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Alexander & Co acquires Ella Homes
Alexander & Co property services group has acquired Buckinghamshire estate agent Ella Homes.
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haart wins £150m Derby development
haart in Derby has been appointed as estate agents for the new 800-home historic Nightingale Quarter, to be constructed on the site of the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary.
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‘Offer management’ platform to launch in UK co-founded by star agent
Offr enables agents, vendors and those making offers on a property to communicated via a common platform, helping reduce fall-throughs by 50%.
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Latest: Shocking details of Berkshire agents cartel case laid bare
The detailed discussions between the four estate agents involved in the Berkshire cartel case have been published by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), along with shocking evidence given by the individuals involved. These are largely emails sent between people working at Michael Hardy, Prospect, Richard Worth and a branch of Romans and are the lion’s share of the evidence gathered by the CMA to come to its decision on the cartel case. The discussions took place between September 2008 and May 2015 and were part of a ‘concerted effort’ to fix and maintain a level of commission fees for property sales in five areas. These were Wokingham, Winnersh, Crowthorne, Bracknell and Warfield. The combined £605,519 fines levied on three of the companies, Michael Hardy, Prospect and Richard Worth were revealed in December following a year-long investigation. Highlights of the report include inconsistencies in the evidence given by a Romans director during two interviews, who was also accused during the investigation of not cooperating with the CMA during it early stages. A director of Richard Worth initially refused to be interviewed but later relented. The cartel was prompted largely by the severe downturn in the economy and property market created…
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Family of tragic former soldier calls for ‘property investment’ course regulation
Danny Butcher took his own life after spending £13,000 on a property investment course and his father now says action must be taken.
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Leading agency chain signs up to ‘disruptor’ property data platform
All 60 branches of London agency giant KFH will now have access to Homesearch's market report and property data platform.
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Online estate agents take 10% of market for first time within sub-£200k sector
Research by TwentyCI suggests online estate agents are gaining traction among budget home movers and particularly in the NW, West Midlands and Yorkshire.
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Online estate agent convicted of £5,000 fraud
Online estate agent Claire Louise Ainsworth has been convicted of fraud totalling £5,000 in her absence after failing to turn up to court. The online agency she runs is based in the Lancashire town of Oswaldtwistle and redirects its website to Rightmove microsite where it lists nearly 60 properties, and has sponsored several local events in the past. The 35-year-old was accused of fraud by false representation after pocketing £5,000 while brokering a house sale, a charge her legal representative says she denies. The hearing at Blackburn Magistrates Court (pictured, above) heard that Ainsworth told the vendor of a property that an offer of £80,000 had been received, but told the prospective purchaser the asking price was £85,000 and, when the sale went through, she took the £5,000 difference for herself. The court heard also heard that she told the buyer to pay £80,000 online to the vendor’s solicitor and £5,000 in cash to herself. After hearing evidence and representations from her defence and the prosecution, magistrates have now convicted of the fraud and she will be sentenced at a later date. Ainsworth did not turn up to the hearing. Paolo Passerini, defending, said on the day of the trial…
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Are you ready? New Anti Money Laundering rules go live TODAY!
Extra AML responsibilities for letting agencies become law today after being passed by parliament just before Xmas.
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Restrictive covenants – what can be done?
In a recent application, the owners of a freehold property in East Dulwich sought to challenge restrictions on the use of their property which had been imposed by a former owner of the property in 1984. At that time, the property had been converted from a single double-fronted, two-storey Victorian residential property into two self-contained freehold residential units, divided vertically and accessed from the road through a single central front door into a communal hallway – with separate internal doors serving each property. The Tribunal noted the circumstances in which the restrictions had been imposed and the effect on potential sales of No.141a, as well as the absence of reciprocity between the homes. The owners of No.141a made an application to the Upper Tribunal to discharge or modify the restrictions, which is an option available under s.84 of the Law of Property Act 1925. The application was opposed by the neighbours at No.141, who enjoy the benefit of the covenants as successors to the original party who had imposed the covenants. The restrictions The restrictive covenants are for the benefit of No.141, without any reciprocal covenants being imposed on the owners of that property. The covenants are as follows: not…
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