A seminar roadshow has been announced for letting agents considering quitting the sector. 

LegalforLandlords says it’s organised the six events after discovering that 143 agents’ offices closed in the first half of 2019, as agents became disenchanted with rising costs, competition from online operators, and landlords also quitting the sector. 

The events are taking place in Essex, Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol and Reading.

Sim Sekhon, managing director of LegalforLandlords, says: “Both letting agents and estate agencies are facing a perfect storm of market conditions and legal and regulatory changes which, combined, create an extremely challenging operating environment. On top of that, you’ve got issues that come with operating on the High Street and the associated business rates, while still competing with lean online/ hybrid agents.”

Sekhon says letting agents in particular face a particularly tough year.

He claims 100,000 rental homes have been sold since 2017 thanks to more onerous tax regulations, complicated red tape and the proposed abolition of Section 21.

“We’ve also seen landlords moving over to commercial markets and short-term letting in what is a rapidly changing market. It’s a challenging time for agents – as well as delivering on service, they need to work harder to stand out and maintain an active pipeline” he adds.

Speakers at the event will include well known compliance and industry expert Michael Day from Integra Property Services, elite performance coach Gayle Audley, estate agency expert Richard Rawlings and Sarah Edmundson, founder of All Stars.

“It’s no secret that agents are facing tough times, but those challenges are going to keep on coming so it’s inevitable that changes will need to be made. Neither estate agents nor letting agents can simply continue to do what they’ve always done before; they need to think and act differently” concludes Sekhon.