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Angus Shield

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my expertise in the industry

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We often take Zoopla listings down in the same working day due to demand; only 20 would be manageable!

From: Angus Shield 12 September 2023 10:01 AM

A well constructed letter Nik; well done and thank you. I have mentioned this before, but a gathering of Salisbury letting agents met with John Glenn MP back in February and he listened carefully to our (very similar) points. These were then quickly onward communicated to Gavin Barwell MP in a letter from John Glenn. We need to keep the pressure on and all local agents should be lobbying their local MP; whatever party they represent.

From: Angus Shield 27 June 2023 10:05 AM

I am so pleased that this has been expressed by a legal professional. I have good past experience of Gina, Robert Bolwell and the D-G team. When meeting John Glenn a few weeks ago, the assembled delegation of Salisbury Letting Agents made it abundantly clear that, despite ramping-up the S8 Grounds, it is as only as good as the Housing Courts can process. That is the problem and that is why landlords and Agents are anxious about the proposed Renters Reform Bill. Giving us the tools to do the job is one facet, giving us the legal instrument to use them wisely is a whole new problem for Government to urgently address. Why can't JP's and a duty solicitor hold Housing Courts as a form of surgery?

From: Angus Shield 16 June 2023 09:57 AM

Well said Phil!

From: Angus Shield 05 June 2023 08:11 AM

Last Friday, a number of fellow Salisbury Letting Agents met with John Glenn MP. It was a reassuring meeting with Mr Glenn listening and noting the consequential impact of landlords selling their stock. Salisbury (like many other) is a transient city with a continual strong call on housing from the surrounding clinical, bio-medical, and cyber defence communities. Amongst other points, the room stated that landlords confidence has been lost with the abolition of some statutory instruments (S21), and their spiralling costs since the Tenants Fee Act. The balancing point requested is that the S8 must offer significantly improved process of tenacity, speed, and common sense by the housing court system to pass timely solid judgement to continue to protect landlords interest with enforcement when necessary. Without this landlords are simply taken for granted...., until they are no longer there!

From: Angus Shield 23 May 2023 08:46 AM

Hmmm, I thought this had been bounced out before the coronation, clearly not. OK, being positive, this is an opportunity to sell insurances such as Rent & Legal protection to Landlords as they can no longer 'refuse' benefit/universal credit applicants (and therefore the insurers also?) and pet insurance.

From: Angus Shield 17 May 2023 08:22 AM

Maybe it was the Agents 'judgment call' but not in a discriminatory way. We have flats/houses on our portfolio where neighbours have historical issues living next door to children, 'renters', etc and, once moved in, go about making the tenants feel very unwelcome. So, in the instance of these properties, we often state 'no children' as a way of protecting the tenant from unkindness; are we now being unkind? You just cannot win in anyone's eyes when attempting to do the right thing for all.....

From: Angus Shield 23 March 2023 10:04 AM

Go on Mick my son, keep to the day job demanding higher wages within your socialist utopia and blaming anybody with balls enough to provide/invest in solutions such as HOUSING because your cohort within the councils can't! FFS!

From: Angus Shield 24 February 2023 12:42 PM

I own both a Letting Agent and a Block Management company; I will not name our banks. We have finally received conformation from our bank that holds our Letting client account that they will not be closing it; it has taken a long time to reach this point. Our individual Block client accounts are presently under scrutiny and opening new individual accounts a challenge. To be fair to our Lettings bank; my business manager (who knows me and understands our business activity) arranged a zoom call with a London executive manager (blank screen, audio only I may add), and he listened and remarked that their 'model' was not ideal for our business activity and he would report this back to the policy makers. The bank was obsessed by what trade associations we were members of and The Property Ombudsman was not sufficient (despite many schemes deferring to the TPO); we also hold the appropriate CML insurances.

From: Angus Shield 12 January 2023 10:02 AM

Well that's a guarantor on every new tenancy created then and busy Courts will with Section 8's! I am not a vindictive Letting Agent but again the PRS are being offered little protection from default. I bet if a tenant defaulted on any other type of binding agreement such as their Council Tax, utility contracts, car lease, etc there would be men knocking at doors eventually. FFS, is it a crime to now own investment property as an alternative to the LHA chaos?!

From: Angus Shield 12 October 2022 14:32 PM

Wow, a brave move indeed considering the narrative. However, I feel this is common-sense realised BUT must not be weaponized by unscrupulous administrators. In which case, I do wonder if the licensing of LL/Agents would be a tier of 'safety' as it would hope to expect that all avenues of negotiation/reconciliation had been exhausted (if being used for a payment/behaviour repossession), before the S21/Form 6 was served. All good privately managed LL's/tenancies and reputable LA's should not require licensing if they demonstrate practice. The weak-link in the process could be that Local Authorities must stop being obstructive in tenant rent/relocation related matters or the S21 will be again be the Landlords instrument in some instances.

From: Angus Shield 11 October 2022 10:27 AM

£1400+pcm is normal here in our locality; ours are around £1600+pcm and that is before you even look at 'quaint & charming' in the surrounding villages at £2200+pcm!

