It’s time to abolish what is colloquially called Landlord Licensing. If you’re a casual reader and perhaps not in our industry, a...
Archive
Estate agency regulations and minimum standards may finally see the light of day after Labour put forward amendments to the Government’s...
19 January 2024
From: Breaking News
In recent years, the UK private rented sector has witnessed a significant increase in government regulation aimed at raising standards for...
12 August 2023
From: Features
29 July 2023
From: Features
It’s not a sentence that I thought I would be writing, but Housing Secretary Michael Gove has indeed finally done something...
15 July 2023
From: Features
Licensing of estate agents may raise the barrier to entry but it won’t stop those with poor morals, Fine & Country’s...
03 July 2023
From: Breaking News
Russell Quirk may have already irked plenty of estate agents in his time as boss of collapsed online brand Emoov and...
23 June 2023
From: Breaking News
Landlords are exiting the market in droves. According to an accountancy firm who analysed HMRC data, 70,000 buy-to-let landlords left the sector...
29 April 2023
From: Features
I was delighted to read recently about the creation of the first ever ‘register of logbooks’ in the UK, which offers...
06 April 2023
From: Breaking News
Analysis by professional cash buyer and portfolio landlord, Landlord Buyer (part of Open Property Group), has revealed what costs make up...
08 March 2023
From: Features
We’re only in February and it’s already clear that this year will set the future direction of the private rented sector...
15 February 2023
From: Features
Half of Estate Agent Today readers agree that industry regulations and minimum qualifications will improve standards in the sector but a...
30 January 2023
From: Breaking News
Conservative MPs are continuing to question when new estate agency regulations will come in as the Government sticks to its stock...
17 January 2023
From: Breaking News
Agents remain positive about the prospects for their business and the property market despite talk of slowing house price growth and...
05 May 2022
From: Breaking News
The government has insisted it is still committed to introducing agency qualifications and minimum standards in the sector. It is almost three...
19 April 2022
From: Breaking News
The Property Franchise Group (TPFG) chief executive Gareth Samples has called for a steer on when the long-awaited Regulation of Property...
11 April 2022
From: Breaking News
Propertymark is urging restraint on the part of the Welsh Government as it moves to tackle what it sees as the...
29 March 2022
From: Breaking News
If you want to sex-up the Chancellor’s financial statement scheduled for lunchtime on Wednesday, you’d call it a Budget or a...
19 March 2022
From: Features
A bid to regulate second home ownership in part of the UK through changes to planning policy will add complexity and...
25 February 2022
From: Breaking News
Timothy Douglas, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Propertymark, analyses the impact that the lack of available data is having on...
19 February 2022
From: Features
In this guest feature, James Dilgul, Head of Marketing at Fixflo, the market-leading repairs and maintenance management software provider, looks at how...
22 January 2022
From: Features
A BBC investigation has revealed that a man’s house was sold and his furnishings removed without his knowledge, in the latest...
02 November 2021
From: Breaking News
Pressure appears to be building for the recommendations of the Regulation of Property Agents working party finally to be implemented. It’s now...
26 October 2021
From: Breaking News
There are a huge array of products and services covering the entire journey of lettings, from prospecting all the way through to...
22 September 2021
From: Breaking News
Drone technology has come on a long way in recent years, with different use cases across various industries. New developments in...
15 September 2021
From: Sponsored Content
Jackson-Stops, which currently has 42 branches across the UK, has revealed it’s going to have another 20 by the end of...
06 September 2021
From: Breaking News
An online estate agency is launching a quasi franchise operation it calls Agency In A Box and claims applicants will “effectively”...
14 July 2021
From: Breaking News
In this week’s In Conversation Today, I am delighted to chat with Lucy Morton, Head of Residential Agency at JLL, about...
27 May 2021
From: Breaking News
Local elections rarely set the pulse racing and this year’s poll on Thursday faces a similar problem. But this time, it’s a...
01 May 2021
From: Features
Licensing of the short-term lets sector in Scotland was due to be introduced next month. However, it was recently announced that...
