Demand for Rental Properties creates Bidding Wars
The only thing worse than being gazumped on a home you want to buy is being gazumped on a home you need to rent. Bidding wars may be commonplace in Britain’s frenzied sales market, but they are becoming the norm in lettings too.
The post-pandemic landscape has changed. Landlords are selling to make the most of record house prices or they have pivoted to letting their properties on a short-term basis on platforms such as Airbnb to escape taxes, regulations and make money out of the staycation boom. The result? Fewer properties available to let long-term and tenants are having to outbid each other on the monthly rent to find a place to live.
Social media is full of tales of rental heartbreak. Tracey Pearce(@elementalturtle) wrote on Twitter how she lost out on an £1,800-a-month house for which she had bid £2,000 a month after it went to a tenant who made an even higher offer. She wrote: “We were facing homelessness with four kids as our current landlord had sold our rental but the letting agent thought it was a game and got angry when I cried.”
Another Tweeter, B (@BeeSansMerci), wrote: “We put in an application on a house, landlord picked us, we were on our way to estate agents to sign and put down the deposit and in that time one of the rejected applicants offered an extra £50 a month and the estate agent gave it to them instead. Cried for days.”
There are stories of letting agents telling tenants not to bother applying unless their salary is 40 times the rent. Tenants say that letting agents have even led group viewings that ended with a bidding war in the garden.
Imogen Tew, 25, has rented in London for seven years, but she was first asked to make an offer for rent in June 2020 after the first national lockdown when she was looking to move in with her boyfriend. Tew was outbid on one property in Blackheath, southeast London, and another went to a tenant who could move in quickly, so she realised that she had to up her game.
Freedom Day - Covid Guidelines for Letting Agents
The Year 2020 has rolled into 2021. It is 16 months since the UK went into the very first Lockdown and on Monday 19th July 2021, England (Scotland, Wales & Ireland have set their own timetables) moves into Step 4 of the Government’s intention to restore a “sense of normality”. “Freedom Day”, as it is being referred to by the spin doctors of Government, is being faced with excitement and trepidation. The country is split on whether we should “just get on with it” or take a more cautious approach to relaxing back into being able to live as close to a normal life as possible. However, the personal opinion is one thing, but businesses are having to consider how they will move forward on Monday when restrictions such as compulsory mask-wearing, social distancing and venue check-in, will be lifted.
The six key steps for all businesses are as follows:-
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Perform Covid-19 risk assessments
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Turn away people with Covid symptoms
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Provide adequate ventilation
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Keep stringent cleaning regimes
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Enable NHS app check-in
From Trainer to Student - Susie Crolla's Point of View
It has been said that there is nothing worse than a teacher or trainer sitting in on a training session but wearing a different hat, that of a learner. There's a feeling that a trainer can often approach being in a classroom with an air of arrogance - of knowing it all, yet being on the receiving end of learning is quite rewarding and most definitely very relaxing.
Over the last 2 and a half years, after 30 years of delivering training, I decided to venture back into formal education - first to complete the GDL and then in January of this year to start the LPC.
I remember being very excited when I received formal offers to the universities I applied to and even more excited when I ventured back into the lecture rooms for the very first time. I had of course been on training courses in a wide range of different subjects, but I had not studied a qualification since the early 90s.
I am formally trained and traditionally taught, therefore, I have witnessed a huge amount of change in education - from delivering very to the psychological aspects of both teaching/training to learning, so my approach to both has evolved dramatically. So being in the classroom is a privilege and quite extraordinary for someone who talks for a living and is required to deliver results, inspire, motivate and encourage.
Right to Rent and EU Settlement Status Q and A
As the deadline for applying for EU Settlement Status approaches, immigration enforcement officials will begin giving EU citizens who live in the UK a 28-day warning to apply to remain. However, the Home Office will allow people indefinite time to complete an application for settled status if they have a reasonable excuse for delay.
The following questions were asked but letting agents attending the Rightmove Webinar presented by Susie and may prove useful.
1. When will the government issue new guidance on EU Settlement?
18th June 2021
2. Is there a time limit for tenants to prove status?
There is a time limit for the tenants to prove their status. Tenants have until the 30th of June 2021 to apply for the EU settlement scheme.
3. What can a letting agent do with the share code? i.e., should we be scanning it etc or simply having site of the code and continuing?
A letting agent should have a copy of the tenants share coded or original documents as well as their passports photocopied very clearly. Letting agents then must keep the documents during their tenancy and for one year after.