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TODAY'S OTHER NEWS

Zoopla lettings gurus put forward rental register idea

Maxine Fothergill, who has just completed her year as President of ARLA Propertymark, is the latest recruit to Zoopla’s Lettings Advisory Board.

The portal describes the board as “an independent, non-regulatory group” which “aims to draw on the deep industry expertise of leaders and influencers across the lettings sector.”

Fothergill joins alongside other new members Carrie Alliston, lettings director at Hunters, and Julie Ford, founder of mediation service Gothard Rowe.

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The board now comprises 13 members who have been meeting over the last 12 months; the primary focus of the work to date has been identifying key parts of the lettings and management process that require improvement and where agents and property software can unlock a better experience. 

 

It has also given detailed proposals to the government outlining areas to improve the consumer experience of renting and how a rented property register could form the foundation of better protections for the quality of rental supply. 

Michael Cook, national lettings managing director at Leaders Romans Group and chair of the Zoopla lettings group says: “It’s great to get subject matter experts onto the board such as Carrie, Julie and Maxine. All have an excellent track record and broad experience across the industry and myself and the rest of the board are looking forward to working with all of them. The board has recently made some strong representation to Government in line with our agenda for a more sustainable private rental sector and we will look to turn our attention to positively shape the detail and practicalities that goes into the Renters Reform Bill.”

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    I still fail to see how a rental property register would provide better protection for the quality of rental supply. Of course it would make it easier for Romans Lettings in Bristol to bombard me with unwanted letters telling me how wonderful they are, despite being told not to.

    Kristjan Byfield

    Our main focus to date was the implementation of a form of property mot for lettings. Something that makes the regulatory landscape easy for consumers (tenants) to understand and self-enforce and fir regulators to access compliance data more easily. Such a landscape is what we should all aspire to and is nothing for quality, professional & compliant landlords to fear. In fact, quite the opposite- it’s something they should welcome as it will eradicate the rogue element.

     
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    @Krystjan, the only rogue element I see is you. I am as far from a rogue landlord as you can get, but the continual battering of landlords worries me.

     
    Kristjan Byfield

    If being a landlord is so awful and you hate it so much- why do it? Life’s too short to do something you hate. There may be something that would take you from fed up to gee’d up!?

     
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    @kristjan, What I do is, as the phrase goes, “None of your damn business”. I agree, life is too short and in future I will ignore you and your comments. Now be a good chap and run off to brown nose someone.

     
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    Smacks of people hustling for a new business, ie another overhead for landlords.

    Kristjan Byfield

    Everyone on the board already has at least one, if not several, demanding jobs Edwin. Far from ‘hustling for new business’ this is a group of passionate lettings experts giving up valuable time for free to try and help make the PRS the best it can be & also use Zoopla considerable brand weight to get listened to by the powers that be. In other words, about the polar opposite of your comment.

     
  • David Baldwin

    PRS is reducing as more and more regulations are put onto landlords and their agents
    Is there any correlation in this fall and the rise in air b&b .
    Todays report in the holiday /short stay market suggests a 40% rise over 4years

    Kristjan Byfield

    Sites like Airbnb saw huge growth as this market barely existed before- as people chose homes over hotels. A raft of the reforms in the recent white paper proposals look to tackle this very issue. An ever more professional PRS is nothing anyone should fear- be that landlords or agents.

     
  • Kristjan Byfield

    Three incredible people join to make the board even better than it was! Importantly, we have moved from a board that originally had one woman on it (in the form of northern powerhouse Hannah Gretton) to now having 5 (including the three new members and the fabulous Nicola Thivessen)- not quite 50/50 but nearly 40% is getting there! Can’t wait to learn from these fab new additions at the next board meeting!

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    The award for Sycophant of the Year goes to . . .

     
  • Kristjan Byfield

    If wanting to be around people who inspire, inform and educate me- then I’ll wear that title with a crown! Does it ever get lonely up in your tower?

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    Kristjan, you are barking mad !

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    Kristjan you have absolutely no idea of what being a PRS landlord is ? But you sure are a right on politician ! Bed and Breakfast has been around for years, and so have lodgings. These big internet based companies are not very fond of observing local laws or taxes. It's called globalisation.

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