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A busy rental market combined with unsettled economic conditions unfortunately increases the possibility of some letting agents charging tenants prohibited fees, according to PayProp. The rental payment automation platform says agents must do everything they can to comply with the Tenant Fees Act – which was extended to cover all tenancies in June – while warning tenants to familiarise themselves with the legislation. Charging of banned fees could become a bigger issue While the majority of letting agenci

A new property inspector has been appointed at Principle Estate Management to support the company’s continued growth in the South East. The Birmingham-based business has recruited Carrie-Anne Bowden-Baker to become the third member of its property inspection team, taking the firm’s total staffing up to 25. Ms Bowden-Baker, who has spent seven years in the property sector, lives in Carshalton, Surrey, within 90 minutes of all Principle’s southern properties. She carried out property inspections in her role

Practice Direction 55C was published in early August 2020, to come into force on 23 August 2020 setting out procedures for new claims by landlords against tenants issued on or after 3 August 2020 (see article . It also set out how to “reactivate” stayed claims (those issued before 3 August 2020) when the stay of possession proceedings ended on 23 August 2020. Following an eleventh-hour u-turn, the end of the stay was extended until 19 September 2020. This means that stayed claims issued before 3 August 20

The Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP) has welcomes the CMA’s enforcement action against four of the UK’s house builders over their mis-selling of leasehold properties.  As well as mis-selling of properties, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will also investigate evidence surrounding potentially unfair terms concerning ground rent.  Mark Chick, Director of ALEP, said:   “This is very welcome news for the sector. For many years ALEP has been campaigning to highlight lea

Five schools in the North West are benefiting from a range of school upgrades and new equipment after receiving generous financial donations from Simple Life. The schools across Greater Manchester and Merseyside have collectively received a total £34,000 over the last academic year. Leading provider of new build family homes for the private rental sector, Simple Life, regularly makes generous monetary donations to schools near to its developments as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) strate

Barratt Developments plc has become the first major housebuilder in the country to be certified by the British Safety Council for the quality of its COVID-19 policies and procedures. The company, which owns Barratt and David Wilson Homes, is currently building more than 8,000 much-needed new homes across the South West. The five-star housebuilder has developed a detailed set of working practices and protocols to enable both its construction sites and customer facing sales offices and show homes to operate

MetroPM, the established residential property management firm with offices in Birmingham and Cheltenham, has recruited Anna Ayres as an apprentice administrator to work in its customer service team. Matthew Arnold, managing director and founder of MetroPM, said: “Anna’s role will focus on front-end customer service delivery, management of contractors and assisting the team with ensuring compliance matters are tracked and completed.” Established 15 years ago, MetroPM is enjoying a period of growth based on

According to Rightmove, people searching for a home in a village jumped by 126% in June and July compared with the same period last year.   Not surprising if you’ve been cooped up in a smaller flat, with less space because you thought most of your time would be spent at work, you may very well be looking to be moving to somewhere larger and more spacious.   However, for many thousands of flat-owners across the UK, there are hurdles, and these are not of their making!  For those living in a purpose bui

The Government has recently published the Building Safety Bill, which is its attempt to respond to the issues raised by the Grenfell Tower fire, which were highlighted by the independent Hackitt Review.   Property Litigation Solicitor, Molly Frankham expands upon a particular point, in order to consider the Bill from the perspective of the occupiers of the buildings. In a nutshell, the Bill seeks to set the groundwork for ensuring the safety of a building during its lifecycle – i.e. during construction an

Remus is delighted to announce that Helen Roberts MIRPM has been appointed as Doyenne’s Ambassador for Wales. As Associate Director of Business Development for Remus Helen is an extremely respected member of the Business Development team and across the Fexco Property Services group. Having worked in the property industry for nearly 20 years Helen has seen her role change from opening the Wales & West region in 2011 as Regional Manager to becoming Associate Director.  Helen says: “My role allows me to over

A Ringwood-based property management company has defied the economic doom and gloom by launching a completely new business – Careline Support Ltd – which took its first call on Tuesday 1st September. Careline Support is now operating nationwide from its new call centre, where it has already created 10 new jobs and will continue to create more to fulfil its growth plans. The new business will provide a direct 24/7 emergency call service to over 6,000 apartment owners at retirement developments across the c

2020 has been an unexpectedly difficult year, covid 19 has challenged everyone's resilience, and, as ever there are always a few individuals or companies who go the extra mile to help others, sometimes at great risk to themselves. NOTB and Jackson Sims Recruitment want to celebrate the ‘heroes’ in capes as well as masks, who have worked hard to make these difficult times a little easier for their residents, customers and employees.  So please take the time to nominate the individual(s) who have proved to