Your weekend roundup of news, views and features

INTERVIEW: What has Safeagent achieved for letting agents in 25 years?

The scheme's boss tells The Neg about what the future holds for letting agents, and the wins her organisation has secured for them.

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LSL Estate Agency Franchising expands service offering

MD Paul Hardy announces strategic partnership with B-hive Block Management to boost franchisees' growth potential.

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Guild reports 'thousands of referrals' via network

Guild of Property Professionals chief Iain McKenzie says its referral system has generated 2,086 referrals for its network since the start of the year.

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Estate agent duo recognised for sales success at global event

Mark Buchanan and Amie Brooks, both of whom work within the eXp UK network, flew to the gala estate agent event in Miami.

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AUCTION UPDATE: Residential sales driving resilience in auction market

The latest property auction market insights from Essential information Group's David Leary reveals the dominance of residential sales.

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Airbnb 'won't take down illegally-sublet listings' claims landlord

The short-lets giant has not taken down a listing despite being informed that the Central London property is being illegally sublet, it is claimed.

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Agents welcome Rachel Reeves' reported non-dom tax U-turn

Chancellor is considering making Inheritance Tax changes for non-doms as exodus of wealthy continues to hit London property market.

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CLAIM: High St agents face double threat of rising costs and stiffer competition

Bricks-and-mortar estate agencies facing higher staff costs and increased competition from the growing number of ‘personal’ agents according to Property Experts founder.

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Number of former rental properties for sale rises as CGT changes loom

Research by Rightmove among its listings shows the proportion of former rented properties within the market rising to 18%.

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'Criminal’ landlord trio hit with huge £450k HMO fine

A group of three West Northants landlords have together been fined a total of £452,796 for a series of unlicensed and unsafe HMOs.

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Bill to ban Section 21 evictions published – industry reaction

The Government takes its first step towards scrapping Section 21 'no fault' evictions with the first reading in Parliament of the Renters' Rights Bill.

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Walsall is consulting on plans that will force both the owners of smaller Houses in Multiple Occupation to apply for planning permission.

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Airbnb set to compete with lettings agents for longer rentals

Co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky says the company is eyeing longer-term rentals as a lucrative new area of business, putting his firm soon in direct competition with some agents.

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Decade of dedication for The Propertymark Trust

Veteran estate agency manager and property consultant, John Oakley, is celebrating 10 years as trustee of The Propertymark Trust.

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Huge rise in number of sales fall-throughs reported

Homebuyers are still struggling with higher mortgage rates and so more and more sales are falling through says Moverly’s Gemma Young.

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New workers' rights shake-up to impact estate agencies

Employees working for property businesses will be able to claim unfair dismissal from day one of a new job, under a new government bill.

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Foxtons makes surprise move into London commuter towns with acquisitions

The London-based agent has spent some £12m buying two estate agencies, one in Reading and the other in Watford, both bought from private shareholders.

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Surprising data shows student tenants do less damage

Students incur far lower end-of-tenancy charges compared to other tenants, according to Gurman Bains, Head of New Business at Reposit.

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AGENT BLOG: After Scotland's rent cap lifted, guess what happened next?

Nicky Lloyd of ESPC Lettings in Edinburgh reflects on the rental market in Scotland six months after a rent cap and ban on evictions were scrapped.

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Mark Ridley is to be replaced by current CFO Simon Shaw as Group Chief Executive of the blue-chip agency.

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Stamp Duty hike to ‘damage’ rental market warn auctioneers

2% rise in budget for SDLT will lead to investors exiting the market, reduce supply and push up rents says NAVA.

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COURTS: Landlord wins 'important' appeal in rent to rent case

Amlendu Kumar wins appeal in what a leading property lawyer says is an "important new decision" affecting rent-to-rent agreements and rent repayment orders.

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Foxtons’ branch blockaded during Global Day of Housing Action

Shock 60% fall in prime London property sale prices

Upmarket London estate agent claims there are ‘no big-ticket purchases’ happening in prime Central London and sales prices have fallen substantially since 2024.

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BTL properties rated below EPC band C to become 'unmortgageable'

In potential blow to rental market, finances are drying up fast for rental homes that will not meet new energy efficiency criteria.

Click here to read BTL properties rated below EPC band C to become 'unmortgageable'.

INDUSTRY REACTION: Bank of England holds base rate at 4.25%

As the financial markets expected, the majority of the Banks' MPC has voted to keep the base rate on hold

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Looming onerous tax rules for landlords to cost them up to £500 a year

Property investors could be landed with expensive bills for software and training to meet HMRC's new quarterly tax return deadlines.

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Estate agents demand urgent help for landlords' boiler upgrades

Propertymark is warning that a housing crisis looms unless the Government expands its financial support for energy efficiency improvements.

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MARKETING: What Google’s algorithm update means for estate agency content creation

If you use AI tools such as ChatGPT to create content for your estate agency website, changes to Google’s experience algorithm could impact your search results.

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The Ombudsman Files - Leaseholder claims discrimination and disrepair

A leaseholder experiencing various agent communication and building issues, including broken lifts, brought their dispute to The Property Ombudsman

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The Negotiator Awards 2025 – entry deadline extended

The deadline for receiving entries to the UK's most prestigious awards for estate and letting agents and suppliers has been extended to 31st July 2025.

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