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Reside Review: August 2021

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Reside General Manager Toby Martin brings you news of the rental market in August 2021.

As inevitable as an England batting collapse, August was yet again another busy month for the rental market. Recent trends of property supply being outweighed by tenant demand reached new heights, as competition for properties contributed to us letting more than 50% of our properties within 1 day during August.

Our overall average letting time was just 3.5 days which, in any other year, would be remarkable. In the current market, however, this only just represents our best month on the year so far.

Due to the overwhelming demand from tenants, the average rent achieved in August was 100% of the asking rent. In other words, every single property received an asking rent offer.

Another Legislation Change for Landlords

Towards the end of August, the government announced another change to legislation affecting landlords – there have now been around 50 since the start of the pandemic.

On this occasion, the announcement was a welcome one, extending digital Right to Rent checks until April 2022. Allowing these checks to be carried out digitally has been a great time saver for landlords and agents, and a permanent online system is hopefully in the pipeline.

Awards Season… Again!

Last year’s Bath Property Awards were delayed due to the pandemic, meaning that this year’s ceremony has come around quicker than ever. We were delighted to be named a finalists in the ‘Best Lettings Agent’ category, which we were honoured to win last year. For the first time, we have also been nominated in the ‘Best Employer’ category – if only there were a ‘Best Employees’ award, we would be a shoe-in for that one too!

Reside is an award-winning independent letting agent in Bath. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss any aspect of letting or managing your property; we would love to hear from you.

Tenants: 5 Tips To Help You Secure That Property

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Reside’s Toby Martin on how to get to the front of the queue in such a competitive market.

Since the beginning of 2021, the rental market has been overwhelmed by demand from tenants looking for new homes. At the same time, supply of available properties has dwindled, thereby creating a very difficult environment in which to secure your next move.

Here are our top 5 tips to beat the competition and secure that perfect property:

1. Register with the local letting agents

If we have a registered tenant on our books who we think would suit a newly available property, we will share it with them before the property comes onto the open market; our last few properties have all been let in this way, without the need to list them on Rightmove. If you are scanning Rightmove or On The Market on a daily basis, or waiting for their property alerts to arrive in your inbox, you will miss out on a great many properties.

Speak with the local agencies and make sure you are registered and known to them; you might just be given the opportunity to rent a property that never comes to the market.

2. Embrace technology

Video technology has really come to the fore during the pandemic, and our video tours have enabled a great many people to view and rent properties without needing to leave their homes. As we are now emerging from lockdown restrictions, these video tours have taken on a new use – enabling tenants to be the first to view a property, and get ahead of the rush. We are still agreeing many lets without carrying out physical viewings, thanks to our high quality and comprehensive video tours.

3. Be decisive

If you think you have found the right property, don’t waste time in expressing your interest and submitting an offer. If you take too much time to consider your options and view other properties, you may well miss out.

4. Make your first offer your best offer

In a normal market, we are quite accustomed to receiving an ‘initial’ offer from a prospective tenant, who is anticipating a negotiation with the landlord before agreeing terms. In the current climate, we are frequently seeing tenants submit their best and final offer from the outset, in the knowledge that they may face competition to secure the property.

5. Express yourself

Don’t be afraid to let your personality come across to the landlord. Landlords are not purely swayed by the terms of your offer, they are also looking for tenants who come across as friendly, reliable people – someone who will care for the property in which they live.

Reside is an award-winning independent letting agent in Bath. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss any aspect of letting or managing your property; we would love to hear from you.

The Queen’s Speech: what it means for landlords & tenants

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Those who tuned into the Queen’s Speech on the 11th of May can be forgiven for missing the very brief promise to ‘enhance the rights of those who rent’ – seemingly a very general pledge to review standards across the sector. A delve into the detailed briefing notes, however, reveals three details that will be of particular interest to landlords and tenants.

