our man in lettings

Save money on your Gas and Electric with this club via Bluedoor.

2011-11-29T12:26:00.000Z

Rental Index from Homlet.

2011-11-28T15:32:00.001Z

Rental amounts lower in seasonal dip

The continual increase in average UK rental amounts has come to a temporary halt according to the latest HomeLet Rental Index, which seems to have given tenants a moment’s reprieve from other soaring living costs.

However, as seen from the report, this seems to be a seasonal trend caused by the increase in students applying for shared rental properties who generally pay lower amounts of rent.

Also despite the average UK rental amount lowering to an average of £763 per month, costs are still 4.2% more expensive than the same time last year.

What may happen now! The future of house prices......?

2011-11-10T14:51:00.000Z

Savills publishes its forecasts to 2016
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Published by MILLIE DYSON
Commercial | 0 Comments

Private rental market – the biggest challenge and the biggest opportunity, report Savills.

Rising demand from those unable to buy their own homes and those reluctant to commit in the current market means that rents will rise significantly more than house prices over the next five years, says international real estate adviser, Savills, which has today published its forecasts to 2016.

The company forecasts that private renting will account for one in five households by 2016 and it is unlikely that supply will keep pace with demand – at least in the next five years.

Competition among renters will drive rents higher, with growth in mainstream rents forecast to rise by 20.5% by the end of 2016. This growth significantly outpaces house price growth which is expected to total just 6.0% over the same five years.

This differential in capital value growth and rental value growth will push out yields and, says Yolande Barnes, Director of Savills Residential Research, is likely to be the catalyst for renewed investment activity in the sector by corporates and institutions looking for income rather than individuals looking for capital growth.

Rental growth of the scale forecast by Savills would see the headline average gross yield on residential stock (IPD) rise from 5.4% to 6.1% across the five year period.

In areas of low owner-occupier demand, and associated suppressed capital values, yields are already high and could see an even greater shift, perhaps averaging nearer 9% by the end of 2016.

In prime London, rental growth of 20.5% is forecast for the next five years, though the forecast of 22.7% capital growth will suppress yields.

For prime central locations then, capital growth will continue to be the major draw for investors. Prime locations outside the centre will see some outward yield movements though.

Yolande Barnes, Director of Savills Residential Research, says:

“We have long been advocates of residential property investment in the private rented sector. Until recently this has primarily been predicated on the expectation of increased capital value, but there is now a strong case on the basis of income.

“A strong investment case can also be made in terms of the rapidly rising demand for private rented accommodation, a situation that is unlikely to change for as long as mortgage finance remains scarce and first time buyer deposits are unaffordable.

"And although rents have risen sharply this year, the inbuilt supply shortage means that we see nothing overheated about this market.

“The biggest challenge now is how to deliver much needed supply into the private rentals market.”

Have you read our reviews?

2011-11-09T00:43:00.001Z

If you search for us on Google you will find that there are five yellow stars under our name. We are loved by everyone who reviews our services so why not give us a try and let us know what you think?

It seems that we are one of the only agents in Abingdon with any reviews at all which is ....unusual. See: we told you we were unusual!

Blue Door Now Sells Homes!

2011-11-06T23:52:00.001Z

Now Selling homes in Oxfordshire.
See bluedoorsales.co.uk

landlordexpert.co.uk

2011-07-24T09:34:00.000Z

Being a buy to let landlord: Top Tips

20/07/2011 06:28:00

Taking on a buy-to-let property and being a landlord is not just a shrewd investment move in today's economy, it's providing an essential service.

Taking on a buy-to-let property and being a landlord is not just a shrewd investment move in today's economy, it's providing an essential service.

According to the Association of Residential Letting Agents (Arla) the UK's private rented sector is being used more and more to take the pressure off a housing market which is impossible for first-time buyers to enter.

As a result, the rental sector is currently buoyant. Recent figures released by Endsleigh show rental prices in the UK have increased steadily over the last two years. Since 2009 rents have gone up by four per cent.

This is great news if you are a landlord, or considering becoming one. But if you are reading this as a tenant, you might want to pour yourself a strong drink before reading on – particularly if you live in London.

Endsleigh said the highest rental prices are in the capital city, where the average property is £1,372 per month – double the average price in the UK, which has reached £700 per month.

Scotland, meanwhile, is the cheapest costing the average tenant £299 per month to rent a property. Carlos Thompson, of Endsleigh, said: "The increase in cost of renting across the UK shows that despite the recession the lettings market has remained strong, which is great news for landlords and letting agents."

Meanwhile, with the average weighted rental returns, according to Arla, for both flats and houses coming in at five per cent – higher than the average interest rate earned through savings or a cash ISA – it's no wonder so many are considering buy-to-let.

