Estate agent Marsh & Parsons has just published autumn issue of the London Portrait magazine.

London Portrait, Issue 4, Autumn 2010

The magazine features offers from all their 14 offices across London and there are some articles that we thought would be an interesting read for the renters:

- Rental prices rise with property in short supply;
- Corporate applicants on the increase as confidence in London’s economy grows;
- Nothing beats Barnes;
- Capital ideas… (tips on design);
- A Rake’s Progress (tips for the garden);
- Top 10 tips for landlords.

Read it now!

It seems that the worst is over as the London residential rental market is finally showing signs of calming down.

This week’s market report by estate agent W.A. Ellis says that the level of enquiries were slightly down this week!

This week, the level of enquiries were slightly down following the strong activity in September, although there continues to be some very top end enquiries registering. It remains rare to receive notice to terminate from a tenant. The current trend is that they are renewing with more ex-pats joining them in the City. The trend for properties to move over from the Sales market continues and also some would be vendors are keeping properties for their pensions.

With Autumn looming, the family tenant now seems to be settled with the school term well under way and we do not see this area of the market picking up until December/January.

High net worth students continue to keep the one and two bedroom market active with rents rising due to the shortage of stock.

Following the reports that the rental stocks have dried up in London we ran a quick search online to find out how many flats and houses do London letting agents each currently have on their books.

We found that Foxtons is leading with 1690 properties, which is more than twice as much as Chesterton Humberts has with 811 rentals. Winkworth holds the third place with 805 properties to let in London.

1. Foxtons 1690
2. Chesterton Humberts 811
3. Winkworth 805
4. Knight Frank  624
5. Hamptons International 552
6. Marsh & Parsons 521
7. Ludlow Thompson 381
8. Chard  274
9. John D Wood 272
10. Benham & Reeves 270

Foxtons is reportedly spending £3m a year on their client database, which, despite the good performance, does sound plain crazy.

Estate agent Ludlow Thompson says that although summer and autumn are traditionally busy times in London rental market, there has never seen such a mismatch between supply and demand. They say that open house viewing is now common for desirable properties and if enough tenants register interest, they are asked if they would like to put in a Sealed Bid.

Via: This Is Money

Douglas & Gordon Lettings Barometer August 2010

August 2010 was the best month ever for new rental business in estate agent Douglas & Gordon’s 52 year history. Continued economic uncertainty, restricted mortgage finance and less price growth stability has led to a stronger rental mentality in London. The days of eveyone thinking it is ssensible to get onto the property ladder are gone, and renting for a longer term and later in life has become the norm.

Via: Homesandtravel.co.uk

Estate agent Foxtons is suing a former employee for stealing their valuable client database. 

Mr. Timothy Hassell was an operations director and lettings manager with 12 years at Foxtons but resigned in January this year and started a rival business, reports The Evening Standard. The new agency is called Draker Lettings and it operates in the more expensive areas of London like Kensington, Chelsea and Belgravia.

In papers filed at the High Court, Foxtons accuses Drakers Lettings of stealing large amounts of information relating to 2,500 clients, including the addresses of properties, landlords’ bank and contact details, rental figures, fees charged and start and end dates for tenancies.

We will not hold our breath to hear more about this story as this case will most likely be settled out of court.

A group of London estate agents have launched a new property portal FabricProperty.com. The site focuses on luxury homes in North, North West, West and Central London areas. 

What makes Fabricproperty.com so special? VIDEOS! They’ve got good quality videos of properties for sale which you can find under Showcase Properties. The Be Inspired section features interior design ideas presented by designers.

There’s quite a lot of reading material on the site, too. In the Property Market Advice corner you are encouraged to ask questions from the agents and read about the current issues in Insider View.  Area Focus looks at the different areas obviously and these are a good read as they offer some good inside information.

The property search is very basic and simple and just gave us 2441 rentals in London. You might get confused when the search results won’t show you the postcode or area. We think the reason for that is because estate agents know the streets better than taxi drivers and they are just trying to show off here;) It is a relief to see the maximum price for a rental property is £30,000 per week. They will have to lift it when the One Hyde Park penthouse will come on the market.

