Archive

Agents working for themselves, supported by a ‘broker’ organisation are on the increase in the UK after becoming almost the norm...

House prices appear to have benefited from a Spring bounce but sales and mortgage approvals have struggled. It comes after a busy...

Is there such a thing as an online estate agency any more? A decade ago, about the time I started editing Estate...

Street.co.uk has added new fields directly into its property records to help agents stay compliant following the new material information guidance. It...

You don’t have to be a mind-reader to believe there will be a large majority Labour government by the end of...

The vast majority of negligence claims against conveyancers are for relatively low sums of money, but the financial and reputational costs...

The Government may have backtracked on plans for 100% loan-to-value (LTV) mortgages but Yorkshire Building Society has come up with its...

The increased focus on upfront material information could push up estate agency professional indemnity (PI) requirements, an industry trainer has warned. Michael...

The Government has given local authorities powers to double the council tax charged on long-term empty homes after 12 months. The time...

Following the release of Material Information Parts B & C, iamproperty’s Product Manager, Tania Bonesi, shares insights on how Estate Agents...

The ESTAS Group has scheduled a Big Postcode Reveal event in April to detail winners of its latest award category. The Best...

HOP (the Home Owner’s Passport) has released its upgraded material information report to support agents with Trading Standards compliance. The list of...

Propertymark has welcomed a move by the Government to lift restrictions on development along the abandoned HS2 route. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak...

After months of negative messaging and anti-development sentiment, espoused both nationally by the Government, and locally during May’s local election campaigning,...

In assessing the outlook for property auctions in 2024, it's crucial to look beyond interest rates. The real driving force behind...

Long-awaited guidance on material information in property listings was revealed yesterday but policing of the rules won’t be any different, it...

There has been much barn conversion activity in recent years perhaps as a result of the change in farming methods making...

Alto has made a range of improvements to its cloud-based agency software based on user feedback. The Houseful-backed brand formed a Software...

Propertymark has given its backing to commitments from the Housing Minister on the long-awaited next steps of leasehold reform. Timothy Douglas, head...

Homeowners are largely unconcerned about cooling house prices, research suggests. Instead, they are more concerned about having their own home than sitting...

As an Estate Agent it’s important to be able to interpret and understand the information that a Title Deed document presents...

Changes to consumer behaviour usually arrive in waves. Most of the time these waves are small. They drive minimal impact, with...

After months of negative messaging and anti-development sentiment, espoused both nationally by the Government, and locally during recent local election campaigning,...

Agents and other businesses are being reminded of a deadline to upgrade their technology systems for voice and broadband connections else...

New laws are set to give more estate agents the chance to sell charity land – as long as you are...

Providing material information upfront could help agents charge higher fees and even reduce their carbon footprint, while those not complying could...

In simple terms, as you are probably aware, ‘lenders’ are the organisations who loan you something, in this case money to...

Amidst mounting regulatory pressure and the escalating threat of financial crime, property firms must embrace innovation to protect themselves and their...

Sleight of hand, optical illusion, card up the sleeve – we all love a good conjuring trick, don’t we? And they say...

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...

THE grounding of foreign travel during successive lockdowns meant many employers were saved from the stress of dealing with holiday requests...

Agents have begun reporting concerns that Barclays has suspended access to their business bank accounts. Vijay Vashistha, co-founder of online agent 99home,...

The average price for larger detached homes has grown at almost twice the rate than for smaller properties such as flats...

A high-profile charity is calling for a Stamp Duty overhaul, local buyer restrictions and extra charges on property purchases by landlords...

AML experts SmartSearch warn estate agents that, with so many firms still hiding behind ‘opaque corporate structures,’ proper due diligence has...

Thousands of foreign companies with property in the UK have failed to declare their true owners. It comes as new anti-money laundering (AML)...

Making homes more energy efficient or moving to properties that have already been improved is becoming a key focus for homeowners,...

Dozens of estate agents have been fined a combined total of £519,645 for failing to meet their obligations under anti-money laundering...

If recent headlines are anything to go by, estate agents and the wider property industry are not just feeling the heavy...

Agents and property professionals have backed the creation of Investment Zones to help boost housebuilding but have called for more clarity...

The current period of national solidarity over the death of Queen Elizabeth II has embraced the world of property as it...

Some people will say: What problem? But they are getting fewer as the detrimental effect of increasing numbers of short lets on...

A new lender is preparing to enter the mortgage market with long-dated fixed rate mortgages in a move seen by some...

Long-established Hampshire estate agent Clarke Mews has shut all three of its branches in West End, Botley and Netley, with its...

Savills has released a revised five-year forecast for the UK’s prime housing markets, to reflect the strong levels of activity in...

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

More than a third of England’s regions have seen buyer demand fall over the previous quarter, research claims in the latest...

Knight Frank is predicting a post-summer slump in the prime London property market. It comes despite its data for the second quarter...

There’s talk of 50-year mortgages being introduced, loans that, along with the property they finance, could be passed to the next...

More than 100,000 property transactions have benefitted from access to digitised local land charges (LLCs) data. Conveyancing software provider Search Acumen has...

