‘Unprecedented’ number of smaller letting agents are giving up, Belvoir tells City

An ‘unprecedented number’ of smaller independent lettings agents are quitting the sector in the face of increased legislation and the impending tenancy fees ban.

Belvoir yesterday told the City that as a result, there is a strong pipeline of opportunities to underpin its own growth.

Belvoir also reported good trading in the first four months of its current financial year, with increased revenue from lettings, sales and financial services.

In a trading update, it told the City that franchisees have completed on ten portfolio transactions under the assisted acquisitions programme, adding £3.2m of network revenue.

Four new franchise owners have been recruited, of whom three are in the process of acquiring local lettings portfolios, to give them a head start.

Belvoir CEO Dorian Gonsalves said: “We continue to work closely with our franchisees, providing the support they need to strengthen their businesses, ensuring they are in the best position to take advantage of the opportunities arising from changes in the sector.”

x

Email the story to a friend!



4 Comments

  1. 70GJ

    Those who can, do.

    Those who can’t, buy a franchise

    Report
    1. SarahPercy33

      Harsh, but that made me giggle this morning!

       

      Report
  2. MF

    Losing independents is probably not a good thing for the industry.

    Report
  3. Stokeagent51

    The same old scaremongering propaganda from the chains and franchises.  I’ll stick to keeping all my profits to myself, not losing my staff every few months and bringing on and letting more than any of the franchises and chains in the area.  These articles keep appearing because these companies know deep down that the tenant fee ban is going to hit them  far harder than an independent agent due to 10 to 20% of income going to the franchise company which will make it very difficult for these franchises to stay in the black.  For a start, most of these companies have been all over HMO’s due to the volume of tenant fees they can charge.  This lucrative revenue stream will go out the window next year and then they are stuck with HMO’s that are very expensive to manage due to the high level of micro managing of repairs and issues and tenant churn that come with HMO’s.

    Report
X

You must be logged in to report this comment!

Comments are closed.

Thank you for signing up to our newsletter, we have sent you an email asking you to confirm your subscription. Additionally if you would like to create a free EYE account which allows you to comment on news stories and manage your email subscriptions please enter a password below.