But entering this marketplace can be a daunting prospect if you've never dipped your toe in before. Being armed with some helpful information to ensure you don't trip up can be invaluable.

If you think buy-to-let is the investment path for you, here are some expert tips to help you get going.

Do your research

As the statistics from Endsleigh suggest, the key to buying a property which will earn you a decent yield is to choose the right location. (see our article explaining rental yield).

But it's also just as important to buy the right property. It would be a wise financial move to buy a property in an area set for regeneration, or where a large amount of jobs are about to be created.

You may not find such great prospects in buying a large four-bedroom family house to rent in an area with no schools, or poor schools for that matter. Arla says it's important for potential landlords to remember buy-to-let is a solid, long-term investment not a quick money-making scheme.

It points out the rental market suffers ups and downs, and behaves very differently from region to region, so it's critical that you select the right property in an area you have researched in detail.

Ian Potter, operations manager at the organisation, added: "Buy to let properties can prove to be a sensible, long term investment, but consumers must do their research in order to achieve success."

Arla recommends talking to a regulated letting agent who is based in the area you are thinking of buying your property. They should be able to provide you with an insight into what makes the local property market tick.

But it's worth looking at other sources too. For example, Paragon Mortgages recently published research revealing students and young singles generated the highest yields for landlords.

While the average rental yield in the UK is currently 6.2 per cent, the investigation found this figure rose to 6.45 per cent for students and 6.22 per cent for young singles. And before you slash quiet seaside retreats off your list, the research also revealed retired people as being among the most lucrative yield providers, generating averages of 6.16 per cent.

Nigel Terrington, chief executive of Paragon Group, said: "Student yields typically outperform the wider market because they are let on a per room basis, which can generate higher rental income."

But remember, these high yields can come at a price. Mr Torrington added: "On the downside, they tend to require a higher degree of maintenance, so landlords have to factor that cost into their overall business models."

Use the Myfinances.co.uk comparison tables to find the best deal on a buy-to-let mortgage

No double beds in HMOs

2011-07-07T19:43:00.003Z

Lots of sharers looking at our bigger houses ask us why there are no double beds in the bedrooms. This is why!

HMO regulations specify how many people can safely live in one house. If you have five double beds in a house with five bedrooms you could end up with an Iggle Piggle and an Upsy Daisy in each bed, making ten occupants and therefore breaking the HMO regulations.

10 ways to spot the next up-and-coming area

2011-07-06T22:22:00.000Z

10 ways to spot the next up-and-coming area

Make sure you know where to make your next property investment

29-10-07, UpMyStreet ©

With some areas experiencing a slowdown or even fall in property prices, investing in property is becoming a more risky business. But there is still money to be made from buy-to-let and property investment. According to Paragon Mortgages, average rental incomes are up nearly seven per cent in the past year.
In a more turbulent property market, investing in a location that is up-and-coming rather than already popular will give you the biggest return on your investment. Here are ten key indicators to identify a soon-to-be desirable area before everyone else does.

1. Desirable neighbouring postcodes
Look for an area that borders an already popular location. Buyer and rental demand for property will usually spill over from highly desirable areas to neighbouring districts, and these areas can become more popular themselves in the long-term through this association.
In particular, look for neighbouring postcodes that have a similar housing stock and roughly the same transport links, neighbourhood demographic and local amenities. A rise in popularity of the less fashionable area should be realised once people see the advantages it shares.

2. Future transport extensions
Good transport links are one of the biggest factors drawing buyers and renters alike to a location, and automatically add a premium to a property's price tag. Look for areas where there are plans to improve local transport - extra rail or underground links, a new bypass or road extensions. Transport plans are publicly available at your local council.
Be sensible when it comes the exact location of your investment. While proximity to transport links is important, buyers and renters will be put off by a busy bypass or noisy train station on their doorstep.

3. New development
Investing in an area about to undergo regeneration is a no-brainer - the biggest return will come from successfully identifying the local areas that will benefit the most, says Pierre Williams, of property investment experts Inside Track:
"Everyone knows that the Thames Gateway is destined for massive growth. But it's a big area. So you must consider which specific locations in it might perform best. The areas adjoining the Olympic site and Ebbsfleet, because of its new high-speed rail link station, should do very well."

4. Emerging student areas
The buy-to-let market is perennially healthy in university towns. Paragon estimate that landlords letting property to students achieve a return 25% greater than other buy-to-let properties, and highlight Middlesbrough, Chester, Huddersfield, Leicester, Hatfield, Ipswich and Canterbury as the areas with the strongest buy-to-let potential, based on student demand and current average prices.
Even better is finding a student location that hasn't been cornered by other investors. Keep an eye out for new university campuses or colleges opening in different parts of town.

