A new research by Deposit Protection Service (DPS) disproves the common myth that tenants and landlords are always at odds. According to the new poll the vast majority of tenants get on just great with their residential landlord!

The new figures show that:

- 84 percent of tenants get on well with their landlord and
- nearly a quarter of these described their relationship with their landlord as ‘fantastic,’ while
- 39 percent of tenants described their relationship as ‘OK’.
- Only 16 percent of respondents said that they did not have a good relationship with their landlord.

We have been lucky with landlords, or maybe we’re just such good understanding tenants, as we are definitely in the group that describes their relationship with the landlord as just fabulous!

Via: Residential Landlord
Absolutely Fabulous friends poster from Urban Posters

Telegraph lead us to an organisation called Residential Property Tribunal Service, which provides an independent and fair tribunal service for resolving disputes between landlords and tenants. Participants don’t need a lawyer, they can represent themselves, and in the majority of cases they don’t have to pay any court fees later, as the problem gets solved.

The service does not have the power to deal with all types of dispute about rents, and cannot become involved in disputes about commercial property. They resolve issues with:

- Rent When the landlords want one figure and the tenants want another;
- Service charge When tenants dispute the maintenance charges for the common parts;
- Buying the freehold When tenants can’t agree a price with the landlords;
- Leasehold extension When a tenant wants to extend their lease at a new rate;
- Breach of lease When landlords say a tenant has breached his lease, and the tenant disagrees;
- Right to buy When local authority landlords won’t sell to the tenants.

On their website they have a record of the decisions they have made on their file, if you want to have a look.

In front of Samurai in W1, yesterday.

LetMeDo.co.uk is a letting site that offers a bit more than just a simple listing service.

Couple of interesting services on their website caught our eye:

Value Tenant enables prospective Tenants to meet financial rating requirements through electronic means, without the need of documentary proof, which is often time-consuming and frustrates the process of quickly finding a property for rent or to share. Price £18.99.

IDTenant Prospective Landlords or Tenants are able to establish proof of identity remotely, using an authentication index. Price: £6.99.

You can then post your profile on the site, and show the badges of these certification there, although it’s not mandatory.

They have about 100 properties for rent in London, and just one tenant profile at the moment. Not sure if these are all from private landlords as most ads have reoccurring first names in the contacts.

Have you used this site? Successfully?

Let us know if you have!

Ad in Loot, the classifieds paper, which contains rental listings as well. Published 3 times a week, and costs £1.50.

Belvoir Lettings discusses over at Landlords & BTL Blog about what makes a ‘good tenant’.

Here are the traits that every landlord dreams of:

1. Pays the rent on time every month;
2. Treats the property with respect;
3. Is happy to look after the garden, if there is one;
4. Does minor maintenance himself. All the little jobs around the house is the tenants responsibility, and not that of the agent or landlord;
5. Stays for long long term - more than 6 months;
6. Leaves the property in the condition that they found it;
7. Understands that the agent/landlord cannot spirit boiler parts out of the air.

So keep those things in mind if you want the landlord to be top-notch, make sure you are doing everything right on your side, too.

Picadilly Circus, Earthware streetview

Staying in is the new going out, declares MailOnline, and it’s true.

What does this mean for renters? Are we no longer visiting the estate agent’s offices? Can we rent an apartment without leaving home?

FINDING A RENTAL
Property portals and agent websites have become quite advanced, and we have no problem finding a selection of seemingly suitable places without leaving home.

WHAT’S MISSING? We need to get a better feel of our future home. Floorplans with exact measurements can help but it’s not enough. Videos are the good. 3D visualisations would be excellent but the making of them is time consuming and expensive.

It is also difficult to know the area without being there, although it is very important that you do. It will take time for  Google Earth to develop into something like Second Life but until then, satellite photo maps are good for exploring the surroundings. Lauren sent us a link to Earthware’s streetviews (see Picadilly Circus here) - you can now take a virtual stroll on some of London’s streets.

SIGNING THE CONTRACT
Even though I see a lot of risks with that, there is no problem with getting the initial contract signed without having to go to an estate agent’s office or without meeting the landlord. The renter usually just has to provide copy of the ID, references, and transfer a deposit. It is however very risky, in our opinion. How can you be sure you are talking to the right person, and not some fraudster? We’ve heard too many horror stories to trust anyone.

WHAT’S MISSING? Some sort of verification system. It would be great if somehow I could be sure that this person/firm has indeed got the right to rent this apartment to me, that there is an apartment, that the bank details he/she gives me are indeed correct. We could seal the deal without ever leaving home.

We would definitely use Gumtree again, if they could only verify the advertisers somehow.

Some things will always be worth the walk - like Chard’s new office in Fulham Broadway - it looks so pretty on the outside:)

Some notes from Knight Frank’s latest residential market research:

- Demand has risen over the past few months - mostly for more modestly priced properties. At higher price points, there are some properties that have remained on the market for considerable time without finding a tenant.

- New supply coming on stream from so-called ‘forced landlords’ – frustrated vendors who are unable or unwilling to sell their property in the current market and, as a result, have opted to let it out.

- Not only are there more houses and flats on the market than before – there are more highly-specified, well-presented properties on the market than is typically the case.

Read the whole report.

