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Reside proudly sponsor The Prince’s Trust’s ‘Evening of Art’

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Reside are delighted to be one of five principal sponsors of The Prince’s Trust’s inaugural Evening of Art event at The Assembly Rooms, in Bath. The event, held on Wednesday 7th December 2011, aims to raise a minimum of £50,000 by auctioning thirty outstanding pieces of art which have been generously donated by a host of prominent artists.

Artists contributing to the event include Sir Peter Blake, Ben Dearnley, Quentin Blake, HRH The Prince of Wales and many, many more. All money raised will go towards helping disadvantaged young people in the South West move into work, education or training.

For more details and information on how to bid on any of the items during or ahead of the event, please download the Evening of Art Auction Catalogue at the foot of this article, or click here to visit the Prince’s Trust website.

Also amongst the many works of art available for auction will be two watercolours by Nick Park, featuring these familiar faces:

Please click on the thumbnail below to view the events Auction Catalogue which shows all of the pieces of art available on the evening;

 

Reside and Tenants featured in the London Evening Standard

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Yesterday’s London Evening Standard had a great article about more and more city professionals making Bath their family home. Reside’s Tenants Alastair & Marianne Hogg were featured in the article along with Charlie Taylor of Knight Frank’s Bath office.

Whilst the article itself primarily focuses on more Londoners purchasing in Bath, the small interview with our Tenants shows that many people choose to rent first in order to familiarise themselves with the area, with local schools and where they may wish to eventually buy. This is something that is happening more and more often, creating a greater demand in Bath for larger and higher end rental properties.

With London Paddington just an hour and 20 minutes from Bath Spa Station, more and more families are moving away from the city and into Bath. If you have a larger family home that you perhaps thought wouldn’t generate any interest on the rental market, now is a great time to take advantage of this current trend.

Rents continue to increase due to high demand

Posted on by prateek

Throughout 2010, Tenant demand was always outstripping the supply of properties coming into the rental marketplace, something that I blogged about at the time here. This had the effect of increasing rents throughout the UK, particularly in prominent cities in the south like London, Oxford, Exeter and Bath.

Rents have continued to increase in 2011 and Tenant demand is still very high, though there is now signs of more property coming to the rental market. ARLA’s (the Association of Residential Letting Agents)  survey of the Private Rented Sector, covering Q4 2010, was drawn from 554 member offices and concluded that demand for rental property will continue to outstrip supply for much of 2011 and into next year. You can read their report here. Similarly the  latest RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) Residential Lettings Survey for November 2010 – January 2011 concluded that strong tenant demand and a falling supply of property, is increasing rents rapidly. RICS report can be read here.

With such reports from ARLA and RICS and continuing demand, Tenants across the UK are bracing themselves for more rent increases. According to research by leading property portal Rightmove, more than half of Britain’s tenants expect the cost of renting to increase during the next 12 months, while only four per cent predicted falling rates. The property website said that the UK’s rental sector was “creaking under the strain” of increased demand, with almost 60 per cent of tenants eager to buy a home but financially unable to do so. Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, commented: “Letting agents in many areas are reporting an insatiable demand, with prospective tenants coming from all backgrounds and requiring all types of property.

Tenant demand and increasing rent is very evident in Bath, particularly in the larger and more expensive properties that perhaps would not have come to the rental market only a few years ago. Reside recently let a beautiful and substantial three bedroom Georgian Townhouse on Lyncombe Hill for £3000 pcm after just a day on the market. Just outside of Bath we recently let Park House Farm, a large Grade II listed former farmhouse believed to date back to late 17th/early 18th Century for £2750 pcm and on Bathwick Hill, Reside achieved a rent of £2700 pcm for a detached modern home on St. Catherines Close.

It is not just the larger properties that are seeing an increase in rents, one and two bedroom apartments are the most in demand properties in the rental market in Bath and have also seen a dramatic increase. Reside recently achieved £695 pcm for a very small top floor apartment located on Princes Street in Bath city centre, £950 pcm for a beautiful one bedroom apartment on Henrietta Street and £1400 pcm for a contemporary two bedroom  apartment on Catharine Place.

According to new research recently carried out by Lloyds TSB, house prices in spa towns across England and Wales are on average £38,000 or 16%, above their local averages. Properties in Bath cost on average 42% more than in neighbouring south-west towns. This coupled with Tenant demand means rents will continue to increase in Bath for the foreseeable future. Landlords – Now couldn’t be a better time to rent out your property.