Abolish Section 21 Evictions

Long before the pandemic interrupted their plans, the government promised to abolish Section 21, or ‘no-fault’, evictions. This is the most straightforward and common way for a landlord to end a tenancy at their property, but its future is now back up for review. The government plans to publish a White Paper in the autumn which will detail plans to reform the evictions process.

Lifetime Deposits

Another long-running government scheme is the introduction of lifetime tenancy deposits, which would see dilapidation deposits move from property to property with the tenant. Under the current system, a tenant must pay a brand new deposit when moving to a new property, which can often cause cashflow issues for the tenant if they are still waiting for their deposit to be returned by their previous landlord.

It remains to be seen how the government’s scheme will offer simultaneous protection to two landlords where there is an overlap in tenancies. Again, more information has been promised in the autumn.

Redress Schemes for Private Landlords

One of the more unexpected announcements was the plan to require all private landlords to belong to a redress scheme, ‘to ensure that all tenants have a right to redress’.

Currently agents, rather than landlords, are required to belong to a redress scheme, such as the Property Redress Scheme, with which Reside are affiliated. If a tenant rents directly from a private landlord, with no agency involvement, their only current source of redress is through the courts. It is therefore likely that this new initiative is aimed at landlords who do not use a professional agency to manage their tenancy.

Reside is an award-winning independent letting agent in Bath. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss any aspect of letting or managing your property; we would love to hear from you.

Reside Review: April 2021

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Tenant Demand Reaches A New High

Despite rarely having more than four properties on the market at any one time, we let more properties during April 2021 than in Aprils 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. Tenant demand is outstripping supply to such an extent that we are receiving multiple offers on most properties within days, or in some cases hours, of the property being listed on the market.

New applicant registrations were up by 1.3% on March 2021, and by 137% compared to April 2020.

New electrical regulations apply to all landlords

Last year, new electrical safety regulations were introduced that required safety testing to be carried out for all new tenancies. On the 1st of April, this was extended to cover all existing tenancies as well – so if you are with a landlord with an occupied property, you must now have an electrical safety certificate in place. This must be renewed every five years. Where category C1 or C2 issues are diagnosed by the electrician, remedial works must be carried out within 28 days and the local authority informed.

Tenants must be given ‘Breathing Space’

The government’s new Debt Respite Scheme, or ‘Breathing Space’, came into force on the 4th of May and entitles people in problem debt (e.g. a tenant) to a temporary period of respite from a creditor (e.g. a landlord or letting agent).

A Breathing Space will pause most enforcement action, creditor contact, and interest and charges on a person’s qualifying debts, so that they can consider their options and engage with professional debt advice.

We will bring you a more detailed blog about this scheme in the coming weeks.

Important Dates in May

The Queen’s Speech on the 11th of May promises to be an important one for landlords and letting agents. It is widely expected that the Prime Minister will return to the Renters’ Reform Bill, bringing the future of Section 21 back into sharp focus, alongside lifetime deposits for tenants.

Temporary legislation permitting landlords and agents to carry out Right to Rent checks virtually will come to an end on the 17th of May. From that date, all Right to Rent checks must once again take place in person.  However, after successful lobbying by ARLA Propertymark, a recent revision to the regulations now means that landlords will now not have to redo the virtual checks that have been carried out during the pandemic.

Update: since publishing this blog, the government has announced a one month extension to virtual Right to Rent checks. In-person checks will now be mandatory again from the 20th of June.

Reside is an award-winning independent letting agent in Bath. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss any aspect of letting or managing your property; we would love to hear from you.

Reside Review: March 2021

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AWARDS RECOGNITION FOR RESIDE

We are delighted to have been recognised as the leading Bath lettings agency in the recent Bath Property Awards, an annual event hosted by Mediaclash (the terrific people behind Bath Life, Bath Boules) to celebrate the city’s property sector.

In an enterprising online ceremony, the panel of local judges commended Reside on our growth in 2020 and the way in which we responded to the challenges of the pandemic.