5. Modest price growth
It can be tempting to invest in an area with a strong track record of property price growth, but this also means it could have reached the ceiling of its price potential. You'll make a bigger profit investing in an area experiencing average, rather than explosive, growth. With property more reasonably priced, your up-front investment is lower, and there's still the potential for prices to grow if you pick the right location.

The Independent re Abingdon Hot Spot! By Robert Liebman

2011-06-30T20:25:00.002Z

Hot Spot: Abingdon, Oxfordshire

The wilds of Oxfordshire? Hardly. This is one satellite town that can claim few drawbacks but all the benefits of country living. Such as history, rural amenities, great schools

By Robert Liebman

Saturday, 14 April 2001

The wilds of Oxfordshire? Hardly. This is one satellite town that can claim few drawbacks but all the benefits of country living. Such as history, rural amenities, great schools

Low down

Quick and easy online searches for all yourmortgage needs

They might be the offspring of Oxford University, a spate of first-rate schools in the university town itself and in Abingdon barely 10 miles south. Although Abingdon these days seems to be a satellite town of its famous academic neighbour, it has its own venerable history, not to mention the remains of a seventh-century abbey. This Oxfordshire community of 35,000, in the Vale of the Horse, may also be England's most continuously inhabited town. Like Oxford, Abingdon's housing stock is approximately one-fourth Victorian and 60 per cent modern. Property prices in both are higher than the national average, but Abingdon's six per cent of private renters is lower than Oxford's 14 per cent, while its property values are rising at a higher rate: 28 per cent versus 20 per cent.
Many people discover Abingdon only after being scared away by the high prices or abysmal traffic in the university town. "People in Oxford know about Abingdon but Londoners are probably unaware of it," says Jenny O'Sullivan of Allen & Harris estate agents. "We are surrounded by lovely villages and golf courses, and there are plans to open a large sports complex. We also have a great amateur opera and dramatic society, and a monthly farmers' market." There is also a local employment base, much of it concentrated in Abingdon Science Park, Abingdon Business Park and several other business parks.
"The lettings market is good, especially for first-time buyers looking to get onto the ladder. There is a bus route between Abingdon and Oxford, and we get overspill from Oxford," says Ms O'Sullivan. "Many of our buyers are families attracted to the many highly regarded schools here and in Oxford such as Josca's Preparatory, Abingdon, St Helen's, St Katherine's, Our Lady's Convent and the European School at Culham," she adds. "We also sell to many first-timers, investors and older retirees moving from a village back to town to be nearer amenities. Sellers tend to be upsizers or downsizers moving around within the local area."
Disenchanted Londoners comprise much of Hampton's customer base: "We have a niche market in which most of our clients are motivated by their children's education," says Gavin West. "Many of them are from Fulham, Kensington and Wimbledon, that sort of place, looking for the better quality of life associated with rural living. They also want a better quality of education to be available, but combined with the ease of being able to commute into London."

Low-Down

Transport
Didcot to Paddington is 40 minutes, but many commute between Abingdon and Oxford and London by bus. The A34 skirts the eastern edge of Abingdon and connects to the M4 10 miles south.
Prices
Prices start at less than £100,000 for studio flats and extend to seven figures for country estates. But a three-bed terrace can cost £125,000 in one part of town, and twice that in another. Cheaper houses are in mass-built modern estates north and south of the town. "The market was manic at some points last year, but it is quite balanced at the moment and we have a steady flow of sales," says Ms O'Sullivan.
Properties
Allen & Harris are selling a diverse range of mostly modern flats and houses, but their list includes a two-bed town centre cottage overlooking the Thames for £119,950, and a barn conversion in Frilford four miles from Abingdon for £525,000. Retirement Homesearch has homes for the over-sixties, from £105,000. Call 0870 6005560.
Heady homes
The erstwhile Morland brewery in the town centre near the River Ock is now Berkeley's The Brewery, 130 new and renovated units, including cottages, houses, townhouses and apartments when completed. The malt house, brewery and other outbuildings have been refurbished; £157,500 and £384,500 (01235 530816).
Auction
John D Wood is auctioning Dee Cottage on 9 May (unless sold previously), either as a whole (in excess of £500,000) or in two lots: £425,000 to £450,000 for the cottage, and up to £60,000 for the potential building plot. Dee Cottage is a five-bed house on 0.33 acres in Headington Hill.
Still prancing
The Uffington White Horse and 16 other figures are carved into the chalk downlands near Abingdon. The Horse has been there since at least 1084.
New
Oxford has greater choice for new homes. Near the Oxford Canal in North Oxford are Berkeley's Waterways (from £232,000; 01865 513555), and Laing's Canal Walk (townhouses from £325,000, houses from £700,000; 01865 514229 or selling agent Thomas Merrifield, 01865 515000). The same developers are building outside the city centre in Summertown. Westbury is building townhouses from £295,000.
Estate Agents
Allen & Harris, 01793 513224; Hamptons, 01865 240240; John D Wood, 01865 311522.
Blue Door Sales 01235 524800.