Reside sponsor David Hempleman-Adams in the Gordon Bennett 2010 Ballon Race

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Local adventurer David Hempleman-Adams is currently sat in a small basket with his co-pilot, Simon Carey, travelling at a rate of 30 knots above Rome. Team GBR3 are 1 of only 6 teams left flying in the 2010 Gordon Bennett Balloon Race. You can track their progress by clicking here.

As one of David Hempleman-Adams sponsors, Reside were invited to the launch of the race from a small farm located to the North West of Bristol. It was a beautiful Saturday evening but the winds were just a little too strong and ended up delaying the start of the race by 7 hours. Having won the race 2 years ago, but beaten last year by the French, David made it very clear in his pre-start speech that he wanted to convincingly win this time around!

Good luck David and Simon, we will be following you all the way and wishing you the very best. We can’t wait to hear of your travels once you get back, winners of the Gordon Bennett 2010 Race!

For more photos of David, the Balloon and the start of the race, visit Reside’s Facebook Page;

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bath-United-Kingdom/Reside-Bath/325940467419.

Property Portal iPhone Applications. Which is the best?

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There’s no avoiding it, Apple’s iPhone is an incredibly popular multimedia gadget and a lot of people are now the proud owners of one. All of the major property portals now have iPhone and iPad applications available to download for free, which are all meant to aid in the search for that perfect property, but just how useful are they?

Rightmove

Rightmove were the first to release their iPhone App back in August 2009. At the time it was the only property search application released by one of the major portals, not being challenged until FindaProperty released their app in February 2010. With a 7 month head start Rightmove had a great chance to get ahead and stay ahead of the competition. Unfortunately, whilst the application is very attractive and simple to use, it did little other than display a few very low resolution pictures with a description of the property. The low resolution pictures also took a very long time to load, some not loading at all. The major part missing was in interactive map.

A series of updates were released for the application in the months following it’s release, simply to address bugs and problems. Since the release of the other property portal applications from FinaProperty and Zoopla, Rightmove have now added an interactive map to the application. Rightmove is currently the highest rated property portal search application on iTunes with a score of 3.5 / 5 from 18880 ratings.

Rightmove Application Score:

FindaProperty

FindaProperty released their iPhone App in February 2010. The major feature of the application was it’s integration with GoogleMaps on the iPhone, allowing a user to search for available properties around their current location or by simply browsing areas of the map. In addition, a user can get directions from their current location to the property they have chosen to view. By integrating the application with GoogleMaps that are already on the iPhone, the experience is quick and rewarding. This feature accompanied with larger images viewable as a slide show in a good resolution meant that the FindaProperty App could do everything the Rightmove App could and a lot more. A much higher standard of property search tool on the iPhone had been established.

The FindaProperty Application currently has a score on iTunes of 3 / 5 from 5908 ratings.

FindaProperty Application Score:

Zoopla

Zoopla have the most recent iPhone App released in July 2010. The largest feature that may well hurt the main competitors Rightmove and Findaproperty apps is the ability for Zoopla to offer all the data it has on every UK home. Just like the FinaProperty app, it has map-led search (map and hybrid options) as well as list view and Augmented Reality. While Rightmove and Findaproperty apps only offer For Sale and To Rent searches, Zoopla can give value estimates for all 27 million UK homes, with 15 million+ house prices paid dating back to 1995. Zoopla’s application also provides local market data including average home values by area.

Zoopla’s application can also search for property using the iPhone’s built in camera. By selecting the camera search, the app uses the iPhone’s GPS and compass to display properties on the screen that are available for sale or rent wherever you are pointing the camera. Whilst this may be a bit of a gimmick, it is a very interactive way of searching for property.

With it’s advanced features, high resolutions photos and vast amount of property information, the Zoopla Application is the best property portal application so far. The Zoopla Application currently has a score on iTunes of 3 / 5 from 433 ratings.

Zoopla Application Score:

Tenant demand outstripping supply – Rents increase

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Demand for residential rental properties is increasing rapidly through much of the UK, particularly in prominent cities in The South such as London, Oxford and Bath.

The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) recently published their Review and Index for Residential Investment for the first quarter of 2010 (ARLA Review and Index Q1 2010). ARLA carried out research among 531 of its members’ offices plus 382 individual landlords. The results show that during Q1 2010, two thirds (59%) of ARLA member agents reported more tenants than properties available. This is a 50% rise on the last quarter (41%) and in Q3 2009 the figure was just 24%. In the last year, supply has dropped by approximately 60%.