A great big thank you to our wonderful team and clients for helping us to achieve this award!

MARKET UPDATE

The rental market in March 2021 continued to follow the recent trend of high tenant demand, low property supply. Regardless of this, total lets agreed over the course of the month were still higher than March of last year.

Despite going into the first ever national lockdown in March 2020, it was still a relatively strong month for new lets, so to more lets this March demonstrates that we are still in a strong climate for landlords looking to bring their property to the rental market.

IMPROVED VIDEO TOURS

Video marketing has become essential when putting a property on the rental market. We are one of the only agencies to advertise every property with a video tour, but have still been working hard to improve this aspect of our service because of just how important it is.

Having invested in a new state of the art camera, we now record a 4K video tour for every property that we list on the market. This allows perspective tenants, no matter where in the country they are, to look around the property in crystal clear definition. Here is an example:

PROPTECH INSIGHT

We are delighted that our General Manager, Toby Martin, has been asked to join the Propertymark / REACH UK insight panel.

Toby will be joining hand-picked representatives from other forward thinking agencies across the UK to meet with property technology companies, to review and provide feedback on their products. This allows us early access to a great deal of the exciting new technology and software that is being developed for our sector, and will in the long run help to make us more dynamic and efficient.

Reside is an award-winning independent letting agent in Bath. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss any aspect of letting or managing your property; we would love to hear from you.

Toby Climbs Everest For Charity (Sort of)

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The Sofa to Summit challenge caught my eye as a way to become more active whilst fundraising for a cause that is close to everyone’s hearts right now. The NHS and the RUH have been spectacularly stretched since early 2020, and it will feel good to do something, no matter how small, in recognition of that.

A happy, healthy Brandon Bower

Over the course of any normal year, Reside usually organises several fundraisers to support local charities; in the past, we have worked with Off The Record Bath, Bath Area Play Project, VOICES and Bath Samaritans to name a few. However, given the recent lockdowns it has been difficult for us to arrange these kinds of events over the past 12 months – so I jumped at the opportunity to do something again that gives back to our local community.

The RUH, however, holds a special place in our hearts at Reside due to the experience of our Managing Director and the founder of Reside, Ben Bower. In 2018, Ben’s wife Natasha gave birth to their son Brandon at just 28 weeks – more than 12 weeks early. It was a tough time for Ben & Natasha, but the wonderful staff and state of the art facilities in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit meant that they could not have been better cared for. Brandon happily went home two months later – still in advance of his original due date!

I recall visiting Ben, Natasha and Brandon on the NICU ward. We’d had a baby boy ourselves just a few months before and were alarmed by what they were going through, but so reassured to see how well they were being looked after. Having heard so much about Brandon, Ben & Natasha’s experience, I’m very proud to be fundraising for the Forever Friends Appeal – no matter how small my contribution is, I am sure it will help to maintain the hospital’s incredible work.

Working with inspirational local people, our vision is to raise the funds needed to support the delivery of gold-standard healthcare in first-class surroundings.  We aim make a difference to every patient and every condition.
The Forever Friends Appeal 

My plan for scaling Everest is currently very basic: 48 flights of stairs for 61 days. But as lockdown restrictions ease, I am hoping that Bath’s hilly surrounds will help to mix up the scenery and preserve the stair carpet.

This is, would you believe it, my first time climbing Mount Everest, but I have thrown myself into similarly reckless commitments before. Despite being supremely unathletic, I ran the Bath Half in 2017 to raise funds for Sarcoma UK. I was joined by several members of the Reside team, and this has since led to similar unwise but worthy endeavours, including another Bath Half in 2019 in aid of Jamie’s Farm.

If you would like to track the progress of my climb, or even make a donation, you can find my Sofa to Summit page here.

Reside is an award-winning independent letting agent in Bath. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss any aspect of letting or managing your property; we would love to hear from you.

Landlord Notice Periods Extended

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Evictions on hold

The government has announced a further extension to two pieces of temporary legislation, both brought in to provide tenants with greater security in their homes during the pandemic.

