Lettings
Tenants forced to dig deep as deposits continue rising
National average close to £1,000 – and in London nearly £2,000
News
Finance
Retirement homes builder hit by ‘weakness’ in second hand homes market
McCarthy & Stone reports fewer reservations and more cancellations as older people decide against selling
Acquisitions
Independent seizes build to rent opportunity to become top agency player
Acorn Group named as highest placed agency in league table of managers of build to rent schemes
Finance
Government spending more on helping people to buy rather than helping developers build
More taxpayers' money spent stimulating demand than on supplying new homes
Agency
Landlords say that referencing tenants tops their list when choosing letting agent
Satisfactory tenancy referencing more important than achieving good rent
Compliance
One letting agent a month signing up to ‘ethical’ charter devised by tenants’ rights campaign
City council set to officially endorse voluntary lettings charter
Law
Victory for tenants in sub-letting case
Tenant sub-let flat – with sub-tenants believing he was the landlord
Other News
Why are cars so often a pane for estate agent windows?
Staff have lucky escapes as cars crash through front windows with alarming regularity
Agency
Stories of the Week that got you talking
How will Purplebricks do in Australia – and how local will their Local Property Experts be?
Agency
Firm claiming to be UK’s first fully digital agent launches today
New business called No Agent listing on Rightmove and Zoopla
Agency
Over half of buyers find ‘old fashioned’ property search methods more effective than portals
Reputation matters – 7% of buyers will not even consider viewing a property because they do not like the agent
Law
Law Society welcomes reassurances that ‘stealth’ tax changes will not target landlords
However, landlords' body calls on Government to clarify its intentions in Finance Bill
Agency
Fixflo to join Mayor of London on trade mission to America
British success story to showcase products to agents in New York and Chicago
Agency
Six-branch joins OnTheMarket as portal inches towards target
Firm with six offices signs up to challenger portal with overall support of 7,500 branches in its sights
Other News
Picture of the Week: Bother me – just look at that price
My word, how prices have risen in this seaside town
Compliance
Tenants forget to claim back £500,000 of their own deposit money
Deposit scheme in Scotland attempts to track down tenants
Finance
Nearly 8,000 armed forces personnel benefit from Forces Help to Buy
Loans scheme helps members of armed forces buy or move home
Finance
House sales fail to complete yesterday as high street bank struggles with workload
Were you or your clients affected on one of busiest day of year? Yesterday's transactions hit by completions 'overload' at bank
Agency
Almost all home owners would now consider using online agent, claim
High street estate agents face a challenge to convince consumers of their value
Law
Homes with low EPCs could be banned from the sales market
Tory think tank says homes should have a minimum EPC rating before they could be put on the market