Tenant demand has never been higher in Bath which is clearly shown by the rents we have recently achieved and the short length of time that properties are on the market. In April alone Reside let a number of properties before we began to market them; The Old Vicarage, Winifreds Dale and Walcot Parade were all let before they came to the market, all at very good rents. A house on Great Pulteney Street was let after only 4 hours on the rental market at £3000 pcm and just today a one bedroom apartment on Great Pulteney Street achieved a rent of £925 pcm after only 3 days on the market.

Countrywide’s lettings division recently surveyed its network of 204 UK branches and found that there is now an average of 4.9 tenants for every available property, and rents have increase by 2.5%.

From five bedroom houses to one bedroom apartments, rental properties are in very high demand. If you are a landlord or are considering renting out your property, there couldn’t be a better time to take advantage of Resides superior service!

Reside & Friends support Bath Rugby at Twickenham

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On Saturday 24th April, Reside took 20 close friends and colleagues to watch Bath Rugby play London WASPs at Twickenham at a special Help for Heroes charity league match. The weather was beautiful and before the game started, troops walked around the pitch to huge praise and applause from the 60,000 + fans and then 8 of them proceeded to abseil down the four corners of the stadium, flying the St. George flag.

The game started with two WASP penalties going through the uprights giving them a small lead of 6 points only to be followed by a superb Bath try by Joe Maddock, converted by Olly Barkley. The atmosphere was incredible as Joe Maddock went on to score a hat trick of tries and Olly Barkley adding a fourth. The final score was WASPs 19 Bath 35. Bath gaining the all important win and bonus point puts them in fourth place in the league.

Thank you Bath Rugby for an amazing day out!

AST Threshold increase from £25,000 to £100,000.

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The Statutory Instruments to increase the maximum rent threshold of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) from £25,000 to £100,000 have now been published by Parliament and much of it’s information provided to the National Landlord’s Association (NLA).

At this point in time, legislation associated with the Housing Act 1988 (as amended) states that tenancies formed with annual aggregate rent greater than £25,000 cannot be ASTs. These tenancies are formed on a contractual basis and are sometimes referred to as ‘non-Housing Act’ tenancies. Tenancy terms are negotiated and agreed by the landlord and tenant and are not enshrined by statute.

The Assured Tenancies (Amendment) (England) Order 2010 will come into force on the 1st of October 2010 and will be retrospective. As a result, any tenancy with an annual rent between £25,000 and £100,000 in existence on 1 October 2010 will become an AST overnight. Landlords and tenants will nolonger be able to negotiate individual terms for their tenancy. This means that all of the rights and responsibilities associated with the Housing Act 1988 will be extended to higher rent properties for the first time.

The original threshold was introduced in order to exclude ‘luxury lets’, however the limit was established in 1990 and has not been revisited to take account of inflation since. The Government consulted as a result of a Rugg Review recommendation and decided to increase the threshold to £100,000 as a result. This figure will subsequently be reviewed at five yearly intervals.

The most obvious and immediate affect of the increase is that all Tenancy Deposits will be protected under the Deposit Protection Scheme (DPS). The Dipsute Service and other DPS members will see a huge increase in registered deposits overnight.

New HMO Legislation

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HMO Legislation

Tuesday the 6th of April 2010 saw the controversial Statutory Instrument 653 come into effect. The new law will see landlords required to gain planning permission if they want to let out their House in Multiple Occupancy (HMO) to three or more unrelated individuals.  The Town and Country Planning Act has created a new planning class for HMOs, designated C4, that now requires landlords to apply for permission to change the use to open a new letting property that is altered from a family home to a shared house.

The legislation is not retrospective and will not affect properties with an existing use. HMOs that already house three or more tenants, will not have to apply for retrospective permission because they already have ‘established’ use from the date new legislation is enforced.

The aim of the legislation is to prevent so-called ‘studentification’ whereby rows of terrace houses in university towns and cities are rented out to students. The Government believes this is a problem, although its own advisers in the Rugg Report said it was not.

Landlord groups have been fighting to prevent the change happening, and David Cameron has tabled an Early Day Motion to get it rescinded. Robert Jordan, former ARLA president, said many agents remain unaware of the changes. He, like the landlord groups, believes that the supply of shared rental accommodation will become restricted, with landlords unwilling to pay the cost of obtaining planning permission with the possibility that they might also have to pay to have their HMOs licensed.