03 April 2021
From: Features
Countrywide and Foxtons have thrown their weight behind an idea to identify every single UK residential property with a unique number. The...
13 January 2021
From: Breaking News
First off, hello and welcome to this new series – appearing in Estate Agent Today’s Breaking News section each month –...
10 December 2020
From: Breaking News
A London estate agency chief executive says agents "have become good at pretending that they are qualified and regulated when the...
08 December 2020
From: Breaking News
The industry regulator who comes into force when the Regulation of Property Agents’ recommendations are adopted may take over versions of...
04 December 2020
From: Breaking News
Back in September, Westminster Council launched a new strategy to help 'protect tenants' and 'ensure they live in good-quality and well-managed...
28 November 2020
From: Features
The pandemic and the way the government has reacted to the private rental sector (PRS) has got me thinking about the...
19 September 2020
From: Features
If a week is a long time in politics (an old phrase, for younger readers), then a year is a very long...
25 July 2020
From: Features
Earlier this month, it was revealed that property industry bodies have joined a new Code of Practice Steering Group to enact...
25 July 2020
From: Features
The chief executive of the National Association of Estate Agents, Mark Hayward, is to retire at the end of this year. The...
03 July 2020
From: Breaking News
A new estate agency Code of Practice is to be written by a group set up by the Royal Institution of Chartered...
01 July 2020
From: Breaking News
The recommendations to regulate and train the estate agency industry put forward a year ago remain on the Housing Secretary’s desk...
30 June 2020
From: Breaking News
It may be that by the time you read this it’s all over for Robert Jenrick, the Secretary of State for...
27 June 2020
From: Features
The industry should continue to prepare for large-scale reforms such as mandatory agency training, the licensing of agents and a new...
21 May 2020
From: Breaking News
The author of dramatic reform proposals for estate agents has given a clear message to ministers - Get On With It! Lord...
09 March 2020
From: Breaking News
There’s something of a conspiracy of silence over the problem of short lets. That is a stark claim but many siren voices...
22 February 2020
From: Features
First things first, a big happy New Year to everyone. Welcome to 2020! It looks set to be another interesting year...
04 January 2020
From: Features
It’s been clear for a while that the additional regulation landlords and agents are facing has helped professionalise the private rental...
30 November 2019
From: Features
In just over two weeks, the UK population will head to the polls for the fourth general election since 2010. Of course,...
27 November 2019
From: Features
The National Association of Estate Agents and the Association of Residential Letting Agents have issued their manifesto for next month’s General...
05 November 2019
From: Breaking News
The US-based real estate firm Keller Williams says it is aiming to be this country’s leading agency training organisation. Ben Taylor, who...
16 October 2019
From: Breaking News
The boss of a 15+ branch estate agency group has explained how he thinks regulation could 'ruin' the estate agency industry. Simon...
10 October 2019
From: Breaking News
We know that the tenant fee ban has cost letting agents dearly, with an estimated loss of £300 million paid to...
02 October 2019
From: Features
A PropTech company is suggesting that property mis-measurements and resulting over-valuations may be the next PPI scandal. The firm - Spec, which...
17 September 2019
From: Breaking News
If you thought - perhaps hoped - that five weeks of prorogued Parliament meant a break from politics, think again: the...
14 September 2019
From: Features
New compulsory qualifications for estate agents will not only offer more transparency for customers but will help recruit better staff into...
20 August 2019
From: Breaking News
How many of you are in favour of estate agents being licenced? Would most agents rather not be overseen by a regulator...
25 July 2019
From: Features
Trade bodies and property firms have strongly welcomed the recommendations for root and branch reform of the agency industry - and...
19 July 2019
From: Breaking News
The government has published proposals for far-reaching changes to the way estate and letting agents are regulated, trained and licensed. The proposals...
18 July 2019
From: Breaking News
While media attention has been on Theresa May, Brexit and the Tories, chatter in the agency industry has been about what...
25 May 2019
From: Features
The recent ARLA Propertymark conference featured a hugely interesting line-up of speaks and session during a watershed time for the lettings...
13 April 2019
From: Features
It’s time, surely, for government to crackdown not just on rogue agents and landlords but on rogue councils that confuse the...
