How is the market?
A question as estate agents we get asked a lot.
An interesting way to gauge this is by looking at total sales in an area over a year and comparing it with previous periods.
In the years between 2020 and 2022 yearly sales agreed in the NR31 postcode were always in excess of 1000. This dipped in 2023 to just over 600. A drop of 40%.
This year has been better. Sales agreed over the last 365 days in NR31 currently sit at 804. A big improvement on what we were seeing in 2023 but still way off what was seen immediately ‘post covid’.
This tells us we have a recovering market but in our opinion one that still requires careful pricing and excellent marketing.
Rise in inflation threatens further interest rate cuts.
Inflation went up slightly in July to 2.2% up from 2%. A small rise and inflation still way below the double digit inflation we saw in 2023. However, we will have to see how the Bank of England views this rise when its monetary policy committee next meet!
Performer of the month!
Congratulations to Chris Fielding who is Aldreds Performer of the Month for July.
The amount of work Chris gets through in a month is absolutely phenomenal and his passion and commitment to his clients is clear to everyone.
To be honest he could have won it lots of other months this year.
Well done Chris!
More news on renters reform bill!
There is some very sensible news coming from Whitehall regarding the Renters Reform Bill and its bumpy ride through parliament.
After the 3rd reading the Renters (Reform) Bill was voted through yesterday evening to its next stage. Housing Minister, Jacob Young confirmed that Section 21notice won’t be abolished until the court system is deemed ready. The government will require the Lord Chancellor to assess the county court possession order process in England and its enforcement before the end of Section 21 (no-fault evictions).
The other good news is another key amendment – only allowing tenants to give notice after six months (rather than the originally proposed two months) – was also approved, with exemptions such as death of a tenant or victims of domestic violence being considered.
These sensible amendments, despite Labour’s objections, will give landlords considering their options some confidence and will no doubt go some way to stem the flow of landlords selling their rented properties due to concerns about this new legislation.
We will keep you informed of the developments as they are announced.
Sienna joins the team!
A big Aldreds welcome to Sienna Vincent who has joined us as a trainee in our Great Yarmouth office!
Sienna is a GY girl! She has already been with us a week and has settled in well!
We hope you have a long and enjoyable career with us!
Aldreds turns 167 years old!
Happy birthday to us! In July Aldreds hit the ripe old age on 167! I know we don’t look it.
Our Directors Mark & Dan have had a fun day delivering birthday cakes to all the offices. If you are quick there might be some left!
I want to sell my house but have a tenant, what is the best process….
Firstly, you must serve formal notice. Tenants are only contractually obliged to allow access for viewings in the last 2 months of any tenancy.
You then have two options, both with their pros and cons.
If you decide to market with the tenant still in situ, then you have the benefit of rent coming in, all utilities and Council Tax being covered by the tenant and the additional security of an occupied property.
The downside is that you will have no control over access as notice and tenant agreement must always be obtained. You will also not have any control over how the property is presented. Always remember that there is absolutely no benefit to the tenant to display the property to look its best.
If you decide to wait to market until you have vacant possession, then you benefit from certainty that you will have vacant possession ready for exchange. The current shortage of available properties means that tenants are often struggling to find alternative properties and often stay on past the end of the notice period, which could easily de-rail an ongoing sale.
The other benefits are unrestricted access for viewings and complete control over how the property is presented at the time of the viewings. The only negatives being that you would need to cover all the bills until completion.
The key decider is the existing tenant and how good they are in terms of flexibility and how well they look after the property. However, once a tenant knows a property is for sale they feel unsettled and often leave well before the end of the notice period.
For more advice, talk to the experts, speak to Aldreds…..
A fifth of properties for sale are former rental homes
For those of us who have spent many years in the lettings business this may be no surprise. However, this hard evidence does bring it very much into focus that landlords are quitting the sector at a greater rate than usual.
Respected research firm TwentyEA latest report reveals that 18% of properties listed for sale last month (approximately 28,000) had also been listed for rent within the previous three years which is a shocking 100% higher than the previous year.
The reasons for landlords leaving the sector are a mix of uncertainty about changes the government have in store, steep interest rate rises (especially for those landlords coming ending fixed rate mortgage deals) and a general increase in all costs.
For those landlords who remain in the rental market there is some good news. Due to lower stock levels, the supply and demand balance is tipping their way and therefore rents continue to slowly rise as demand continues to increase.
BIG NEWS IN THE KINGS SPEECH!
For landlords who were naturally very concerned about the Renters Reform Bill there was a brief sigh of relief when the last government announced the ‘snap’ election which meant that all ministers were released back to their constituencies and therefore no further bills would become acts under that parliament. Thankfully, the Renters Reform Bill was not rushed through before parliament dissolved.
Today in the King’s speech there was a clear announcement that the Renters Reform Bill is back; “Legislation will be introduced to give greater rights and protections to people renting their homes, including ending no fault evictions” .
How quickly this bill will go through parliament is currently unknown. However, it very likely to be much quicker than the last governments efforts, the Renters Reform Bill was first announced formally in Her Majesty the Queens speech on 19th December 2019.
Inevitably, the new government will want to stamp their own mark on this bill, hence it is likely to take some time to go through. However, the basic principles of still being able to obtain possession on certain grounds (sale of property, landlord needing to move back in, arrears, anti-social / illegal behaviour) must still apply in order to avoid landlords leaving the rental market in droves.
It has been voiced that Awaab’s Law (currently only applicable to social housing) will be introduced to the private sector. Boiled down, this will place greater responsibility on landlords to combat damp and mould in rented properties.
We will provide more information as soon as it is announced, however please don’t hesitate to contact our Lettings department for any advice on how best to prepare and ‘future-proof’ your rental property investment.
Second but still happy!
Last week we were delighted to attend the Great Yarmouth BID awards for best presented office/shop front in Great Yarmouth. We didn't win! But we were delighted to come second to the marvellous Specsavers! You can't win them all but having the second best shop front in Great Yarmouth can't be a bad thing!
