IMPORTANT REMINDER: All landlords and letting agents in England to make Right to Rent checks from Monday

All landlords & letting agents in England are reminded that as from Monday (February 1) they will have to perform Right to Rent checks on all prospective tenants.

David Cox, managing director of ARLA, warned that agents who have already agreed contracts or agree some over this weekend for tenancies starting on or after Monday will need to be compliant.

He also warned that referencing agents cannot do the legal checks. He said: “All they can do is check the documents are genuine. All identification checks need to be done by the letting agent.

“Also remember it’s not just tenants who need to be checked. It’s all adult occupiers in the property.”

The checks on immigration status can be carried out by landlords or, as long as it is agreed in writing, by agents. If that is the case, letting agents should put a clause in their contracts that they will carry out the Right to Rent checks.

The checks can be made within 28 days before the start of a new tenancy agreement authorising occupation.

Right to Rent responsibilities do not end with checking prospective tenants’ immigration status. There is also a duty to copy documents such as passports, and keep the documents throughout the tenancy and for one year afterwards.

The Right to Rent regime, under the Immigration Act 2014, carries civil penalties of up to £3,000 fines.

However, the new Immigration Bill currently going through the Lords will bring in criminal penalties for landlords or agents.

A number of peers have expressed considerable concern.

Tory Lord Howard of Rising said: “I find it a bit rich that landlords should risk imprisonment for housing an illegal immigrant when it is the Government’s failure in their duty to protect the borders of this country that has resulted in the illegal immigrant being here in the first place.

“I fully understand the difficulties in controlling our borders, which will inevitably lead to errors, but should the person responsible for the error go to prison?

“If those responsible for allowing illegal immigration should not go to jail, why should a landlord?”

He went on: “It is not unreasonable for landlords to play their part in helping with the problem of illegal immigration, but what they are asked to do should be reasonable and proportionate.

“Landlords being subject to imprisonment for something over which, in practical terms, they can have little or no control is not reasonable.

“I point out that the people most affected by this will be that huge army of very small landlords who do not have agents to act for them.”

Another Tory, Lord Deben – formerly John Gummer – said: “There is a fundamental concern about this legislation.”

He called for a delay to Monday’s national introduction of Right to Rent, saying that there needed be a pilot scheme, independently evaluated and “shown to have a real effect on illegal immigration”.

Information for landlords and agents on Right to Rent, as it will operate from Monday throughout England is available here.

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Christies Network Auctions Conference deemed a success

The popularity of property auctions in the UK has increased enormously in recent years, providing sellers with an alternative means of disposing of property, as well as providing estate agents with yet another potential revenue stream, not to mention an opportunity to add an extra string to their bow in terms of the services that they provide their clients with.

While there is little to stop an agency setting up their own auctions department, many opt to establish links with one or more experienced auctioneers, which may explain why Christies Network Auctions’ partner agent conference at the Grosvenor House hotel in London last week was so well attended.

More than 60 partner agents from all over the UK attended the event, which included presentations from a host of leading industry figures, including David Sandeman of the EI Group, industry trainer Tim Wakelin and property industry mentor Michael Day of Integra Property Services.

The conference also saw the launch of Christies Network E, which is a new method of sale that enables sellers for whom a traditional auction process is unsuitable, to still benefit from the certainty and speed of the auction process.

An online bidding system creates an exclusivity agreement upon the fall of the electronic gavel and a fixed exchange date is set. In the unlikely event of a transaction failing to reach exchange because the buyer defaults, the deposit is shared between the seller and the agent.

Christies Network Auctions has already successfully sold property through the Christies Network E system and it was well received by people at the conference. 

Toby Limbrick, Managing Director of Network Auctions, said, “The conference was a great success and exceeded our expectations. Feedback on all aspects of the day and, in particular the quality of the content, was excellent and I have no doubt that our partners are now even more enthused and equipped to differentiate themselves in the market and enjoy even more success in 2016.”

With more buyers armed with their cheque book now packing in to auction rooms up and down the country, competition among bidders is growing, driving up property sale prices in the process, with many lots selling, as reflected by the average sales success rate of 82 per cent achieved by Christies Network Auctions in 2015.

During 2015 Christies Network Auctions’ partner agents received a ticket for every lot entered in an auction. The winning ticket was drawn at the conference by Network Auctions’ Penny Nichol and Hartwell Partnership from Aylesbury went home with a cheque for £3,000.

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UK house prices set to rise in 2016

Monica Bradley - MB Associates - IFA

With record-low interest rates for at least another few months and housing supply set to remain low, the general consensus among households across the UK is that property prices will increase in 2016, albeit at a slower rate than in 2015.

