Grow your agency and streamline your processes with insights and ideas for lettings businesses.
Training in estate and letting agencies is intensifying before the Regulation of Property Agents (RoPA) requirements have even been set in stone. Agents are working to attain the expected qualifications - but what else is driving this burgeoning training mindset?
Energy expert Rik Smith, previously of Uswitch and British Gas and current Head of Tenancy Services at Goodlord, answers letting agents' questions on the current energy crisis and how it could impact themselves and their landlords and tenants.
Consumers throughout the UK will be worried about the impact the energy crisis could have on their bills or suppliers. Here's your guide to the changes to the Energy Price Cap, government support for tenants, what happens if a supplier goes bust, and free FAQ template to answer your tenants' questions.
Short-term lets can be beneficial to landlords and tenants looking for a more flexible solution than a long-term contract can provide - but some say this may pose a threat to the buy-to-let sector.
Provide landlords with valuable information on the property market to gain their trust and you'll reap the rewards over time, says Christopher Watkin.
Estate and letting agencies that learn from experience and use data to improve their processes are more likely to stay ahead of the game in the long term. From learning from mistakes to planning for the future, here are five tips to help your agency stay on top.
Virtual viewings gathered pace during the pandemic and they're showing no signs of slowing down. Here are six ways to get the most from your virtual viewings and secure more tenants with less work.
There are many ways for your tenants to pay their rent. Some are faster and more efficient than others. Here's what you need to know to help you decide what's the best process for your agency and to encourage your tenants to use your preferred method - so you get paid on time.
Tenant demand is traditionally high in the summer and, with lockdown creating pent-up demand from renters and the stamp duty holiday over, summer 2021 promises to be a big one. Here are three ways to make the most of the increased demand in the coming months.
The estate and letting agencies that carefully select the right technology suppliers for their business can help their staff reach their full potential, with streamlined processes, cost savings - and a better customer experience, as this extract from our e-book, How to maximise your agency's potential, demonstrates.
At Vouch, we're seeing an increased appetite for training in the agencies we speak with. In the context of the Regulation of Property Agents, this is perhaps unsurprising. But that's not the sole catalyst of the trend - there are other factors at play.
Topics: Business
What are the options for tenants who are struggling to pay their bills? What happens if my tenants' energy supplier goes bust? What happens if I have a vacant property and the supplier goes bust? Energy expert Rik Smith answers these questions and more on the unfolding energy crisis and its impact on the lettings industry.
➡️ See all our resources for letting agents on the energy crisis.
Topics: Business
The UK has been gripped by an emerging energy crisis: wholesale gas prices have increased by 250% since the beginning of the year, including a 70% rise since August, according to the Oil & Gas UK trade body. Five small energy suppliers have collapsed in September alone and experts have predicted that the industry may shrink to as few as 10 energy suppliers by the end of winter, down from about 70 suppliers at the start of the year. Now, fears are escalating that energy prices could soar to unaffordable levels for both everyday consumers and industry, leading the government to engage in crisis talks with the regulator, Ofgem, and key industry leaders. Here's your guide to the crisis, plus a free FAQ template to send to your tenants about how the crisis could affect them this winter.
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Short-term lets are seen as both a boon and a threat to the rental sector. Now that the hospitality industry is starting to kick into gear after a period of Covid-related restrictions and limited activity, short-term lets are making headlines - but is it to the detriment of buy-to-let landlords?
Topics: Business
Christopher Watkin is the lettings industry's biggest advocate for content marketing, advising letting agents to create articles, reports, videos, and more in order to reach new landlords. "If you try and go out there and sell stuff to people, they get switched off, so why don't you actually give them something which is of interest?" Watkin shared suggestions for letting agents looking to try this approach in an on-demand Goodlord webinar. Read on for his top tips or watch the full webinar on demand now.
Topics: Business
We're constantly adapting to new rules and regulations but we're also
breaking every system down to see where we can improve," says Thomas Izod,
Branch Manager at Kallars in our free guide, How to maximise your agency's potential. "Now’s the time to start preparing for the changes that are coming in. You're not maximising your returns if you're still doing the same thing you were doing ten years ago.”
Topics: Business
Virtual viewings are here to stay. Agents have woken up to the fact that virtual viewings can help to filter their candidates and avoid wasting time on numerous physical viewings - a strong example of how agencies have demonstrated agility and pivoted to find a new solution to continue bringing value to landlords. Read more about taking your virtual viewings to the next level by downloading our free guide, How to maximise your agency's potential.
Topics: Business
Rent is probably one of the largest transactions that your tenants make each month - and the recurring way that it's paid is equivalent to a very expensive subscription. Like all subscriptions, you want to receive the right amount on time and to be able to easily track when it has been paid.
Topics: Business
As the UK summer heats up, so does a letting agent’s diary, and the traditional spike in lettings can make or break the profitability for some agencies. With the stamp duty holiday over or starting to wind down in England, Scotland, and Wales, many agents around the UK will have more time to turn their attention to the lettings side of the business, where we're seeing heightened demand.
Topics: Business
"We ensure that we invest heavily in using the most current, up-to-date and efficient proptech that's out there. You can provide a great service with really good staff, but if you haven't got the systems to back that up, then you're falling short," says Beth Perry, Operations Director at Zest Sales and Lettings. "I think it's a combination of things coming together, having great staff, and using intuitive technology. That's really the forefront of the property industry."
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