Mmmmm Tax from propertytalklive.co.uk

2011-06-16T16:21:00.001Z

Landlords are being urged to ensure they are fully tax efficient after research shows many are failing to claim for the full range of tax allowances.
Buy-to-let mortgage specialist Paragon said landlords could offset many of the costs incurred through letting property against their income, but many were unaware of the full range of costs they could claim.
For example, Paragon's research shows that more than one in 10 landlords (13%) are not claiming for mortgage interest, despite it being a major cost for landlords.
Meanwhile, a third of landlords don't claim management or letting agent fees, with 55% of landlords not claiming for advertising costs incurred in letting their property.
Paragon's Tax Guide (prepared in association with Perrys Chartered Accountants), which can be downloaded from www.paragon-mortgages.co.uk/, helps landlords from purchase through to sale and provides comprehensive information on income tax, limited companies and Capital Gains Tax, in addition to the list of tax reliefs available to landlords and top tax tips.
Nigel Terrington, Paragon Group Chief Executive, said: "Good tax planning is key. How landlords implement, manage and run their tax affairs could have a major impact on landlords' property investments and their overall performance.
"Tax is a complex area and we are confident that our Tax Guide will help landlords obtain a better grasp of tax matters. It's vital that landlords take advantage of the allowances open to them to maximise their return on investment."
He added: "I'm sure when landlords take all of these costs into consideration it could generate a significant saving on their tax bill."

There's a man waving not drowning

2011-06-15T23:25:00.000Z

I was out doing a take on this morning and popped out in the garden to take some photos when I heard a shout from high up. Actually it was more of an "Oi, oi!" which made me think I might see someone mooning on a roof.

Thank goodness it was just this guy waving at me to take a picture of him and make him famous. I didn't catch his name......

Apples with Apples eh?

2011-06-03T12:56:00.001Z

A local agent is clutching at straws with a new advertising doo dah.

Have a look at this

I think what they are saying here is "We have no USP and we can't think of any way to improve our service to you and the discounts we've offered haven't worked so we are just going to pretend that all agents are the same and the only thing you (the customer) will respond to is a bribe"

Apples with apples? Try this simple test.

Call a few agents and ask them these three questions:

Is the cost of you managing a property much different for a large house or a smaller flat?

Do you charge for renewing tenancy agreements to existing tenants?

If I call you at the weekend can I speak to someone who knows me?

The answers to these questions and more will reveal that all agents are not apples. Some are much more than just an apple and one is very special because it is a BLUE fruit. You know who I mean don't you?

Call us on 01235 524800

We need more lending to first time buyers!

2011-05-27T11:38:00.000Z

The annual growth of the banks’ net mortgage lending was 2.2% in April, remaining substantially ahead of the 0.7% for the whole mortgage market in March.

BBA statistics director, David Dooks said:

"Individuals and businesses continue to save more, pay off debt and borrow less as uncertainty about the economy has entrenched a 'wait and see' attitude. However, banks are still able to meet the need for home loans even though demand remains weak. Businesses - SMEs in particular - are using cashflow and deposits to fund expenditure rather than taking on more borrowing.”

Commenting on the figures, Nicholas Leeming, business development director of Zoopla.co.uk, said:

“Weak mortgage lending is causing the numbers of buyers to fall and falling demand from buyers is putting downward pressure on house prices. Downward pressure on prices is making owners reluctant to put their property on the market and lack of property on the market is deterring buyers. It’s a vicious circle, but it can be broken if the lenders want to tackle the problem and the key is to feed from the bottom up. First-time buyers need to be encouraged to take advantage of low prices by offering them finance that is appropriate to their situation. When there is more energy at the bottom of the market the rest of the ladder can feed off it. But until the first-time buyer problem is addressed the property market will continue to bump along going nowhere fast.”

Set up a limited company for my buy to lets?

2011-05-26T10:48:00.001Z

The UK has become a nation of landlords! Before the economic downturn began, low inflation, stock market volatility, uncertainty over pensions, dramatic house price rises and less risky housing laws had combined with the success of buy to let to allow people to invest in property on a scale never seen before in the UK. Many of these investors need to seriously consider the benefits of holding property in a limited company, or if that is not possible, putting the assets into a property management company.

There are numerous ways to reduce tax by setting up a limited company for a property portfolio. Corporation tax rates are simply much lower than personal tax rates. Rental profits can be taxed at rates as low as 0%.

