Anti-social behaviour is a subject close to the hearts of many and it is more complex than it appears on the surface, particularly when it is viewed from the perspective of management. We have recently been faced with the issue of excessive noise created by neighbouring tenants hosting parties and every website I look at says that it is recommended that the neighbours be approached first. I can see some merit in that, as sometimes they genuinely don’t know that they are causing a bit of a disturbance to others and respond accordingly. This is what we always do as the resident management company but what happens when reasonableness doesn’t provide the hoped-for response?
Managing Anti-social behaviour in rented properties
August 27th, 2009 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in Guest Articles, Landlords | 4 Comments »
Be aware of cheap, budget HIP & EPC providers
August 13th, 2009 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in Energy Assessors, EPC, Home Information Packs | 6 Comments »
Cheap Home Information Pack (HIP) and Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) providers in the market place, are unfortunately not delivering the promised service or product at times, within the timescales agreed. It has been brought to our attention that a number of companies are taking excessive time to deliver or arrange EPCs, some have not received their HIP or EPC at all as the company has gone into liquidation and ceased trading.
Recently, we have received numerous calls from anxious concerned people who were looking for advice on what they could do in their specific problematic scenarios plus people who thought they had instructed us to carry out their HIP and/or EPC, when infact they had opted for a ‘cheap HIP provider‘.
Nationwide reduces price of fixed and tracker rate mortgages
August 11th, 2009 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in Financial Products, Mortgages | 2 Comments »
Nationwide Building Society has announced that it is cutting the price of many of its fixed and tracker rate mortgages by up to 0.50%. This comes as welcome news as the banks and building societies have held what some have described as inflated rates.
With effect from 4 August 2009, will include the following:
New Experimental Property Search Engine
August 4th, 2009 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in News, Property Market, Property Portals | 1 Comment »
House hunters searching online for property can now benefit from a new search engine which uses text entries to find the most suitable match rather than traditional drop-down filter menus. Gartoo, which launches today, is based on ‘semantic search’ – advanced technology which disseminates search according to words entered by the user to find the most accurate fit.
10 twitter tips for property professionals
August 4th, 2009 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in Property Market, Top Tips | 16 Comments »
Twitter usage is growing at great speed and many property professionals are adding fuel to the growth; using Twitter as an additional business tool for improved communication, marketing and networking. However, to use twitter succesfully in the property field there are some basic tips and ideas that would be worth remembering and implementing.
New properties to the housing market are more likely to sell
July 30th, 2009 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in News, Property Market | 2 Comments »
In comparison to last year, recent studies in the property market have indicated that new properties for sale on the market are far more likely to be sold in this year.
New research indicates that owners are almost twice as likely to sell their flats and houses this month than they would have been when the market was at its highest. The number of people applying to buy has augmented by about 40% compared to May last year. A simultaneous fall in the number of new property being introduced to the market (about 31% since May 08) has clearly changed the balance between available property and the demand for it. As a result a noticeable advantage has emerged for sellers.
Estate agent turns to witchcraft
July 29th, 2009 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in News, Property Market | 2 Comments »
An estate agent in Somerset has been succesful in her job application to become a Witch at a tourist attraction in Somerset.
After watching BBC news yesterday morning and the reported results of the job interview later that evening; it just could not go without a mention due to the amusing nature of the story witch is sure to raise a smile.
EPC data access to be given to Energy Saving Trust EST
July 24th, 2009 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in Energy Assessors, Energy Saving, EPC | 1 Comment »
The Energy Saving Trust (EST) is close to be given access to the data gathered from Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) and this was recently outlined in the summary of responses to ‘The Next Steps: EPCs and the establishment of the Green Homes Service consultation.’
Nationwide offers a life line to those in negative equity
July 20th, 2009 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in Financial Products, Mortgages | Comments Off on Nationwide offers a life line to those in negative equity
Nationwide building society have announced a 125% LTV mortgage in a shock move considering the current financial situation. However, the pre-requisites of the mortgage deal are quite limiting to the large majority of people searching for a mortgage and the building society have been keen to down play the ‘new’ mortgage product.
Selling, Subletting? – Tell The Managing Agent
July 15th, 2009 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in Landlords, Property Conveyancing | 1 Comment »
For my first article I have decided to focus on something very close to my heart – information provision, or in our case, the lack of it when it comes to selling, subletting or parting with possession of a leasehold flat.
Most leases have a minimum requirement that compels leaseholders to serve notice and these are known as assignment conditions.
Google Maps improves property search results
July 7th, 2009 HIP-Consultant.co.uk Posted in News, Property Market | 4 Comments »
Google maps has recently developed their search functionality when searching for properties. The recent addition of streetview is in our view fantastic and with this new ability it further enhances googles’ progression and goal of returning the best searches result, now targeting the property search market.