Rentright is a Lettings only portal that has chosen to stay with the method of their customers paying a set monthly amount each month for advertising, rather than on a pay per lead basis.

Websites such as Zoopla, who have bought out propertyfinder.com, have chosen the pay per lead basis as has the newer website propertyindex.com. Both sites charge £1 per lead and around £3/£4 per Landlord/Vendor enquiry. It will be interesting to see what happens with the newly acquired propertyfinder.com pricing module. Given that zoopla claim the pay per lead is the way forward, one could assume that propertyfinder.com’s pricing will change. It remains to be seen.

Anyway, which is right and which is wrong? Who are we to judge? However, we at Rentright, have been around Southampton and Portsmouth this week getting the word on the street from both existing and new customers. Very definitely the feedback, all bar one person was that a set monthly amount is much better as it allows an agent to budget their marketing spend annually. Given trying times this seems the most effective option. The one agent who seemed happy with the idea was asked “why do you feel differently to others we have asked” – response being: “I have not had a lead yet, it has cost me nothing, so I can not say”. Interesting stuff?

The main feedback has been as to how you quantify a lead. Is it a specific viewing request, more information required, or a non specific “I’m looking to Rent in Portsmouth, I’m looking to Rent in Southampton?”

Some agents have even suggested that some of the more unscrupulous counterparts would send dodgy emails to the competition. However I have been reassured there are measures in place to contest any discrepancy in charging. All well and good, but here at Rentright we feel that our time money and effort is better spent in genuine customer service, rather than arguing with an agent what is a lead or not a lead. It also helps keep our membership costs at an extremely affordable level.

As we are active in SEO, we have no need for pay per click and neither do we have a need for pay per lead.

Visit Rentright for all UK rental properties.

We recently blogged on the findings of RICS latest statistics showing that rental prices had been falling and would continue to do so, and that there was a lack of homes to rent.

We have backed this up in conducting survey’s with local agent’s across Basingstoke, Southampton and Portsmouth. There is very little difference upon town variants, but according to RICS it is more a regional difference, with London in particular being hit.

Rentright.co.uk have had feedback that rental prices have fallen by 10% in recent months. What is worrying is that they also report having void periods, which is something that hasn’t been typical of the past. Rather than accept a lower rent quite a few Landlords have been holding out for a higher price, which has resulted in voids of some 2/3 months. When will they realise that accepting a lower rent is not as bad as having a property stand empty for a couple of months?

Agents are reporting lower offers being made due to the supply and are working hard to convince the Landlords to accept.  Agents also report that there is a shortage of family homes to rent in the more central locations and an over supply of flats, which falls in line with the RICS report. The main problem has been that there has been a massive amount of unsold properties hitting the lettings market since January 2009.

The figures heighten concerns about the fragile buy-to-let market, where repossessions are double that of the residential market.  Will things improve in the coming months?

Feedback has not been too positive, with many thinking it is going to be some time before we come out of this dark time.  To compare rental prices in your area look to Residential Rental Price Index produced by Rentright.co.uk in the RRPI, which is updated every time property comes onto the web.

It has been hard over the last couple of years and there are no markets that have not suffered in some form.  The rental property market has faired remarkably well compared to many other industry sectors and although there has been a decline in growth for both demand for rental properties and new landlord instructions in the first quarter of 2009 there is an optimistic outlook.

There are some statistics that have been made public by the Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) which reported that 55% of surveyors reported falls in rent in the first part of this year.  However, there was also reports of a 16% rise in the number of tenants searching for a rental property during the same period.  The study conducted by RICS also suggested that the outlook was for rents to continue to decline other the coming months.

The good news for the letting agents and the landlords is the demand for the rental property has been on the increase and the types of property that are most in demand are houses compared to flats.  This then brought a faster decline in rent prices for flats than for houses due to the supply and demand factors.  The demand for property and the fall in rental prices is very much a regional effect and the worst hit area of England and Wales was London which saw the worst in the rent prices and the tenant demand than anywhere else in the country.