The latest data from the House Price Sentiment Index (HSPI) from Knight Frank and Markit Economics found that house price growth this year is expected to be led by the East of England and London, with more modest levels of price increases set to be recorded in many other parts of the UK.

The future HPSI, which measures what households think will happen to the value of their home over the next year, increased marginally this month to 70.5 from 70.3 in December. This is the highest reading since June 2015, but remains below the peak of 75.1 reached in May 2014.

Expectations for residential property price growth among households in the East of England hit an all-time high of 81.1, suggesting that they expect to see the highest rise in property values over the next year.

Home prices in London, where an average HPSI reading of 79.1 was recorded, is also expected to outstrip the national average.

In contrast, there was a noteworthy fall in the future reading for the North West, down from 67.5 to 62.3 in January, as well as Scotland, which dropped to 61.8, down from 65.8 in December.

Home owners with a mortgage outstanding expressed the greatest confidence that home prices will increase over the next 12 months at a reading of 76, followed by those who own their property outright at 73.1.

“Mortgage borrowers are the most positive about the outlook for house prices over the next year, perhaps reflecting the anticipation of a longer period of ‘ultra-low’ rates after the Bank of England’s decision to hold rates this month, and signals from rate-setters that the UK base rate could be at 0.5% for some time yet,” said Gráinne Gilmore (left), Head of UK residential research at Knight Frank.

The future sentiment index is now sitting just above where it was in January 2015, Gilmore explained, pointing to the fact that UK house prices rose by 4.5 per cent during the course of the year.

“The latest house price sentiment index suggests that monetary and political housing policies have not had a dramatic impact on households’ assessment and outlook for the value of their property,” she added.

Please contact us on 020 8643 7777 or email at sales@christiesworld.com

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One year on: OnTheMarket says it has become recognised challenger brand

OnTheMarket.com marked its first birthday yesterday.

The portal, launched by Agents’ Mutual, said last night that it has already cemented its position as one of the UK’s leading portals and as a major challenger brand.

However, OTM did not clarify whether it had overtaken Zoopla – as it earlier said it would do.

Last night’s statement went on: “We have already revealed this year that we have achieved the support of 6,500 estate and letting agent offices – a 50% increase on this time last year – and we are now on our way to our next milestone of achieving support from 7,500 offices.

“There are many areas of the UK where we are already the number 2 portal in terms of available residential listings – and have been for a long time – and many others where just a few extra offices would push us over the line.

“In some areas, we just need one extra office: a testament to how far OnTheMarket.com has come.

“For this month, early indications suggest we are on track to achieve a record number of leads supplied to agents by the portal and also to achieve record breaking levels of traffic for the number of visitors to OnTheMarket.com. Our national marketing campaign continues to raise awareness of our brand and drives genuine property-seekers to our website and apps, which in turn generates high-quality leads to agents listing their properties at OnTheMarket.com – a message many of our member agents have increasingly confirmed in public statements.

 “Only last week, Paul Jarman, the Head of Western Residential at Savills, stated that the agency’s lead levels were the same as a year ago when they stopped listing with Zoopla/PrimeLocation and that leads from OnTheMarket.com were of a better quality than those provided by Zoopla.

“One year on and the reasons why Agents’ Mutual was founded are more clear than ever.

“Rightmove and Zoopla have dominated the online search market and secured higher and higher fees but OnTheMarket.com provides agents with the chance to challenge this duopoly head-on. We have developed what we believe is a superior digital platform which has gained traction among consumers.

“The traffic has been a healthy mix of new and returning visitors and we have received excellent feedback about the portal from both consumers and agents. It is also clean and simple to use and, importantly, is free from the advertising clutter on other portals. Furthermore, many of our agents are launching new listings exclusively at OnTheMarket.com first: typically 24 to 48 hours ahead of any other portal.

“This provides an extra and compelling reason for serious property-seekers to visit the portal and to return.

“As more and more agents recognise the strategic imperative of regaining control of their precious property data and their online marketing costs, we look forward to welcoming many more agents to OnTheMarket.com.

“With such impressive achievements in just one year, no one should be in any doubt that OnTheMarket.com is here to stay and is buoyed by committed, robust support. It is only a matter of time before we overtake Zoopla in terms of UK available residential listings.

“From this point we believe agent momentum will snowball and we will focus all our energy on continuing to build a sustainably low-cost alternative to Rightmove to serve both agents and consumers better.”

Please contact us on 020 8643 7777 or email at sales@christiesworld.com

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Christies Network Auctions predict strong demand from buy to let investors at February auction

With a 3% hike in stamp duty coming in on April 1st for buy to let investors and second home buyers, the race to secure a property before the deadline is on!