09 March 2019
From: Features
Countrywide’s executive chairman and group managing director have spoken to Estate Agent Today about the impact of Brexit on the company,...
07 March 2019
From: Breaking News
Barely a day goes by when we don’t read a new report on the unscrupulous practices of landlords; of the sub-standard...
16 February 2019
From: Features
02 January 2019
From: Features
The title may be unfamiliar but most agents know by now that in the corridors of Whitehall a working party exists...
24 November 2018
From: Features
It’s now almost a month since the government introduced new rules on Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO), as part of its...
27 October 2018
From: Features
A statement to the London Stock Exchange by eProp Services has cemented its role primarily as a PropTech firm. This is in...
28 September 2018
From: Breaking News
Labour says it wants ‘Healthy Homes Zones’ in a bid to reduce housing-related health inequalities which are estimated to cost the NHS £1.4...
03 July 2018
From: Breaking News
Estate agent licensing will reduce competition, make buying and selling homes more expensive, and add another layer of red tape to...
18 April 2018
From: Breaking News
This week I carry out a question and answer session with one of the most high-profile names in property. Isobel Thomson has...
10 February 2018
From: Features
It’s no surprise that figures don’t always show the results or consequences we expect - even if they are entirely accurate. Look...
06 January 2018
From: Features
A conveyancers’ trade body has told the government that it wants the house buying process to be modernised by having estate...
18 December 2017
From: Breaking News
Another week, yet more consultations - the agency industry can’t complain about not being asked for its views recently. The latest were on...
21 October 2017
From: Features
Like many of Labour’s recent policy proposals, its call for rent controls leaves more questions than answers. There has been widespread criticism...
07 October 2017
From: Features
In this week’s Natter I’m going to get all political. Don’t worry, I won’t be giving my opinions on Brexit, Trump...
02 September 2017
From: Features
It’s not just the evenings drawing in that marks the approach of autumn - it’s also the return to work of...
26 August 2017
From: Features
Adam Day, the founder of Connells-owned online estate agency Hatched, has been announced as head of operations at easyProperty. In a statement...
31 July 2017
From: Breaking News
More than 270 easyProperty licences have been secured by independent estate agents belonging to The Guild of Property Professionals and Fine...
26 July 2017
From: Breaking News
That the private rental sector has become the government’s whipping boy for housing problems - landlords in particular, letting agents almost...
14 July 2017
From: Features
A consumer group says it is giving what it calls “the top 1,000 estate agents in England and Wales” badges to...
22 June 2017
From: Breaking News
The rental market has had to face a raft of changes over the past year, including the introduction of the 3% stamp...
14 January 2017
From: Features
When a tenant paid his initial one month’s rent in addition to a tenancy deposit in exchange for the keys to...
05 November 2016
From: Features
eMoov founder and chief executive Russell Quirk has launched another online petition, this time calling for mandatory licensing of estate agents. The...
10 October 2016
From: Breaking News
It’s been a heartening few weeks for those of us who thought that protest was dead – or, more precisely, that...
09 September 2016
From: Features
The new mayor of London Sadiq Khan has pledged to do all in his power to help make London “better” after...
12 May 2016
From: Features
There’s been plenty of forecasting in recent weeks - banks, consultancies and high-end estate agents have predicted house prices in the...
31 December 2015
From: Features
You might recall a collective sigh of relief emitted by stakeholders in the housing market and private rental sector back in...
04 December 2015
From: Features
A reader of Industry Views is unlikely to need converting to the virtues of buy to let, but anyone involved in...
30 October 2015
From: Features
Labour’s newly-elected candidate for next year’s London mayoral election says he will name and shame rogue landlords and create a public...
17 September 2015
From: Breaking News
A riposte to Paul Smith's article 'Why Estate Agents Must Stand Up to the Power of the Portals' I just read an...
17 July 2015
From: Features
Many Councils are now introducing Landlord Licensing within different boroughs, for those that have one of the requirements is a 24...
13 July 2015
From: Sponsored Content
A little over four weeks ago I was here musing what impact the impending general election might have on the property...