Higher rate tax payers in particular benefit enormously. If you set up a limited company for your properties, the first and most immediate benefit is that the first ten thousand pounds of profit is tax free because the corporation tax band is nil up to £10,000. For example, there would be no tax to pay on, say £9,000 profit, whereas the Inland Revenue would demand £3,600 in tax from a sole trader who pays higher rate tax.

After the first £10,000 of profit corporation rates rise to 19% on the first £300,000 of profit. Above that there is a sliding scale to a maximum of 30%. Without the protection of a limited company there would be 40% tax to pay on all profit and gains.

Another attraction of limited company status is that ownership can be transferred without incurring an immediate capital gains tax liability. If the property is inside a limited company a family member, for example, can subscribe some shares and ownership can pass to that family member tax free, as the value of the transfer can be held over for capital gains purposes.

A limited company can also pay out profits in the form of dividends, which do not attract National Insurance contributions at present. Although there is extra tax to pay if you extract dividends, a company can be an extremely powerful tax shelter if you can afford to keep reinvesting profits for many years.

Of course you need to consider the difficulties of extracting funds from the company. The company is a separate legal entity. It pays its own tax on profits and gains, can be sued for its debts and is the legal owner of the money it makes. If the shareholders want to take money out, there will be a tax charge. Wages, salaries and bonuses are the most expensive way to get money out of a company, but even so there can be a very significant tax saving and accumulation effect by using a limited company and this can, over time, lead to a fair difference in the size of portfolio held.

Apart from the tax issues there is also the valuable attraction of limited liability. For example if a tenant trips over a faulty rug supplied by you and decides to sue, your personal assets are outside the company and are protected.

Landlords and property investors can also form UK Limited Liability Partnerships for UK property transactions. An LLP is a body corporate with limited liability and legal personality. It is therefore a legally a type of limited company (but without a conventional share capital) which can function like a partnership in practice and which is deemed to be transparent for UK tax purposes, with the members of the LLP being treated as if they were partners in a partnership (which strictly they are not).

The advantages outlined above need to be weighed against those of being a sole trader. Sole traders purchase property as an individual in the hope of obtaining the capital gains benefits, but face a higher rate of income tax on net rental income, which can make capital repayment of borrowings seem expensive.
property management companies

Where it is not possible (or desirable) to hold properties within a limited company, the use of a property management company can also save vast amounts of tax. Property investors can consider a relatively new type of company, a right to manage (RTM), which is often now used in place of a Flat Management company. The RTM represents the interest of owners of dwellings that share common areas or rights, typically flats, to participate in the running of the common areas or exercising their rights of access.

Unlike a Flat Management Company there are no shareholders, but instead rights of membership are conferred on the parties concerned. The flat owners may force the managers of the building to accept the setting up of such companies. The Commonhold & Leasehold Reform Act 2002 came into effect three years ago and provides a right to leaseholders in flats to force a transfer of the landlord’s management functions to a company of their own – an RTM. Landlord consent is not required as long as relevant criteria are met. The right is exercised by serving a formal written notice upon the Landlord who may, after the appropriate periods of time have elapsed, become a member of the new company themselves once the right to manage has been acquired. Specialist advice should be sought if there is a dispute. The following criteria must be satisfied:

* The building must be self- contained ( or if part of another building , be capable of being redeveloped independently)
* It must include at least two flats
* At least two-thirds of the flats must be let to ‘qualifying tenants’ (i.e a leaseholder whose lease was originally granted for an original term of more than 21 years). There is no requirement for any past or present residence in the flats, or any limit on the number of flats which can be owned by one person.
* It can be part-commercial but the non-residential part must not exceed 25% of the total floor area
* The right to manage may only be exercised by a RTM company and the members of the RTM company must comprise a sufficient number of qualifying tenants. (The required minimum number of qualifying tenants must be equal to at least half the total number of flats in the building)
* The right relates to a building, so in an estate of separate blocks, each block would need to qualify separately and an individual RTM served.

Once formed, the company must formally invite any leaseholders that did not participate in the formation of the company to become members. The company itself must be limited by guarantee and not have a share capital and its Memorandum & Articles of Association must follow a specified form laid down by legislation. These companies are normally set up on the advice or under the guidance of a solicitor familiar with property law. Formation agents like Duport can form such companies quickly and easily.
flat management company

Developers in particular often turn to flat management companies, especially if they own blocks of flats where an arrangement needs to be made to deal with the running, maintenance and repair of the common parts of the building. The leaseholders of the flats are the members of the company. They may appoint a management agent to carry out the day to day work, or one may be specified in the leases with the freeholder. A flat management company is normally incorporated to manage a property or group of properties where there are multiple tenants. It is normally used to protect the interests of the leaseholders.