Rentright is a UK wide rental property portal and has the unique RRPI (Residential Rental Price Index) which can be used as a guide line to show the current prices and trends in the area you are looking to rent a property.  The rental statistics are updated in real time and can be broken down into the number of bedrooms and the type of property required.  Also you can find current rental property advertised by local letting agents and landlords in the UK on the Rentright website.

You have more than likely noticed the speed increase in the rentright website, this is due to a new dedicated server platform.

Never mind the market showing signs of Green Roots and recovery in the property sales sector, what happened to this proposed Green paper? We at rentright.co.uk recently reported that The Government was to produce a green paper regards legislation of Private Landlords.

Well where is it?

We in the Industry know the importance of dealing with legitimate businesses and would welcome the change in practise so that this newly proposed system could “weed out” the unscrupulous Landlords. Maybe the Government has been too busy “weeding out” a little closer to home, given the non-stop news regards all the MP’s expense claims. (And don’t get me started on that)

Well now that we seem to have got that out of the way (or have we?) and various ministers have resigned, perhaps we could get back to the business of running our house efficiently and get on with the job we are supposed to be doing – which is delivering what we said we would!

Seriously though, this is something that is long over due, and given that ARLA have tightened their belt to tackle problem Landlords, we await with bated breath the overdue paper. Also on a more positive note, the extra revenue The Government raises could go some way to paying back the vast sums of money some MP’s have claimed on renting second homes and other incidentals.

For letting your property, look no further than Rentright Property Portal and any MP looking for a second home, visit rentright.co.uk for all Rental Property throughout the UK.

With a reported 21% of agents not knowing where their website traffic is coming from, it is important for Rentright to provide full details to its member agents to show just how usefull the site is.

Research has come out that indicates the Buy to Let landlords are suffering hard with the credit crunch. In terms of repossession indications show that over 3 times as many investors are losing their properties than normal home owners. Research also indicated by the council of Mortgage lenders that there were 1700 buy to let properties that were repossessed in the first three months of 2009. (source bbc.co.uk)

There are obvious problems for the tenant when a landlord has the home repossessed and it can be a very worrying time. However there is good news if you find yourself in this position as there is a process called receiver of rent. This is where the tenant can remain in their home and they pay their rent to the bank or the repossession company. There are two good points to this, firstly if you are the tenant this gives you some time to find a new property to live in, this is especially the case where the lender is likely to sell on the property. Secondly, the lender can buy themselves more time to decide how they want to proceed with the property in terms of sales process.

This problem has arisen where the landlords were paying too much for their buy to let properties, and having problems covering the rent either by not being able to find tenants for the property or a short fall in the rent. When this is the case it is very easy to fall in arrears with the mortgage and never be able to recover. If you are a tenant or a landlord and are looking for property to rent or advertising then you need to ensure you use services such as Rentright a UK wide Rental Property Advertising site. If you are renting via a letting agent then make sure the agent is using services such as Rentright to gain maximum exposure for your property.

Rental property without tenants in will be losing money.

Sky news has recently reported a solution for MPs claiming expenses for their second homes.

Relocation Company, HCR (www.hcr.co.uk) has offered a solution similar to the contract they have with the MOD. HCR currently source rental property for the MOD through a field of just over 100 Property Advisors. The Advisor’s start their search for properties to rent on property websites such as Rentright and offer a choice of property to rent to the MOD personnel.

(Rentright an independent rental website, has properties listed to rent all over the UK as well as in a Central London close to the houses of Parliament.)

HCR then take on the Guide to Letting Your Property, allowing HCR to manage the relationship between the occupant, the bill payer and the landlord. The HCR tenancy model also allows for a succession of occupants to be housed without the need for additional property searching, bureaucracy and affiliated cost.

HCR sourced property within walking distance of parliament and all at substantially less than the allocated £24,000 a year. Sir Christopher Kelly has told Sky News that his investigation into MPs expenses will consider systems similar to that offered by HCR.

For all rental property on line: www.rentright.co.uk

Relocation specialists in property to rent: www.hcr.co.uk

The Government will introduce a Green Paper by mid-May that will require all Landlords in England and Wales to be licensed. It should be noted, that in Scotland, the registration system for all buy to let landlords is already in place; during the first year only 15% of landlords registered, but tougher regulations were introduced, which meant that landlords failing to meet the requirements could face legal proceedings.