The ban on evictions, which had already been extended, will now run until the 31st of May. Until then, evictions can only be enacted under strict circumstances such as extreme rent arrears. Landlords can still file possession claims and should be encouraged not to delay their submissions as the court closures in 2020 have created a substantial backlog of hearings.

Increased Notice Periods For Landlords

Fortunately, at Reside we are not currently dealing with any evictions, so news of an extension to notice periods may be of more relevance to our landlords. Statutory notice periods to terminate a tenancy are 2 months from a landlord, and one month from a tenant, but in August 2020 the government introduced the Coronavirus Act 2020 (Residential Tenancies: Protection from Eviction), which increased notice periods for landlords to 6 months.

These temporary regulations were initially due to expire on the 31st March 2021, at which point notice periods would have reverted back to the statutory 2 months, but have now been extended until ‘at least’ the 31st May 2021. There is much speculation as to what the government’s long-term plan is for Section 21, and we are unlikely to know more about the future of this policy until mid-May.

Reside is an award-winning independent letting agent in Bath. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss any aspect of letting or managing your property; we would love to hear from you.

Budget 2021: Key Points For Landlords & Tenants

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In this video, Reside’s Toby Martin summarises the main points of interest in the 2021 Budget for landlords and tenants.

These key points include the extension to the stamp duty holiday, the upcoming increase in corporation tax which may affect a very select few landlords, and a question mark over the future of capital gains tax.

Reside is an award-winning independent letting agent in Bath. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss any aspect of letting or managing your property; we would love to hear from you.

Reside Review: February 2021

Posted on by prateek

There has been continued demand for rental properties in Bath throughout February 2021, maintaining the trends we saw in January when demand outstripped supply.

Smaller, more ‘typical’ investment properties have let very easily throughout the month, and while there has been fair demand for family homes, there have been precious few available on the market. At the very end of the month, we saw several larger properties return to the market as tenants gave their notice; as we grow closer to half term and Easter beyond, we will likely see this market become more active as families, who are traditionally reluctant to move during the winter months, start to make plans for the year ahead.

The lockdown that ran throughout February has not had a major impact on our activity; it has become common knowledge that our sector has been permitted to continue working, so tenants have been free to proceed with home moves and viewings. It has been encouraging to see how well clients have responded to the Covid safety measures we have in place, which have served us very well thus far.

On that note, B&NES council has made asymptomatic Covid testing available to local workforces who are unable to work from home, and come into regular contact with the public. This means that our staff will be able to get tested on a weekly basis, giving our clients even more reassurance that we are taking every precaution to safeguard their health.

Rightmove data shows a shift to rural areas

Data released by Rightmove during February shows a definite shift from major cities to more rural areas over the course of 2020. The area hit hardest was Greater London, which saw average rents drop by 6.4% over the year. In contrast, average rents in the South West increased by 5.4%, although it should be pointed out that parts of Devon and Cornwall, where rents are typically lower than in Bath, will have contributed to this figure.

Source: Rightmove.co.uk

The much-publicised exodus of renters from London is certainly something that we have witnessed in Bath, and we expect this to continue throughout the year as lockdown restrictions are relaxed. Cities such as Bath, with strong transport links into the capital, are prime destinations for renters looking to escape densely populated, built-up areas.

Bath Celebrates Its Property Sector

The Bath Property Awards are almost upon us, and we are delighted to be nominated as finalists. Held on Friday 12th March, the online ceremony brings together businesses from all corners of the property sector; it is remarkable to see the strength and diversity in the businesses nominated across the categories. Regardless of what happens in our ‘lettings agent’ category, it’s a pleasure to be in such enterprising and esteemed company.

Do check out the Bath Property Awards website to read more about the other businesses involved.

Reside is an award-winning independent letting agent in Bath. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss any aspect of letting or managing your property; we would love to hear from you.