A Flat Management company has its Memorandum and Articles of Association specially drawn up to allow the company to own, manage and administer a leasehold or freehold property, which is normally divided into several dwellings units or flats, with each leaseholder owning a share in the company. The leaseholder will be obliged to transfer the ownership of the share to the new leaseholder when disposing of the property.

Flat management formation packages are often a solution for developers. The company can be tailored to the client’s specific requirements - for example with enough copies of Memorandum and Articles of Association for each leaseholder. Developers can choose between a company limited by shares or limited by guarantee. Either of these forms of incorporation provides limited liability for its members. Each company can also collect maintenance charges and any ground rents, arrange security, decoration, insurance etc.

The company limited by guarantee intends to provide a form of incorporation with limited liability suitable for a group of members with a mutual interest of a not-for-profit nature. The main advantage of using a guarantee company rather than a company limited by shares is that no stamped transfer is needed on changes of members (on sale of the related lease). The articles can simply provide for the membership of the outgoing lessee to terminate automatically when they cease to hold the lease, without the need for signatures.

Whatever the size or complexity of a property portfolio, limited company status deserves serious consideration. For top rate tax payers, especially those who want to reinvest some profits to grow the business rather than taking them all for personal use, the use of a limited company is probably a very wise move. The 19% rate of corporation tax is a real advantage in such cases and will make a difference to the bottom line. However, there are numerous issues to consider and because each business is unique it is important to speak to a qualified accountant and get specific advice.

job losses and pay cuts are beginning to take hold

2011-02-01T10:12:00.000Z

According to latest research from the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) in the fourth quarter 2010, 40% of ARLA members reported an increase in tenants struggling to meet rental payments in the preceding six months - a rise from 35.9% in Q3 2010.

This is the first time the number has increased in 18 months, suggesting that job losses and pay cuts are beginning to take hold, causing tenants to have difficulties.

The situation was least noticeable in central London, where just under a third (27.9%) of members reported an increase, compared with the rest of the UK (46.4%).

Ian Potter, Operations Manager at ARLA, said: "At the beginning of last year we predicted that the number of tenants having difficulties paying rent would increase and unfortunately, this seems to be the case today. It is a situation which can have serious repercussions throughout the PRS as, without guaranteed rent income, landlords may also have problems paying mortgages. At worst, it may result in a rise in repossessions.

"While it is difficult for landlords to predict whether current or prospective tenants will hit financial difficulties, our research highlights the importance for landlords or agents to implement a thorough selection process and to conduct reference checks on potential tenants - and to consider the benefits of rental protection insurance.

"The same is true for anyone looking to rent a property - do your research before signing up with a new landlord. And if letting or renting a property through an agent, make sure the agent is a member of an organisation such as ARLA, which ensures landlord and tenant money is protected by a client money protection scheme.* Many agents do not have this consumer protection. ARLA agents are also required to be members of an ombudsman scheme which can offer redress if things to go wrong."

ARLA's research also showed a rise in the number of tenants haggling with landlords over rents, from 44.5% to 47.1%, further indicating the financial pressures on tenants.

Dude! What did you do to my car?

2011-01-27T22:07:00.002Z

I drove the car to Witney and look what they did.

I can't go anywhere incognito ever again; I will never lose it in a car park; never drive above the speed limit; never forget the name of my business and never stop loving that logo!

If you spot the car out and about give me a wave and if you get stuck behind me please make a mental note of our web address and pass it on to anyone who you think might love our service as much as our existing landlords do. There's £50 in it for you if we let their property so this little memory test could be worth it.

www.bluedoorlettings.com

Car graphics by Sign Language Ltd.

2010-12-19T10:38:00.003Z

www.estateagenttoday.co.uk

LHA is the allowance paid to housing benefit tenants in private rented accommodation. If private sector landlords reduce their rents they will be able to choose to receive Local Housing Allowance direct rather than relying on tenants to pass the payment on. This is one of several measures laid before Parliament in new Housing Benefit Regulations.

Welfare reform minister Lord Freud said: "We are looking for private landlords to respond to the need for lower rents and in return we are prepared to permit direct payments from the state."

"This incentive will bring an overall downward pressure on rents in the private sector. As these rents come down, more properties will become available to claimants and landlords will have certainty that their income will be protected."

New recipients of LHA will also have their allowances cut from next April. After this, the maximum paid to any LHA tenants anywhere in the country will be £400 a week for a four bed property. Furthermore, LHA will be calculated at 30% of local average rents rather than the current 50%.

The National Landlords Association noted: "Bringing forward the 30th percentile cut to April 2011 for new claimants will test how easily accessible rented housing will be for this group in need. The Government still needs to show how it will ensure that these tenants will be able to access at least the cheapest third of private rented properties and not be crowded out by other renters."