The plan is that all Landlords will be expected to pay a licence fee of around £50 in an attempt by the Government to stamp out poor Landlords. With the easy access of buy to let mortgages over the last decade, prior to the current property slump, buy to let mortgages were all to easy to obtain. There is currently an estimated one million private landlords letting out some 2.6 million properties and Government ministers will be looking to introduce this paper to try and stop some of the unscrupulous landlords exploiting their tenants.

There is also some talk of the Government introducing a statutory regulator for Letting Agents.

Although the paper has yet to be introduced it is widely believed that one option is that each landlord would be given a licence number that would appear on all documents related to the letting. This could make it easier for the Inland Revenue to identify tax evaders.

Makes you wonder if the green paper is more for their benefit in catching tax dodgers’ than the interest of the Tenant?

The system would have to be monitored by an independent body to adjudicate tenant’s complaints; the theory being that if the complaint was upheld the landlord could lose his or her letting licence. Landlords would be able to appeal against the body’s decision, but if they lost it could be years before they are allowed to rent out property again.

In addition to the Government trying to tackle the problem of dodgy Landlords, the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) has launched a licencing scheme that requires members to abide by a new code of practice. As of 5^th April 2009 all ARLA members will need to be licensed as part of their membership, which includes the following implications:

· Each individual member will hold a gold standard professional qualification relating to lettings

· All members must undertake Continuing Professional Development

· Agents must ensure they have client money protection schemes in place to protect all tenant and landlord funds held by their office

· All clients’ funds require having an annual independent audit

· Agents must have professional indemnity insurance in place

· Agents must sign up to an independent redress scheme

· Agents must abide by a strict code of practice.

None of the above is compulsory for letting agents as standard at the moment.

Its licencing lead will be followed by the National Association of Estate Agents, which is in the process of developing its own scheme, due to be launched later this year.

Speaking on behalf of HCR (www.hcr.co.uk) the UK’s largest independent relocation company who specialise in the rental market, Adrian Leach, Director of Business and Marketing commented:

“We applaud the work being undertaken by ARLA and the NAEA to improve standards. In contrast we are concerned that the Governments motivation might be revenue generation rather than a genuine desire to improve tenants rights”.

For all your Letting Agent searches, search online at www.rentright.co.uk

HCR have joined forces with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to help tenants relocate from out of London to anywhere in the UK.

There are approximately 9000 people on the Common Housing register waiting for accommodation in Kensington & Chelsea who Homestart can help.

Borough approved residents are being given a chance to move to any location in the UK where they and their families can find a chance to start a new life. HCR provides the relocate with two choices of property within the Local Housing Allowance budget in their target area and then views the choices with the Borough resident. Once the resident has chosen a property, HCR takes out a two-year tenancy and gives the resident a ‘sub-lease’. HCR takes on the responsibility for the rent payments to the Landlord.

HCR are leveraging their status as the largest independent corporate tenant in the UK with over 7300 properties in their portfolio to work with private landlords and agents in providing suitable accommodation. As HCR pays the rent and offers an impartial dilapidation process, the landlord and agent can be assured they will have a long-term, reliable occupant at local market rent.

The relocating resident will have the opportunity to start a new life in an area they may have friends or family, knowing they are supported by HCR. The accommodation is secured for two years and the dedicated HCR maintenance team assists throughout the occupancy.

HCR has over 105 dedicated field property advisors who are responsible for sourcing property. Their first search is conducted on a specialist lettings only website, www.rentright.co.uk, where they can view many properties on line that fall within the tenants budget.

Rob Dolbear, Financial Director at HCR comments “ with the growth of the internet it has certainly helped us to be more efficient in sourcing property in the shortest possible time. Also with the RRPI (Residential Rental price Index) on www.rentright.co.uk , it makes it easier for tenants to see the average rents for any area they may be looking to move into”.

www.rentright.co.uk

http://www.hcr.co.uk/?page=HomeStartScheme