What impact will an agency sector dominated by mega-businesses have on us independents?

Adam Walker (right), a well-known broker who specialises in selling letting businesses, recently wrote a very interesting piece about the consolidation of the lettings industry where he forecast “that within the next five to ten years the lettings market will be dominated by a small number of mega-businesses with independent agents becoming increasingly rare”. If…

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A Huge Vote Of Confidence In The Letting Market

A Huge Vote Of Confidence In The Letting Market

The recent sales of Stirling Ackroyd, Chestertons and Alexander & Co represents a huge vote of confidence in the UK letting market. Despite endless articles about the decline of the buy to let market, it seems that a private equity fund and a large European property conglomerate still have enough confidence in the sector to…

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Are Letting Agents Responsible For Rent Increases?

Adam J Walker - Are Letting Agents Responsible For Rent Increases?

Letting agents are now regularly being accused of profiteering from the shortage of rental property by pushing up rent. This is an absurd allegation but it is worth looking at what factors are responsible for the huge increases that we have seen in property rents over the last few years. The answer of course is…

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Why You Need Cyber Insurance

Why You Need Cyber Insurance

Almost every day I read a story about an organization that has been the victim of a cyber-attack.  One of the UKs largest conveyancing solicitors suffered such a devastating attack last year that it virtually closed down their business for many weeks. One of the London boroughs was unable to provide property search information to…

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The ULEZ Threat

I keep reading articles about the desperate shortage of rental accommodation in London and the spiralling rents. This is of course caused by the usual issues. Increased mortgage costs for landlords, new compliance legislation, savage fines for minor breaches of the compliance rules, the ending of Section 21 and the huge cost of complying with…

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The Impact of Higher Interest Rates

The Impact of Higher Interest Rates

Interest rates are now at their highest rate for 15 years and the whole country is reeling from the impact. So far, letting agents have been relatively unaffected. Some landlords are leaving the sector because they cannot afford the increase in their mortgage payments but increased rents have more than compensated for the lost fee…

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Will The Buy to Let Sector Survive?

Will The Buy to Let Sector Survive?

Our government seems to be intent on destroying the buy to let sector. Changes to taxation have made it far more difficult for landlords with mortgages to make a satisfactory return on their investment. Frequent changes to legislation have imposed huge extra costs on landlords and have left them in fear of being hit with…

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What Does a Good Letting Business Look Like?

What Does a Good Letting Business Look Like?

We are achieving all time record prices for letting businesses at the moment but the buyers are becoming increasingly choosy about the sort of businesses that they want to buy. As a consequence, the price differential between the best letting businesses and the rest is wider than it has ever been. So, what constitutes a…

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How To Make A Profit In A Downturn

How To Make A Profit In A Downturn

In last month’s article, I said that good agents can make money during a downturn in the housing market. In view of the economic damage caused by Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-Budget, it seems appropriate this month to cover this topic in much greater detail. Let’s take as an example an estate agency which generates income…

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Are Your Post-Covid Working Practices Correct?

A lot of working practices have changed forever as a result of Covid but more than three years after the pandemic started, the time has come when we must question whether all of these changes have been sensible. Let’s start with the issue of working from home. The arguments for and against this policy have…

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