Why a Fixed Fee doesn't mean we don't care

2010-11-14T01:31:00.003Z

This little video explains why we still work hard for you even though we don't charge a percentage for our management fee.

The Prestigious ESTAS and more

2010-10-28T00:06:00.000Z

Are you wowed by Estate and Letting Agent Awards? Do you imagine that the judges pop into agent's offices up and down the country as mystery shoppers, talk to tenants and landlords and find out who is really happy with the service they are getting?

Oh you are very, very mistaken.

Some local-ish agents have won this award over the last few years but you may not be aware that to compete for this award and many others, agents have to PAY TO ENTER.

Now, knowing everything that you know about BlueDoor do you think we would spend money on entering our company for a so-called prestigious award?

You are right, we haven't and we won't.

The Negotiator Awards are given to the companies who can big themselves up and tell as many fibs as they like in 500 words or less. Yes, you nominate yourself and judges decide whether they like your nomination or not.

Do we fib? No!
Are we transparent? We think so and so do our customers.

The Estate agent Awards sponsored by the Sunday Times is another example of a ''big yourself up and pay a load of cash'' award. One ticket to sit at a swanky table at the awards luncheon costs £199.

Foxtons won one of these awards for goodness sake! They admit that the judging process was based on, and I quote,"A written submission, followed by a telephone interview."

So the next time you have an agent in your living room bragging about all their awards, ask them how much they cost and who wrote the submission and how honest are they really. Ask them if any of the judges looked at their boring online advertising and the junk mail they are constantly throwing through people's letterboxes.

If you like us you do business with us and you tell other people about us. That is all we need. We don't need glitzy awards or nights on the town to know that we are good. People tell us and we are content with that.

Happy letting!

What's new in Abingdon?

2010-10-08T22:02:00.001Z

Well there are new recycling bins everywhere for a start and in some places where they can't be put in back gardens the streets are looking pretty untidy.

Hodsons mistakenly put a To Let board in the front garden of a flat we manage which gave the tenant a bit of a scare

The flat they are advertising is upstairs and doesn't have a garden. You can see it on rightmove if you are interested. Nice location and an easy walk to town.

Apart from that, the fair was in town at the start of the week and I came home from teh office with a headache everyday after having to listen to:

"Dof Dof Dof chest thumping music, ScreEEEEEEaaaaaaMMMMMM if you want to GO Fassssster! ONE way round Pleeeeease and Press the Pedal to goooooo"

through my office window. Roll on the Runaway Fir on Monday and Tuesday, not.

The sunshine and local viewings have enabled me to leave the car at home most days and walk to work and then walk to appointments which is good for my wasit-line and the petrol bill. Walking also means that I bump into all sorts of tenants and landlords who are also out and about in the sunshine. None of them abused me as I passed by so we must be doing most things right!

How bogus solicitors robbed us of £735k

2010-09-13T21:50:00.000Z

How bogus solicitors robbed us of £735k

By Sebastian O'Kelly
24 August 2010

Reader comments (2)

Three months after paying for the property, Nick Christofi, his partner Sharon Griffin and their two sons should be settled into a large Tudor-style four-bedroom house in the desirable North London suburb of Hadley Wood.

Conned: Nick and Sharon with sons Lewis and Harry and the Hadley Wood house they thought they had bought

