Archive

The Competition and Markets Authority has raised an unusual issue concerning Barratt’s £2.5 billion deal to buy rival house builder Redrow...

The wife of a jailed banker has agreed to forfeit a house in Knightsbridge worth approximately £14m and a golf club...

Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) continue to make headlines, and unfortunately, it’s once again for the wrong reasons. A recent investigation by Which?...

Building and development plans Recently, Carter Jonas has marketed development sites which have attracted multiple bids, higher offers than had been anticipated...

Financial crime within the property sector is on the rise and the stats are alarming. According to data from Apex Bridging,...

The Residential Property Surveyors Association (RPSA) has announced an investigation to uncover the tensions between developers and surveyors on snagging. The trade...

An estate agency based in the heart of one of the UK’s largest Jewish communities has faced backlash after one of its...

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched an investigation into the UK’s largest housebuilders as it warns of “fundamental concerns”...

The liquidator of collapsed portal Boomin is investigating a sale of the portal's intellectual property to My Bespoke Room as its...

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLHUC) has hit back at media claims about its housebuilding targets. The Times newspaper...

Two London firms have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman (TPO) for failing to pay compensation to consumers. This brings the total...

This week saw around 80 conveyancing firms across the UK paralysed by a service outage caused by a ‘cyber incident’ on...

Legal sector infrastructure specialist CTS has said it is “urgently investigating” a cyberattack on its services that could impact property exchanges...

Self-employed agency brand eXp has terminated the contract of agent Ian Wyn-Jones following allegations about his working practices. Wyn-Jones, who joined eXp...

It's emerged that Homes England and HMRC have explored possible fraud within the Help to Buy Equity Loan Scheme. This formed part of...

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has highlighted land banks and planning blockages as potential areas for investigation. It comes as the...

Agents have backed shining a light on pressure selling tactics within the industry. Speaking on the latest Agents MVMT Pass The Syrup...

There is much debate about energy efficiency right now and about expected changes to minimum EPCs for private rental properties and...

Everyone at Estate Agent Today is delighted to announce that our Editor, Marc Shoffman, has won the prestigious Headlinemoney freelance journalist...

Now more than ever, property professionals across the sector need to pull together and collaborate more closely to make business gains,...

A man has been jailed for fraud after conning potential property buyers out of nearly £16,000. Jaspal Singh Juttla, 64 of Northwood...

The competition watchdog is set to shine a spotlight on property, with investigations into the housebuilding market and a separate project...

By David Boughtflower Business Analyst at Reapit, 14 years in Residential Sales and Lettings Having entered estate agency in the eye of the...

In this guest feature, Dillon Darbar, counter fraud manager at Network Homes, sets out why estate agents need to be aware...

With the reported increase in agency staff turnover we thought it would be a good idea to look at how you...

Agents are being asked to complete a survey as part of a national newspaper’s investigation into the safety of property professionals...

Increasing numbers of complaints about agents are being resolved without formal investigation but issues are becoming more complex, The Property Ombudsman...

FCS Compliance has announced the latest in its anti-money laundering (AML) series of webinars with Rightmove.  The latest is titled The Role...

Thousands more leaseholders are expected to see ground rents cut and some may even receive refunds. It forms part of the Competition...

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has closed its investigation into alleged mis-selling of leasehold houses by Barratt Homes. It is the...

Dye & Durham says it could potentially appeal the decision by the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) to effectively disallow its acquistion...

If there’s one thing that received a boost as a result of Covid and lockdowns, it’s podcasts – which reached whole...

Property data company Dye & Durham has promised to “work collaboratively” with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) after the watchdog...

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has warned that it may block the merger of two property search firms as it...

Many people in recent years will have become familiar with challenger banks such as Monzo, Starling and Atom. Many will have...

The property industry is fortunate in including many great people, doing great work across a range of businesses – from traditional agency...

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has informally resolved a complaint regarding claims made by Purplebricks about home sales. The advertising watchdog revealed...

Propertymark has given its backing to the ban on ground rents for new leasehold properties and has reminded agents of their...

It was a quiet first quarter this year for sanctions at The Property Ombudsman (TPO). The redress scheme has revealed that just...

The international reviews service Trustpilot has batted away criticism from a property website that it ignores breaches of its guidelines. Last week,...

A row has broken out over a company which has made allegations about Trustpilot reviews of OnTheMarket. A company called KwikChex says...

A leading surveyor in London says the likely introduction of a register of overseas property ownership and sanctions making it difficult...

Some agents say they have as many as one in 10 vendors taking their properties off the market and seeking to...

An estate agency says retrospective investigations into Russian ownership of London properties could lead to substantial amounts of wealth moving out...

Property searches are not showing up some new road schemes because they are classified by local councils as planning consent for...

If the UK and its allies have been played by Russia over the Ukraine ‘invasion’, and it’s beginning to look that...

Timothy Douglas, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Propertymark, analyses the impact that the lack of available data is having on...

The Mail Online website alleges that an after-hours party at an estate agency office involved staff apparently inhaling drugs from balloons. The...

A British estate agent working in Florida has been shot dead while preparing to show a property. Sara Trost, 40, was from...

A probe by the Competition and Markets Authority has led housebuilder Taylor Wimpey to make changes for the benefit of leaseholders.  Taylor...

