The last few weeks have seen growing activity working in the lettings and management arena as agents wake up to the fact that the tenant fee ban is going to happen and will probably go through the legislative process in October. My money is on an announcement as part of the Chancellor’s budget on 29th October in regards a date for implementation. Spring 2019 is most likely but it could be earlier.
My Lettings Health Check has proven popular and has enabled agents to review their businesses from both a compliance and commerciality viewpoint. Putting in place new methods of working, generating new revenue streams and being more productive and better managing costs is almost inevitable but cannot usually be implemented overnight. My advice is to get on the case now as a “wait and see” option will, in my opinion, mean missing out and potentially panicking with weak and poorly thought out solutions resulting.
The need for business planning was central to my recent appearance in the “hot seat” at Rightmove for an hour long webinar. I understand that around 240 people logged in and the questions and engagement was excellent. Feedback was very positive and I hope to do another in due course.
It must have gone quite well as Rightmove have subsequently invited me to speak to over 200 delegates in Leeds in December on the coping and beating the potential negative effects of the tenat fee ban on agents.
I have also written an article on business planning that will form part of Rightmove’s “Little Blue Book” which they send to every agent in the country at the end of the year.
Over the last few months I have carried out a number of audit and review visits to client agents looking at Money Laundering, Consumer Protection and other legislative compliance as well as running several bespoke training sessions for businesses.
My next open course on Money Laundering and Consumer Protection will be in London on November 21st – details here:
In September I attended the LFS Conveyancing Conference and Awards in Birmingham. There was a record attendance of 160 delegates for the conference and over 450 for the awards. I spoke at the conference on the subject of entering awards and also took part in a lively debate on the subject of referral fees between introducers and conveyancers. This area is currently under scrutiny from Government and so we can expect a tightening up of arrangements and transparency in due course.
I have been a judge for the awards since they started some eight or nine years ago and it was great to see them continue to go from strength to strength.
On the subject of awards, I was delighted to be shortlisted as a finalist in both the EA Masters and Negotiator awards as a Supplier of the Year. The EA Masters awards are announced on October 12th and the Negotiator awards on the 30th November. I was awarded the Bronze award at the EA Masters last year so I am hoping to go two better this time and I have been a shortlisted finalist, six years in succession, at the Negotiator awards and so surely it is my turn to win something?!
In recent weeks I have been working closely with ARPM, the UK’s leading outsourced property management business and will be presenting sessions at three seminars for letting agents in October.
I have also been in close discussions with another of my clients, teclet, who have a fabulous product that is enabling agents to automate many of their lettings and management processes, improving profitability, extending accessibility and increasing profits, and we hope to have an exciting announcement to make in the next few weeks – watch this space!
I have recently produced content for two new agency websites being built by The Property Jungle and regularly produce material content for agents looking to freshen up their marketing approaches. I also continue to manage and populate a number of social media accounts for a variety of clients.
I often get asked to produce articles for the trade press and I recently had an opinion piece published by the Property Chronicle on "The Broken Property Market" - you can read here.
Finally, as we enter the last quarter of 2018, thoughts are focused on ending the year on a high and hitting the ground running in 2019 with a clear vison and business action plan to achieve objectives.
Working with business owners and mentoring managers and others is helping keep people on track, better managing and motivating staff and seeing the wood from the trees.
As always, I am here to help so please do not hesitate to contact me to discuss your business and how my 40 plus years of experience can help you.