Agents Do Charity - as summer turns to autumn

The Bank Holiday weekend heralds the end of August and the return to a more normal sales and lettings market for many.

What has not really changed over the summer, however, has been the generousity of spirit of agents who continue to help those who cannot always help themselves. 

If you want your hard work recognised, please let us know at press@estateagenttoday.co.uk and we will be happy to doff our cap to you.

In the meantime, here are this week’s heroes:

Elvetham Heath Nature Reserve: A team from Waterfords Fleet Office has been working hard to preserve the Heathland on the reserve by birch-pulling and hedge trimming so the area can continue to be enjoyed. The Elvetham Heath Nature Reserve covers approximately 26 hectares of public open space and has been given a prestigious Green Flag Award. 

Kathy Ellis, from Waterfords property management team, says: “It was hard work and some of us ended up falling over because the birch was so difficult to get out of the ground! I live on Elvetham Heath so it was lovely to put something back into my local community, especially at a place my family use so frequently.”

It’s been a busy summer for the staff at Waterfords, with a team recently completing the Great Property Bike Ride and raising over £900 for Children With Special Needs Foundation. Staff are also involved in Waterfords 20th Birthday celebrations at The Mall in Camberley, where they will be running competitions to raise money for their chosen local charity Step-By-Step.

TDS Charitable Foundation: New education projects for tenants and landlords have received almost £40,000 in funding from the TDS Charitable Foundation, which aims to promote education for tenants and landlords in the private rented sector and to raise standards in the industry.

Warrington Youth Club: £2,374 - Warrington Youth Club’s ‘Positive Life Skills’ programme helps young care leavers in their transition from carers to an independent lives. The TDS Charitable Foundation grant will help this hard to reach group as they prepare for their transition to independent living, providing workshops on their rights and responsibilities as tenants.

Young Enterprise and Personal Finance Education Group (PFEG): £20,000 - This project will also help young people in their transition into independent living, providing a new financial education teaching resource for 14-19 year olds. The resource will provide young people with information on the housing market, the options available to young people when they leave home and the costs they will need to prepare for.  

Unipol Student Homes: £10,112 - Unipol is providing a new website for Accreditation Network UK (ANUK). ANUK promotes landlord accreditation programmes across the UK and the improved website, to be managed by Unipol, will include a directory of landlord accreditation schemes and downloadable accreditation handbooks. It will also contribute towards one of their core aims, in the promotion of proper complaints processes to be transparent, rapid, and known to tenants.

NUS Ready to Rent: £17,295 - Ready to Rent is a landmark programme equipping student unions with resources to help students in the private rented sector. The funding will be used to extend the programme to Further Education Student Unions. Ready to Rent launched last year with support from the Foundation and has become well established as a resource and training provider.

Chairman of the TDS Charitable Foundation, Professor Martin Partington says: “We have received a diverse range of interesting new projects aiming to help the ever growing private rented sector. The number of private tenancies recently grew beyond the social sector for the first time in decades so it is vital that tenants, living longer in rented accommodation, and the growing number of landlords investing part time in property, have easy access to information on their rights and obligations.”

Cardiff City FC support the Matterhorn Challenge: Geraint Aubrey along with Gareth Evans and Gareth Richards of the Conveyancing Association Members and Directors of the Conveyancing Foundation met the Cardiff City team at their Vale of Glamorgan training ground. The team offered their encouragement and support to Geraint for his climb whilst also taking the time for some pictures. 

Geraint is about to start his preparation and acclimatisation in the Swiss Alps and has just seen the Matterhorn first hand. He will be spending the next few weeks in the Pennine Alps area that borders Switzerland and Italy in preparation for his epic adventure. 

Chestertons Charity Champions: Senior property executives have been “back to the floor” as part of a charity fundraising drive by Chestertons that raised almost £14,000.

Robert Bartlett, group CEO, Allan Collins, chief financial officer, and Richard Davies, head of residential, all joined office teams for the day. 

Robert Bartlett became a member of Chestertons’ Property Management team for the day, spending time on the phones talking to landlords, getting to grips with the computer systems and attending property viewings.

The back to the floor days were the culmination of a six-week fundraising effort under the Chestertons Charity Champions initiative, which has raised more than £14,000 for London-based charities since launching earlier this year.