are using the ZPG appraisal tool to contact local agents about selling their home. “Home movers are increasingly using our websites to identify and select local agents for valuation purposes,” said Jon Notley (left), Commercial Director at ZPG. Mr Notley says that these figures demonstrate his firm’s ongoing commitment to aiding its members in their efforts to winning new valuable business. He added, “Any agent not on our platform and therefore not visible in our unique appraisal tool will be losing out on these valuable leads…
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