Martyn Gerrard
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Latest property news
Challenger portal signs up agents behind Say No To Rightmove campaign
Murray Lee and Paul Davies are leading by example and have recently signed up to use the challenger portal as they urge other agents to look at Rightmove alternatives.
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Latest property news
Be nicer this time! Mary Portas to give keynote speech at ARLA conference
TV star and high street champion returns to talk about estate agency nine years after her show trashed the industry's customer service effort.
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Guest Blogs
Letters
To keep our economy strong, drastic policy changes are needed from the Government to support our struggling housing market...
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Latest property news
Is this the future of lettings after the ban?
The looming fees ban has prompted several suppliers to the lettings industry to significantly re-appraise their offering, and the latest to announce changes is Let Alliance. The referencing and insurance firm, which is based in Chester, has announced the first products to emerge from its ‘Fit for the Future’ initiative announced in April. It’s launch follows consultations with over 200 independent agents. Fee ban The new package of products, which the company says has been developed to help agents combat changes brought about by both the tenant fee ban and the way properties are being rented out, includes three key solutions – a ‘Nil deposit’ scheme, free tenant referencing and its existing monthly rent guarantee scheme. The Nil Deposit scheme offers an insurance-based deposits scheme that provides a guarantee of up to six weeks’ rent when a claim is made against a tenant – paid for by tenants via a fixed fee. “The Nil Deposit Scheme presents a very different offering to other schemes currently on the market as we replicate the terms and conditions of the current cash deposits registered in the official schemes,” says Andy Halstead, CEO of Let Alliance (pictured) Let Alliance is also offering a rent…
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Latest property news
Martyn Gerrard laments “overreaction” to ad that ASA wants taken down
An estate agency asked to remove a poster advert from an Underground Station in north London by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) following a complaint from the public has hit out against the decision. David Smith (pictured, below), who is Marketing and Compliance Director at 14-branch Martyn Gerrard, says that although in the “strict interpretation of the rules” the ASA code means the complainant is technically correct, he wonders is this is “really the sort of image they had in mind when they devised their rules? I very much doubt it”. “We were quite surprised to receive the letter from the ASA,” he told The Negotiator. “This particular advert was on an underground station platform and had been up for over a year.” The ASA rules say an advert can’t condone or encourage an unsafe practice or show anything that will result in physical, mental or moral harm. The ASA wrote via email to Martyn Gerrard on 10th March and in his reply to them David agreed to take the advert down, as we reported yesterday, but highlighted his disappointment with the request. He wondered if the complaint may have come from a “vexatious competitor agent” rather than a concerned…
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Latest property news
High profile agent withdraws London Underground ad after complaint
Sales and letting agent Martyn Gerrard has withdrawn a London Underground poster ad after a complaint from a member of the public. The ad, pictured below, which to some people might seem like a feel-good and innocent piece of advertising creative, featured two children – a boy at the top of a flight of stairs and a girl sliding down the stairs in a washing basket while wearing a cycling helmet and swimming goggles. The strapline for the advert was “oMG…that was a good move…Making your next big move more enjoyable”. The north London agent, which has 14 branches and was established in 1964, re-branded recently and has been advertising in the capital to support this with a series of ads featuring goggle-wearing children enjoying ‘good moves’ – including a girl clutching a toy rocket. But the latest one clearly didn’t amuse one member of the public. Complaint They complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that the poster ad was likely to “condone or encourage children to copy an unsafe practice and whether the ad was also likely to be responsible”. “We contacted the advertiser about the concerns raised and they agreed to remove the ad from circulation,” an…
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Features
E-brilliance
A really great digital marketing campaign can hit your target market at the speed of light, says Andrea Kirkby.
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