The portal was born from the co-operation of Fabric magazine and estate agents Aston Chase, Savills, Plaza Estates, Bargets, Hamptons International, Beauchamp Estates, Behr & Butchoff, Winkworth, Benham & Reeves, Brian Lack & Co, Anscombe & Ringland, Arlington Residential, Chesterton, Day Morris, Glentree Estates, Godfrey & Barr, Goldschmidt & Howland, Harris Latner, Heathgate, Litchfields, Parkheath, Sandfords, TK International, Vickers and Wigmore Estates.

Cornwall Gardens/Grenville Place in Kensington SW7, April 2010

Estate agent Knight Frank‘s quarterly report Local Lettings Market Insight aims to keep landlords and tenants up to date with the latest movements on the market. There’s a few statistics there and a rather interesting interview with the head of the local lettings department. For the Summer 2010 edition they had to answer: “What question do tenants always ask?”

Zoe Sexton – Head of Kensington lettings
“Will the landlord take an offer?” We would say is the most common question. There are still a few people who are looking for a ‘bargain’ but with the shortage of stock and rents going up we are trying to let all our applicants know about what is happening in the market so they can make educated decisions and put in the right offer. Other common questions are “When was the property last refurbished?” and “Is the property managed by Knight Frank?” Newly refurbished and professionally managed properties are always in demand and let quickly.

Sophie Woolfenden – Head of Notting Hill lettings
Prospective tenants can, and do, ask almost anything! That is why it is so important for Landlords to be as flexible as possible with regards to terms, break clauses and furnishings. If you are prepared for at least some of these questions they seem a lot easier to deal with. The usual questions tend to be one or all of the following: Is this a safe neighbourhood? Is the price negotiable? How many minutes to the tube?

Vanessa Evett – Head of Canary Wharf lettings
The most commonly asked questions that we come across are “Does this development have a gym and swimming pool?” or “Does this development have 24hr Concierge?”. Once an offer is agreed, we tend to hear “Why do we have to pay Stamp Duty Land Tax?” and “Where is our Deposit held?”.

Ruth Barr – Head of Wimbledon lettings
How close is the station? Wimbledon has excellent transport links to the City and West End. Canary Wharf can also be reached within 30 minutes from Wimbledon Station.

Click here to read all the issues of Knight Frank Local Lettings Market Insight.

We recently received a comment on our website, which perfectly illustrates one of the main problems tenants face when renting through the letting agent.

Hi there, I’m a 21 year old university student who is very worried about the risks involved when signing up to a contract with an estate agent. A year ago, naive me and three other students went to view a flat along with a representative from the estate agent. The four bed property was well presented, but it also was well above our price-range. The representative knew this but assured us that she could probably “have a word” and “sort something out”. It screamed sophistication, independence and freedom! We really did like the place and she knew it. I started to feel uncomfortable as she sensed the excitement within the group, but a few well rehearsed lines were slipped in here and there and soon we were all convinced that there were was another potential buyer on the way who was very interested, and if we wanted to secure the flat we must place a deposit before 5 p.m. that day.

Off we ran to the nearest cash point, withdrew a total of £280 from our precious student loans and straight to the agency. They had our contracts ready and waiting still warm from the printer. I can’t recall the exact amount they had wanted from us, but I do know we were being charged for credit checks, even though all of us had opened our very first student accounts that same year. We were also being ripped off for the cost of inventories. There must have been a lot of other ‘expenses’ as the grand total per student including our deposits came up to over £1200 each. They had somehow claimed £400 for their “services.” It didn’t matter that in order for us to pay the rent, we would have had to up the hours from our part-time student jobs and almost completely neglect our degrees. Luckily someones relative intervened and we pulled out. We only ever got £140 back, which we shared between us.

This year I’ll be going through another property hunt. If you have any advice on how we can avoid this sort of thing, please let us know.

Eagerly awaiting a reply.

J.

Our Answer:

An agent should provide clear information on what costs would be incurred, including any potential future financial liabilities to the agent that are reasonably foreseeable and quantifiable, says the statement on the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) website. It is totally understandable that as a first time renter you had no idea that letting agent services can cost hundreds of pounds – there was no word about it on the advertisement, nor the agent’s website. No wonder one feels being deceived and trapped when the bill is presented only after there is no going back.