A new booklet for landlords gives advice on how to spot drug factory in the rented property. The police has found them in London areas that you would never suspect, so this concerns everybody.

In case you are suspicious of your neighbours, here are some signs that the landlords are advised to look for:

How to spot a cannabis factory

- A strong, pungent smell coming from the property
- Electrical wiring that has been tampered with
- Beware of booby traps. Electrical wiring may have been rigged up to door handles etc.
- Powerful lights left on in the house throughout the night
- Windows blacked out
- A sudden jump or increase in the cost of electricity bills
- Scuffed paint or wallpaper
- Large quantities of bin bags, full of vegetable material, thrown away
- Rewiring efforts or bypassed circuitry

In case of other drugs

- Large amounts of chemicals products
- Coffee filters
- Boxes of red matches
- Stripped battery cases
- Ephedrine or pseudoephedrine based medicines (cold or allergy medicines)
- Strong or unpleasant chemical smells such as ammonia
- Chemistry equipment such as glass flasks, chemical reactors etc.

Here is what landlords and letting agents should be aware of when letting out rented premises:

- A prospective tenant’s willingness to pay months of rent in advance, or above the going rate, particularly in cash
- Never accept rent in cash. Ask for bank account details.
- Never accept tenants without checking references and backgrounds first
- Be suspicious if a tenant never allows you access to the property or refuses you entry to certain rooms or areas of the property
- If the tenant asks to meet you away from the property to pay rent, or to discuss anything about the accommodation
- If the tenant puts deadlocks or alarms on internal doors, and has made attempts to install fortifications on the exterior of the property.

Source: Landlord’s Guide To Keeping Illegal Drugs Out Of Rented Properties (*pdf)
Via: ThisIsPlymouth.co.uk

Looks like the U.S. Embassy really will be moving. The relocation will take at least 5 years.

Evening Standard reports that the Candy brothers are planning to convert the site into luxury flats.

Update: U.S. Embassy on London’s Grosvenor Square Put on Sale

Read also:
US Embassy May Leave Mayfair
Architecture & Design Critic: Save Our Saarinen!

So you’ve found that perfect flat but …. it is too expensive…

Way over your budget…

Still, you don’t want to bury your hopes.

That dream home is worth fighting for!

There are 2 ways for you to go on now:

1. Send the agent your maximum offer anyway - and really, you should, as you never know - it might get accepted;
2. Go to Globrix, and see if the property is listed there, because they just released a great tool for monitoring the prices:

a. Go to Globrix
b. Register yourself
c. Choose address/area/postcode. We chose NW3 (the hottest place to rent in London at the moment;))
d. Choose the property you are interested in
e. Click on Watch & Save button

f. My Globrix box will open up, where you must click on YES next to price watch - and voilà - any changes in the price of that property will be sent to your E-mail.

How convenient is that?

PS In case you are just browsing the website - there will be a rosette on the properties on which the price has been reduced or increased.

For those of you who have been waiting for the new issue of Foxtons magazine Area - you can now download the October/November online versions HERE!

The monthly magazine includes rental property ads with beautiful photos, a review from the local Office Manager, some area news, feature articles and interiors highlights.

Not actually sure when the new version of the Harrods Estates homepage was launched but it should be pretty fresh.

A few things that we noticed and like:

Good Layout
- Easy to navigate main menu;
- Wherever you go on the site - the search is conveniently on the side all the time.

New Design
The dark background makes the photos stand out. The picture viewing system has been changed to the one that we’re used to, and like. Click on the small photos to view them large size, and enjoy moving around in the gallery using keyboard arrows (small thing but my hand really is more relaxed on a keyboard than on my laptop’s touchpad:))

Currency Converter
For renters coming from abroad there is a currency converter, which has about 50 different currencies listed.

A lot of their ads have the picture of an EPC score!

Click here to see what else has changed!

Forbes’ annual top 10 is here:

1. SW1X Knightsbridge
2. W8 Kensington
3. W1K Mayfair (North)
4. SW1W Belgravia
5. SW3 Chelsea, Brompton
6. SW7 South Kensington
7. W11 Notting Hill
8. W1J Mayfair (South)
9. SW1E Buckingham Gate to Victoria Station
10. W1S Hanover Square and Savile Row

The ranking is based on average house prices that have been sold over the past year. See the average prices and more at Forbes.

Do you remember who topped the list last December? Click HERE to find out.

Rumour has it that the U.S. embassy in Grosvenor Square Mayfair may move south bank!

Wonder what the future has in store for Saarinen’s creation, the embassy building …

Photo: state.gov

Wondering whether it is now obligatory for the Energy Performance Certificate score to be displayed in the property rental ads?

We have understood that the initial online listing does not have to contain any information from the EPC. Paragon Mortgages knows when the EPC is required:

- when any written information about the building is provided in response to a request for information received from the prospective tenant, or
- when a viewing is conducted, or
- before entering into contract

Mandatory or not, some agents have put the score graph in the ad already:

Like John D Wood. We found this ad from PrimeLocation.com, where you can search by keywords like “EPC” or “Energy Performance Certificate”. Also, one Parkinson Farr ad included an EPC, Cluttons‘ and John Hollingworth’s ads noted “EPC available on request”.