The Bank of England’s continued rise in interest rates – the latest being a shift up to 1.25% - is, in...

Fewer foreign buyers are purchasing property in the UK, anti-money laundering data suggests. The property market has been hampered in recent years...

The government’s new Right to Buy policy for housing association tenants appeared to unravel last night after the Housing Secretary said...

We are all acutely aware of the surge in demand for rental properties in and around the capital in the months...

For years, the issue of phone etiquette created tension between estate agents and the legal profession, the former claiming lawyers won’t...

The outgoing chief executive of Rightmove has claimed he has a good relationship with the portal’s customers. It was announced this week...

What a difference two months and some local elections make. Cast your minds back to March 9 and the annual report of...

Buyer demand has rebounded in prime areas of the capital and there is also talk of a return to competitive bidding. The...

April looks set to go down as the busiest month for house sales of the year.  And with record numbers of properties predicted...

The pandemic may have helped first-time buyers get on the property ladder sooner but are they paying too high a price? Research...

Rightmove has created a league table to identify where new buyer competition is hottest across the UK housing market. Across the country...

John D Wood - which along with Hamptons is regarded as the prime end of the suite of agency brands now...

House sales in February were around a fifth lower than the same month in 2021, according to HM Revenue and Customs...

haart, part of the Spicerhaart estate agency group, has accused rival agencies of copying its hybrid working model. Spicerhaart group managing director...

Storm clouds continue to gather over the UK economy with growing inflation, another likely interest rate rise, and a warning from...

The market boom goes on, for now at least. In February, house prices rose at their fastest since June 2007 according to...

The government is considering seizing British property owned by Russian oligarchs on the sanctions list without paying compensation. The Financial Times says Housing...

Agents are being told by a trade body to conduct more frequent risk reviews and check purchaser identities against up to...

The Bank of England has issued a consultation on changing the affordability tests for large mortgages introduced in the wake of...

It is claimed by Propertymark that the government’s Economic Crime Bill - to be debated in the House of Commons today -...

Share prices of estate agencies and property companies plummeted yesterday as tensions continued to rise following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Purplebricks...

Rightmove - which issues its annual figures to shareholders later this week - has released a bullish snapshot of the housing...

Property events and functions are now back in full swing, with 2022 likely to be the first ‘normal’ year for this...

Stamp duty statistics show that the introduction of a two per cent surcharge on residential properties by overseas buyers, means HM...

Without doubt, 2021 was an exceptional year in the property market, with the stamp duty holiday and favourable market conditions helping...

The lettings sector looks set to steam ahead in 2022 after a record-breaking 2021, despite the financial and mobility challenges of...

A law firm is warning that one of the key risks facing that industry this year revolves around professional negligence claims against...

London’s super-prime residential market has recorded its strongest year since 2013, according to high end agency Savills. In total, there were 522...

Another day, another house price index record. The latest, from the Halifax, shows that typical house prices increased by over £24,500 in...

For the first time since before the global financial crisis of 2008, the number of first-time buyers is estimated to have...

The surge in Omicron cases and possible future restrictions are set to hit the housing market in 2022 - and may...

Leasehold, quite rightly, remains not just an emotive topic given what has happened over the past decade, but it’s very much...

As 2021 draws to a swift close, there is much speculation about what 2022 will have to offer. Despite the emergence of...

As the UK housing market faces an ongoing boom, there’s one profession that’s certainly rushed off its feet — estate agents....

While the Christmas season is usually heralded by an influx of terrible Christmas adverts, the launch of Starbucks’ gingerbread lattes, Adam...

Some 14 trade bodies in the estate agency, conveyancing, property management and surveying industries have jointly launched new upfront documents which...

The push for greater sustainability, energy efficiency and generally being ‘green’ has existed in the agency world for several years -...

Who are you and what does it say on your business card? David Ruddock – Partner and Head of Residential Sales Operations...

In this op-ed, Warwick Haycock, accounting software specialist at The Access Group, looks at how the use of tech can empower...

An agent is warning the government it must manage Covid and not simply react ‘too late and too little’. He’s suggesting some...

As a character from a fairly well-known TV show once said, winter is coming and we’re all contemplating where 2021 has...

An alert has gone out to sales and lettings agents to be more diligent with their checking of data, and to...

The ESTAS – often known as the property world’s version of the Oscars – returns as an in-person event this Friday...

In this thought leadership article, Videosign CEO Steven Tallant looks at electronic signatures and conveyancing and whether the time is nigh for the...

Howl you doing? Yes, it’s just a fortnight until Halloween and time to wheel out unspeakably awful puns and the occasional...

The latest market snapshot of prime London by estate agency Benham and Reeves shows demand up 5.8 per cent annually for...

Prices in prime central London have risen for the past two quarters, prompting a tentative claim that the market may be...

Luke Thirkettle heads up the lettings division at Stratfords, a single-branch lettings and sales agency based in Milton Keynes. Here, he speaks to...

The stamp duty holiday concluded at midnight, marking the end of the busiest period for the industry - all parts of...

As we motor towards the next major global climate change conference – the UN’s COP26 being held in Glasgow from 31...