Christies Network Auctions predict strong investment buyer activity at their February auction as this will be one of the last chances to secure a property and complete a purchase before the deadline.

For sellers it is a great opportunity to benefit from this narrow “window of opportunity” and secure a sale.

It is also the last auction during this financial year and so for many sellers and buyers is the ideal opportunity to dispose or acquire during the current tax year.

Christies Network Auctions next auction will be held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on February 25th at 2pm and so there is still time to include lots and benefit from the combination of national coverage and local expertise that Christies Network Auctions provide.

Christies Network Auctions last auction in December saw an incredible 93% sales success rate and with bidding possible in the room, by telephone, by proxy and over the internet, the level of exposure and reach is excellent.

Auctions are an ideal method of disposal for any type of property and Christies Network Auctions’ recent sales have included vacant and let residential property, ground rent investments, lifetime tenancy investments, vacant and let commercial property, land with and without planning consent and property in need of repair, modernisation and refurbishment.

Clients have included: private individuals, LPA receivers, local authorities, housing associations, property companies and investors and mortgagees in possession.

To discuss including your property in the February or a future auction, please contact Jeremy Richardson at Christies Network Auctions on 020 8643 7777 or sales@christiesworld.com or visit the website at www.christiesworld.com


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Take a look at Christies Network E - the new way to sell your home

Christies have announced the launch of Christies Network E, a revolutionary new way of selling property that takes the best aspects of traditional methods of sale and combine these with a process that adds speed, transparency and security.

Traditional methods of sale often have delays which create uncertainty and lead to around 30% of sales agreed never actually reaching their planned conclusion. This in turn is both frustrating and costly.

Christies Network E enables a property to be fully marketed to ensure the best price possible is agreed but takes experience from the auction industry in ensuring legal paperwork is immediately ready and an agreed completion date can be set at the outset. The average sale using Christies Network E takes just 49 days to exchange contracts.

Christies are the only local agent able to offer this exciting and proven method of sale and do so alongside their traditional sales offering.

If you are thinking of selling in 2016, Christies say that sellers should certainly ensure that they have considered Christies Network E as a selling option.

Our team will be delighted to provide a free valuation of your property and discuss all of the options open to you when selling which have now been extended to include our Christies Network E proposition.

We can be contacted on 020 8643 7777 or by email at sales@christiesworld.com

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Major landlord body taking legal advice on challenge to Osborne’s tax plans

The Residential Landlords Association is taking legal advice on whether to challenge the Government over its planned changes on tax.

George Osborne announced changes to mortgage interest relief in the 2015 Summer Budget.

The changes, which will mean that landlords will be taxed on turnover and not profit, target smaller mortgaged landlords only.

The RLA is seeking advice as to whether the new regime will be a breach of the Human Rights Act and European Union Law on free movement of capital.

Its action is separate from that of two landlords, Chris Cooper and Steve Bolton, who crowd-funded to raise money to fund a judicial review.

The RLA is known to have a war chest of its own to fight such battles, should the need arise.

The organisation has also hit out at the Government, saying that its policies are encouraging foreign property investors.

The 3% Stamp Duty Land Tax surcharge announced in the Autumn Statement will, like the tax change on mortgage interest, also be levied against small landlords. While smaller buy-to-let purchasers will have to pay the surcharge, those buying 15 or more properties in a single deal will be exempt.

The RLA said that this would favour larger investors, “many of whom are likely to be from overseas”.

RLA chairman Alan Ward said: “It is astonishing that a Conservative Chancellor is leaving the way open for foreign investors and cutting opportunities for individual UK landlords.

“This additional assault on private landlords coming on top of changes to the taxation of rental income will only lead to reduced supply and higher rents

“The Chancellor’s planned changes to Stamp Duty came as a bolt out of the blue.

“Regardless of the Government’s plans for home ownership, demand for rented housing is only set to increase.

“The Government needs to understand that not everyone will be able to afford to buy a house or indeed want to, even if more houses are built.

“Its whole policy towards the private rented sector needs to change.

“If it does not, it will only make the housing crisis worse.”

* Separately, the chair of the Treasury Select Committee yesterday asked the Chancellor if the Stamp Duty surcharge would help or inhibit mobility in the jobs world.

Osborne replied: “I think that it will help to promote home ownership, because it will mean that there is a more level playing field between an owner-occupier who wants to buy a house, a first-time buying family and a buy-to-let landlord.

“There is nothing wrong with people investing in property, but there should be a level playing field so that we reverse the decline in home ownership in our country.”