Should you decide to go through the letting agent again, please make sure you get all the expense details before the viewing takes place. Ask how much exactly do they charge for their services for the property you are interested in. Write these numbers down and have them with you for the letting agent to confirm on the site, should you decide to pay the holding deposit there and then.

Don’t hesitate to complain to the associations and schemes the estate agent belongs to if you feel you have not been treated right. ARLA‘s E-mail is info [at] arla.co.uk. The Property Ombudsman complaint forms are available HERE.

If you want to avoid letting agent costs altogether, you can find some links to sites that have offers from private landlords HERE. Please note that here are many fraudsters advertising on these sites, especially during the coming busy months. Read Gumtree advice on how to stay safe HERE.

How exciting!

Jacob Fox, the estate agent with offices in Canary Wharf E14 and Wapping E1, will soon open their new website.

We’re assuming it won’t be long now, as …

… this is how the picture on the front page looked just 2 weeks ago.

Jump to Jacob Fox website.

Benham and Reeves Residential Lettings reports that the enquiry levels are up, with a clear rise in demand from overseas tenants looking for a home to rent in London:

“The lettings market is in full summer mode and demand for rental properties is strong throughout our eight London offices. In particular, we’re seeing an increase in enquiries from prospective international tenants, which may indicate that multi-national organisations are starting to relocate staff again.” reports Lettings Director Marc von Grundherr.

“Conditions have changed dramatically though and this is definitely now a tenant’s market. All our offices are very busy but tenants are looking for good deals.” continues Marc. “In fact, rents have come down by 10%-30% depending on the type of property and tenants are taking full advantage of this. The last five years have seen a landlord’s market but the market is very different now and landlords need to recognise this in order to minimise void periods.”

Read more HERE.

Winkworth.co.uk

Estate agent Winkworth has decided not to charge admin fees for several rentals available through their Kensington and Chelsea branch.

We hear that Winkworth’s London offices usually charge tenants £150+VAT admin fee.

Here’s just a few examples of the properties for which you don’t have to pay the administration fee:

3 bed flat £2750 pw Parkside, Knightsbridge, London, SW1X
3 bed house £2250  pw Lincoln Street, Chelsea, London, SW3
3 bed flat £1900 pw Lowndes Square, Knightsbridge, London, SW1X
2 bed flat £1350 pw Milner Street, Chelsea, London, SW3
2 bed flat £750 pw Ovington Square, Knightsbridge, London, SW3
2 bed flat £650 pw Egerton Gardens, Chelsea, London, SW3
1 bed flat £575 pw Ovington Square, Knightsbridge, London, SW3
1 bed flat £400 pw Chelsea Cloisters, Chelsea, London, SW3
Studio flat £375 pw Nell Gwynn House, Chelsea, London, SW3
Studio £210 pw Sydney Street, Chelsea, London, SW3

There’s actually more – click here to browse all Winkworth’s offers in Knightsbridge and Chelsea area.

In the light of the recent ruling on the OFT vs. Foxtons case, and with The Property Ombudsman just confirming there are too many disputes over hidden agent fees – wouldn’t it be nice if one of those Great Code of Practices we hear about started requiring letting agent charges to be presented on their websites in a clear manner, too?!

If possible, not just on a separate page on agent’s website but separately on all the rental listings.

Knowing the total expence of renting the property before even viewing it would be extremely helpful for the tenant. It’s essential to know all the costs when planning the finances before the big move, seeing as the deposit and rent often make up a significant sum already.

We did a little survey among the agents we have listed on our London Letting Agents page and found that only a few have stated how much their services cost. We hope to post all the numbers on our website shortly. The most expensive letting agent fee we’ve heard about so far is £375.

The relationship between renters and letting agents could be so much better with a little more transparency.

Quick poll for everyone currently browsing the property portals, searching for that perfect property to rent!

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The National Federation of Property Professionals NFOPP has produced some video guides on renting in the UK.

Click on the title to watch the videos:

- All about tenancies
- Deposit Protection
- Understanding your Energy Performance Certificate
- Inventories
- Why choose an ARLA agent?

NFOPP TV