letting agent
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Latest property news
Letting agent fined £72,000 for shocking offences at three HMOs
Muhammad Siddique's fine follows an investigation supported by estate agency Open House, which he continued to claim he was a franchisee for despite being fired several years ago.
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Latest property news
‘Eye watering’ letting agent check-out bill for £1,071 unveiled on Twitter
Housing campaigner Kate Webb has published a controversial check-out invoice sent by a letting agent to a tenant.
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Latest property news
New Home Secretary Sajid Javid has family links to lettings industry
New Home Secretary has a young brother in Bristol who operates several property ventures including a lettings agency, it has been revealed.
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Latest property news
Four Belvoir letting agents hoover up 1,350 properties in £2m deal
Many larger lettings agents have been buying up the portfolios of smaller localised rivals in recent months as the private rental sector has become tougher, and the latest to report such a move is Belvoir. Four of its franchisee have now completed portfolio acquisitions with collective revenues of £2 million a year, adding 1,335 properties to its property management tally in Hitchin/Welwyn Garden City/St Albans, Derby West, Hendon and Corby. But the largest of the portfolio purchases has been completed by its Hitchin/Welwyn Garden City franchisee. The deal includes 624 managed rental properties in Welwyn Garden City and St Albans with a total revenue of £1 million a year, adding fees revenues to Belvoir’s head office of £400,00 over the next six years. This deal was funded by the local Belvoir franchisees own sources of finance, and is both a portfolio and territorial expansion for it, helping the franchisee break into the lucrative St Albans rental market. The other three portfolio acquisitions add another £1 million a year the franchisees revenues, helped by a £193,000 cash injection by the Belvoir head office. Belvoir UK’s keenness to help franchisees hoover up portfolios with its ‘Assisted Acquisitions’ programme is clear from the financials.;…
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Latest property news
Council fines letting agent for giving tenant advice about rubbish
A letting agent in Sunderland has been fined nearly £800 for advising a tenant to dump rubbish sacks, several armchairs and a faulty fridge at the back of the property. The fine is part of the local council’s ongoing attempts to stamp out fly tipping in the city, which has seen it issue 450 formal warnings, three statutory notices, 86 fixed penalties and charged people to clear rubbish 43 times. After the tenant moved into the property on Hendon Burn Avenue and found the rubbish in her back yard, she called the agent to ask that it be removed, but nothing was done. During a subsequent a subsequent Fire Service inspection found that it was blocking the fire escape. The tenant then called the letting agent again, who told her to dump the items at the back of the property for collection by bin men during their weekly collection service. But Sunderland Council’s Environmental Enforcement Officers then spotted the rubbish and interviewed the agent, who admitted giving the advice despite not having visited the property. She, rather than the tenant, was served with a fixed penalty notice of £350 plus a £426 fine to remove the waste. “This was a…
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Latest property news
Letting agent defends sending out pre-emptive eviction notice letters
The letting agent that sent pre-emptive eviction notices out to all its tenants has defended his actions and said that “we had no other choice, my business could go bust” and that his business is between a “rock and hard place”. Guy Piggott, who runs GAP Properties in Grimsby and is also Chairman of the Humber Landlords Association, has sent out the notices to his tenants informing them that ahead of the roll out of Universal Credit in the area on December 13th, he has no choice but to serve them with a two-month eviction notice and that if they fall behind on their rent they will be asked to leave the property. Guy’s actions prompted Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to ask a question at Prime Minister’s Question Time yesterday, to which Theresa May said she would look at the letter. GAP properties, which has been run by several members of the Piggott family since 2001, has sent the letter out to “hundreds” of tenants many of whom, says Guy, have “no idea what Universal Credit is or how it works”. Eviction notice letter The letter says GAP Property “cannot sustain arrears at the potential levels Universal Credit could create”…
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Latest property news
Rogue letting agent jailed after National Trading Standards investigation
A rogue letting agent and landlord in Lancashire has been jailed for three years and nine months after he was convicted at Bolton Crown Court of nine counts of fraud, theft and forgery following a lengthy investigation by the National Trading Standards. Tahir ‘Tony’ Khaliq (pictured, left) operated a string of property companies including several letting agencies which he used as vehicles for his fraudulent activity. The most shocking was the theft of holding deposits of between £200 and £400 from over 100 prospective tenants, many of whom were extremely vulnerable people mainly in the Rochdale, Bury and Oldham areas. Khaliq, with the help of accomplice Paul Dickinson – who received a two-year suspended sentence and 240 hours of community service – took the holding deposits and claimed they were processing fees for unsuccessful tenancy applications. The court heard how one woman, after losing her holding deposit, was forced to move into a Mother and Baby unit, as well as another who experienced extreme financial difficulties while trying to save money to leave her violent and abusive partner. National Trading Standards says Khaliq was involved in other illegal activities relating to his property businesses including forging documents, the theft of…
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Regulation & Law
Local tragedy sparks campaign against letting fees
A councillor in Southend, Essex has vowed to do battle with local agents who charge tenants high letting fees after his son killed himself over the cost of renting a flat. Southend independent councillor Tino Callaghan says the council has supported his motion to ‘name and shame’ local agents charging tenants high administration costs. Mr Callaghan, who launched the initiative with fellow councillor Laurence Davis, says his son was worried because he couldn’t afford the cost of a deposit for a flat to house his family. “Registration fees can be astronomical and we have spoken to many tenants who been caught out with fees,” Mr Davis told the Halstead Gazette. “The council can’t enforce anything but they can name and shame those who are not acting in the best interests of the public.” This tragedy played out in Southend is the latest development in a growing campaign by several media outlets, councils and politicians to highlight what they see as the excessive administration fees charged by some agents. This includes The Guardian newspaper which recently called fees a ‘great letting agency rip-off’ while in May this year the London Borough of Tower Hamlets gave six local agents 28 days to display…
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