From: Angus Shield 01 July 2022 07:31 AM

Makes the Lettings4U platform a little more attractive @£300pcm as it offers more and not a political opinion.

From: Angus Shield 17 June 2022 08:38 AM

I do wonder if any of the 'consultants' and 'experts' have ever worked in agency or been a PRS Landlord? It like management software developers never been in agency or on the 'front line' attempting to use it!! Good grief!!!

From: Angus Shield 16 June 2022 09:18 AM

Where has the joined-up-thinking gone! A home-owner evaluates their pet ownership on the limits of their living arrangements; tenants can soon decide on keeping a pet and then expect the limit of their living arrangements to be adapted to accommodate their wish to keep a pet at the expense of others. I also thought we could not insist on tenants holding contents insurance (unfair fee?), but government can insist they hold pet insurance?!? It is time that if 'authority' now require 'facilitators' to adapt their processes to suit the ever increasing legal status of the tenant above that of the landlord, they must also be allowed to again make reasonable charges to deliver these schemes in a reliable, recordable and correct manner.

From: Angus Shield 15 June 2022 12:58 PM

Overtures of 'agent bashing' again; £300pcm/branch! We pay less than that so will not be placing our available stock there. If a tenant is genuinely searching (remembering there is an ongoing stock shortage), surely a small search subscription would be acceptable to them also?

From: Angus Shield 13 June 2022 08:27 AM

Maybe Dan Wilson Craw and Generation Rent would like to help the PRS lobby to make ownership of available houses a better business proposition for their owners to make available for letting? I am South Wiltshire and demand for available property is tremendous. We have 'retiring' landlords who are liquidating their asset as they have had enough and the tax breaks, etc do not make it equitable alongside the rising costs and compliance requirements (for the right reasons), forcing the rent levels. Renting out a house is a business operation not a charitable one. For too long local authorities have considered the PRS an extension of their own diminishing housing stock, and the facilitators, are battered enough before the lobbyists start. We have many long-term UC & HB tenancies that are rock-solid but way beneath local market rents. I feel the more the PRS is attacked and their provision of property not given a shred of respect, then the stock will dwindle or go into private owner-occupier occupancy. Generation Rent, SHELTER, LA's really not bite the hand.....; however there are unregulated private operators that do tarnish the industry.

From: Angus Shield 08 June 2022 07:39 AM

All very good points made by Paul Shamplina and, again, nods to the unreliability and/or regional variance in the accessibility to the Courts to administer any final part of the process be it S21 or S8. I would suggest that the S8, with all the supporting documentation/evidence, would further burden the creaking Housing Courts. If there were to be an Ombudsmen Service processing S8 actions that was form-filled driven, at least the parameters of consideration would be evened-out and unemotional. All experienced Letting Agents encounter some tenants who are experienced in 'working the system' as it is so vague and subjective despite the old S21 being 'prescriptive' and I am sure we only use the S21 when all reasonable process has failed.

From: Angus Shield 31 May 2022 08:13 AM

Hmmm; so they have 'typified' and negotiator/letting agent with his manner, clothing, etc. Now if we portrayed a minority person/group, gay person, vegetarian, black person, etc in similar 'comedic terms' we would be had for all manner of discrimination!

From: Angus Shield 09 May 2022 08:37 AM

Apologies for the poor grammar above. Written both with ire and diminishing batteries in the blue-tooth keyboard not helping matters!

From: Angus Shield 06 May 2022 09:51 AM

This has turned out to be an absolute nonsense! We run a single, dedicated Client account for our landlords and individual dedicated Client accounts for our managed site (in the names of their Man Co's). Barclays notified us of closure of accounts (many 10s of accounts). We contacted our local Business Manager and he appealed it with a higher level and had a teleconference. It appeared (to me) that the bank did not understand our industry operate our client transactions. We are both Client Money Protected and Property Ombudsman members (which most acredited schemes defer to as a last resolution), for 8 years now. No, we were told we had to join a scheme to avoid the account closures. We have chosen ARMA and the form filling, copy documents, references, 3rd party involvement; however, we are almost there.

From: Angus Shield 06 May 2022 09:40 AM

Always thought their use of the name 'Shelter' was an oxymoron; now its a collective for morons!

From: Angus Shield 03 May 2022 08:56 AM

Oh what a fabulous typo!

From: Angus Shield 13 April 2022 08:00 AM

Well, managing tenancies in both Southwark and Camberwell, I have a view on this. Our tenancies are not the problem, we check when we visit; however, the AirBnB in the same flats (and I am the Block Manager too) are the problem. They stay for a night, few nights, stuff everything into the same bag and stuff it in the waste - rarely do we see separation. We have lobbied the Lessees to better police their AirBnB occupiers, but many do not even live in the same post code! Grrr!

From: Angus Shield 17 March 2022 07:34 AM

Survey link does not work.

From: Angus Shield 08 March 2022 08:50 AM

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