A surveyors’ trade body claims as many as 250,000 homes could find themselves impossible to sell or secure a mortgage on...

Propertymark is to probe Purplebricks over its lettings fiasco - and as the agency becomes a subject of ridicule in the...

One part of the UK is to get a taste of the mandatory estate agent regulation that many want to see...

An England football manager who resigned after a newspaper sting is in a podcast series launched by Boomin and Purplebricks founders Michael and Kenny...

Property fraud is on the rise and early in 2022 agents will have an opportunity to attend a webinar featuring a...

A petition is being started, urging the government to ban the payment of referral fees to estate agents. It’s reported to have...

I’ve worked in financial crime for the past seven years, beginning my career as a white collar crime litigator in a law firm. I know that the...

RICS has appointed Lord Michael Bichard to lead a wide-ranging independent review into the governance and purpose of the institution. The review...

Agents must have a robust plan in place in case they are subjected to a ransomware cyber attack, says the Guild...

The police have been called in to investigate the ongoing cyber-security incident which has led to many firms in the Simplify...

There’s been an update this morning on the dramatic systems crash that has hit the conveyancing services operated by the Simplify...

A BBC investigation has revealed that a man’s house was sold and his furnishings removed without his knowledge, in the latest...

Increasing house prices has encouraged HM Revenue and Customs to launch huge numbers of probes into Inheritance Tax payments. According to law...

The bid by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors to re-establish itself as a trusted body continues with the naming of...

It’s been revealed that HM Revenue & Customs scours the listings on both Rightmove and Zoopla to assess whether property investors...

The Advertising Standards Authority has stepped in following a complaint about a property advertised by Connells-owned Countrywide estate agents. The issue revolves...

In this guest editorial, experienced property solicitor Lorraine Richardson argues that reservation agreements - designed to reduce the number of fall-throughs in...

Almost a million tenants have built up rent arrears since March 2020, according to research by National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA)....

The police investigation into the Savills agents who allegedly racially abused England players on Twitter after the Euros 2020 final is...

The Savills member of staff who allegedly racially abused England players online after the Euros 2020 final has been sacked. The Metro...

The work of the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team is “vital” it claims - and the case of the...

A banned West Midlands estate agent has today been sentenced to a custodial sentence of six weeks, suspended for two years, and fined £4,000 at Wolverhampton Crown Court after pleading guilty...

Propertymark has issued a warning to agents following the fines imposed on three property agencies by HM Revenue & Customs for...

HM Revenue & Customs is reported to be targeting recent home buyers after a slump in income from property taxes during...

A former estate agent has accused the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agent Team of trying to discredit him. Chris Wood,...

Well, we’re technically more than halfway through the year already, but we’ll let that slide. And what a year it’s been...

The publication of a report following a controversial RICS investigation has been pushed back another month. Last month it was announced that...

Greater Manchester Police have arrested the Savills estate agent who allegedly posted a racist tweet about black England football stars after...

A prominent London estate agency owner wants an industry anti-racism campaign to counter what she describes as the “discrimination and prejudice...

There is growing criticism of Savills on social media following the controversy over a racist tweet apparently sent from the personal...

The police have now received complaints about the tweet believed to have been sent from a personal account of a Savills...

High end agency Savills is conducting “a full investigation” into a racist tweet posted overnight. A Savills statement posted on Twitter this...

The second man to appear in a notorious video showing an estate agent accosting Professor Chris Whitty has now been charged...

The founder and managing director of FCS Compliance, Jerry Walters, has died suddenly. A statement from the company says he died during...

No fewer than seven estate and lettings agencies have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme today. Most of them are now...

NAEA Propertymark says the news that two major players in the leasehold sector have reformed their activities must be just the...

In an industry which is faced with constant changes in day-to-day practices and even more so given the Covid terrain which agents...

With property fraud on the rise and an ever-increasing number of transactions taking place in the lettings sector, having strict anti-money laundering...

An estate agency is investigating how a swastika appeared in a photograph accompanying property details about a house on sale. The Grantham...

The Competition and Markets Authority says it has pushed Facebook into taking new action to combat fake reviews - an issue...

Two property directors have been banned from holding company office for a total of 25 years after abusing £7.7m taken from...

A new campaign to urge whistleblowers to come forward with evidence of wrongdoing has been launched by the Financial Conduct Authority. This...

The Competition and Markets Authority has written to two top house builders ordering them to change their leasehold terms. In September the...

A prominent estate agent has warned buyers and sellers about the perils of the controversial Modern Method of Auction. MMA is now...

Another TV programme will this weekend examine the fate of Suzy Lamplugh, the London estate agent who disappeared 35 years ago...

An agent working for a Countrywide brand in Lancashire has been given a suspended jail sentence after being found guilty of...

Experts are warning that buyers rushing to complete before the March 31 cliff edge for the stamp duty holiday may miss...

A newspaper claims that thousands of customers’ financial details held by Foxtons Group are being freely accessed on the so-called dark...

Estate agencies have been named by HM Revenue & Customs for breaching anti-money laundering regulations. The list of those breaching the rules...

The Property Ombudsman has joined calls for greater disclosure of referral fees by agents.  The issue has become a hot topic in...