Facebook has dropped an almighty clanger and Mark Zuckerberg has appeared before Congress explaining and apologising for data breaches. The fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal has seen people leaving the social media platform in droves, and as individuals, we’re all busy trying to fathom which permissions we’ve given which apps, who knows what about […]
Read moreCheck your diary. Is April 17th blocked off for a day at the ARLA 2018 Conference? Excellent, we’ll see you there. We’re excited about this year’s conference because we’ve got a lot to say. We’ve been working on initiatives designed to support lettings agencies and help them grow. We’re confident that we can make your […]
Read moreAn estimated 50 percent of landlords have a policy of not letting to tenants in receipt of Housing Benefit. We’ve seen the ads in the paper – the listings that say, blatantly, no DSS – and it’s generally accepted. In many cases these ads are unnecessarily restrictive. There are vast numbers of outstanding, considerate tenants […]
Read moreIf like me, you’ve ever sat through a course with a lousy tutor and wondered quite what you were doing there, you might think my suggestion that you should grab every training opportunity is a bit over the top. You might be right, but if you add the word ‘relevant’ into the statement, you’ll have […]
Read moreGenerally speaking, it used to be relatively easy to make a profit as a landlord, but we all know it’s getting harder. A combination of Government policies and inflation have eaten into returns, whilst wage stagnation has limited the potential for growth in rental values. If there is less room for managing the costs and […]
Read moreIt would be very satisfying to state, categorically, the situation for all landlords with regards to licensing. It would, however, be very tricky to do and probably out of date within a few weeks. At the start of April, the rules change again. What’s more, councils using selective licensing can change their requirements at will. […]
Read moreHow’s your first quarter stacking up? As March draws to a close, I am sure that many of my contacts in the lettings industry will be taking stock and comparing 2018’s Q1 performance with that of 2017. Number crunchers will be awaiting the final KPIs to put their reviews together. Directors (and everyone else) will […]
Read moreIn what was obviously a heartfelt speech, delivered at a national planning conference earlier this week, the Prime Minister set out plans to increase the supply of housing in the UK. There can be few who do not recognise the issue as critical, and the speech included a number of measures which would give councils […]
Read moreThere’s a famous quote from the former Liverpool Manager Bill Shankly. He said: “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.” Even if you don’t support football, we’re sure you’ll appreciate the passion […]
Read moreA lot of businesses are currently panicking about the imminent changes to data protection legislation. It seems that they have only just realised that GDPR will apply to their operation and that it’s not simply some nonsense from Brussels that they can ignore. In some ways, we understand this situation – we are living in […]
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