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Savills says dropping Zoopla in favour of OnTheMarket has helped its leads

Savills has said that after dropping Zoopla and Primelocation last year when OnTheMarket launched, the number of leads has not dropped.

The firm also says that the leads it now gets are of better quality.

The comments have come from Paul Jarman, head of western regional at Savills and a non-executive director of Agents’ Mutual, the company which launched OTM on January 26 last year.

Jarman said: “After just a year, it’s very encouraging to see that OnTheMarket.com has already become firmly established in the top three portals.

“There is little doubt the business benefits from being 100% owned and controlled by full-service estate and letting agents, and no one should under-estimate the determination of these agents to make the venture a success.

“We know from our tracking that we receive just as many leads now as we did a year ago when we stopped listing with Zoopla and Primelocation, and more importantly, the leads are of a better quality which is what counts for us and for our clients.

“There is some way to go before OnTheMarket.com achieves its full potential but we are extremely happy with what it has achieved since it launched and are confident that as more and more agents sign up, its rate of growth will continue to accelerate.”

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Mortgage lending to first-time buyers bounces up

Monica Bradley - Independent Financial Adviser

Mortgage lending for house purchases totalled £10.7bn in November – up 18% on the same month in 2014, although a monthly drop of 9%.

Altogether there were 60,100 house purchase loans.

First-time buyers took out 27,900 loans, up 20% year on year but an 8% monthly drop.

Home movers took out 32,000 loans, representing a 10% monthly drop but a 9% annual uplift.

There were also 23,300 buy-to-let loans, up nearly 35% from November 2014’s figure of 17,300.

The figures are from the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

Please contact us on 020 8643 7777 or email at sales@christiesworld.com

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Happy New Yera

Nick Churton of our London Mayfair Global Network offers some thoughts on the property year ahead.

Welcome to 2016 and a new era in property. It promises to be an eventful-packed year. The way has already been prepared for a change in April when higher stamp duty rates are applied to properties bought for buy-to-let or second home purposes. So expect a busy time for the next few months as buyers rush to complete purchases before the axe falls.

Already buy-to-let purchases are near their pre-crisis levels and the Chancellor may well tighten up lending criteria to stave off any potential problems down the line - 2015 saw buy-to-let borrowing at £38 billion compared with £45.7 billion in 2007. Mr Osborne will further affect landlords as from April as when they will also lose higher-rate tax relief on mortgage interest payments.

And what is happening with the ripple effect – the radiating waves of consequence that the London property market has on housing elsewhere in the UK? London now seems more disconnected than ever from the rest of Britain, as prices have spiralled from highly expensive to largely unaffordable over the past few years. And don’t think for a moment that the unaffordable tag does not affect the super- and even uber-rich. It does. Prime London properties are seeing a significant negative adjustment as higher taxation, the slump in worldwide oil prices and the Chinese economic slowdown have had a severe impact on the clamour for property. Perhaps the circus has left town as buyers now consider New York to be the new darling of high-end residential property investment.

So what about those who do not want to buy a holiday home or investment property – those people who merely want a roof over their heads? Well 2016 may be eventful-packed for them also including a possible lift in house prices of between five and eight per cent. But it will be a slow and frustrating start. 2015 saw ten straight months of selling instruction decline. The stock of unsold properties is currently the lowest ever recorded. The law of supply and demand suggests this should have a positive effect on prices in many parts of the UK. Like global warming, the UK housing market is open to conflicting interpretation. Is it the lack of new homes which is causing the log jam or is it that people have just stopped moving for the time being and are staying put, perhaps busy building extensions or digging basements to provide more space instead of buying somewhere larger? For now it is hard to know the true position.

It is also difficult to work out what any long-anticipated interest rate increases will do to the property market should they be introduced, or what might happen if the UK heads for the Brexit following the European referendum. Even if there is a vote to remain in the European Union the uncertainty may spook the property market for a few months - if the last general election and the Scottish referendum are anything to go by. Heads will also be turned by the Olympics in Brazil in the summer, and all the while political and economic upheaval in the rest of Europe and further afield will create further uncertainty.

So 2016 will certainly not be without its challenges in the property market. But we are used to handling challenges for our clients. Our advice, as always, is purchase carefully within your means - and this includes your means if mortgage interest rates rise. This year will not be a perfect one for property speculation without the greatest prudence and care. But it will be a good year for settling into a home that provides safety, warmth and shelter for you and your family in these uncertain times. Whatever is going on in the world any year is a good year to do that.

Please contact us on 020 8643 7777 or email at sales@christiesworld.com

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