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Instead, the family's life has been shattered after Nick discovered that he had been a victim of brazen conmen, who sold him the house while it was in the process of being repossessed, and then helped themselves to the full £735,000 asking price after setting up an all-too-plausible bogus solicitors' practice to receive the funds. The family's own lawyer, Pamela Murphy of Schubert Murphy, didn't realise it was a scam and is now disputing his claim that she acted negligently.
The Law Society also denies responsibility, although it carried details of the bogus Acorn Solicitors, based in Rotherham, on its website - and kept them there for six weeks even after the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) was informed that the practice was a criminal sham and police were investigating.
'This practice has been abandoned and the persons behind it are being sought,' say South Yorkshire Police, who are investigating the fraud.
The way the family were robbed of their money leaves open questions about the effectiveness of the legal profession to protect the public against criminality in its ranks.
'As soon as I realised what had happened, I informed the Law Society and the SRA,' says Nick, 40. 'Everybody wanted to wash their hands of this, until the police took what I was saying seriously.'
Several other property transactions involving Acorn Solicitors had been reported to the police as suspected fraud. The firm is also being investigated for pocketing several million pounds from frauds in construction contracts connected with the 2012 London Olympics.
Sharon, 42, and Nick, a small-scale property developer, were wanting to move from Cockfosters in North London to the more salubrious Hadley Wood nearby and were contacted in April by estate agents Sean Heaney about a house where the seller was after a quick sale.
The property was priced at £735,000, although the seller had paid £875,000 for it in December 2007. As the property was such a bargain, the agents were on only a one per cent commission to clinch a deal.
'Nothing decent usually comes up in Hadley Wood for less than £1million so I jumped at the chance to buy it,' says Nick, who was shown round the property by a man who said he was a friend of the seller.
With no time to sell their existing house, Nick borrowed £400,000 from his brother and another £200,000 from his brother-in-law in order to clinch the deal, and instructed Pamela Murphy, whom his family had used in the past.
Through the estate agent, Christofi's lawyers were put in contact with Acorn Solicitors, acting for the seller.
Acorn then repeatedly tried to speed up the process, which was completed in three weeks on May 21. Rather than move in immediately, Nick and Sharon had builders in to carry out refurbishment. But on June 9, they were astonished to receive a notice of eviction.
The house had been repossessed by Lloyds TSB, to whom the owner owed £843,000, with a repossession order granted last December. Indeed, the bank had sent in bailiffs in April, who found that the property was let to a family with young children.
'It is devastating what has happened to us,' says Nick. 'Both Sharon and I have been ill with stress because of this, not least because I owe all this money to my family. All we were trying to do was buy a house with a large enough garden for our children to kick around a football.'
The couple, whose sons Lewis and Harry are aged ten and eight, have managed to persuade Lloyds TSB to delay the eviction until October. Meanwhile, he is suing his solicitor Schubert Murphy for negligence. He says they failed to spot what he claims were ten 'tell-tale signs that Acorn Solicitors were bogus'. The firm denies negligence.
Most of these are minor inconsistencies, such as differing email and postal addresses and a website that never worked.
More seriously, although Acorn Solicitors were supposedly based in Rotherham, their client account was at a bank in Wembley, a highly unusual arrangement.
Schubert Murphy were unaware that solicitors in other property transactions had pulled out of deals with Acorn Solicitors and reported them to the police.
It is an additional confusion that there is a legitimate Acorn Solicitors based in Taunton in Somerset, and there is a retired solicitor called John Dobbs, the same name used as the registered solicitor of the fraudulent outfit. Neither are in any way connected with the bogus firm that was in Rotherham.
Nick and Sharon are pursuing the case with swanky City outfit Holman Fenwick Willan, who have taken it on as a 'no-win, no-fee' case.
'But unless they get a settlement before October, the bank will take back the house,' says Nick.
What will worry other home buyers is the prevalence of fraudsters establishing bogus solicitors, or cloning an existing one's identity and carrying out the conveyancing work with plausible competence.
Last week, the Law Society Gazette reported another case of identity theft when legitimate Bolton firm SK Solicitors were cloned by fraudsters in conveyancing transactions. Many may feel the response of the SRA and the Law Society to the Christofi case was especially feeble.
'I thought it was disgraceful that it took six weeks for the Law Society to remove the fraudsters from its website,' says Nick.
'Who else used that practice in the meantime?' In an email telling Nick that he was not eligible for compensation - because he had been robbed by a criminal rather than a crooked member of the legal profession - the SRA inadvertently leaked a series of emails between its bureaucrats.
'Perhaps we should advise "clients" that they appear to have been victims of an elaborate fraud and should make a complaint to the police,' wrote Tony Coletta on July 9. The public may be mystified why the SRA was not warning them about a practice that was already under police investigation.
The Law Society says it regrets that its website listing registered solicitors included a fraudulent practice, but pointed out that the data comes from the SRA.

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/mortgages-and-homes/article.html?in_article_id=512866&in_page_id=8#ixzz0zRrXSk3Z

Scandalous!

2010-07-23T00:36:00.001Z

We have just recently discovered that we are the fairest agents in town!

Who knew that we were the only ones who will let you move out of a property without charging you the earth? Or that we are the only ones who don't charge any renewal fees?

Honestly, what is going on with the world if someone wants to charge you for changing the date on an electronic document, reprinting it and putting it in the post to you, or worse, just emailing it to you so that you have to print it yourself!

If you have ever dealt with an agent who makes you mad, try us. We are a little bit kooky but we are also fair and honest.

Capital Gain Tax

2010-06-29T09:05:00.000Z

Capital Gains Tax - levelling the playing-field between individual and corporate investors

Source: http://www.savills.co.uk

Yolande Barnes, Head of Residential Research at property adviser Savills, comments on the changes to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) announced in today's Budget:

"The limiting of the CGT rate to 28% for upper rate tax payers is a welcome deviation from the feared 40% or 50%. Also to be welcomed is its introduction from midnight tonight. A delayed or phased introduction would have led to second home owners and investors selling to beat the deadline and might have increased supply, depressing prices.

For a higher rate taxpayer who bought the average priced home ten years ago, as a second home or investment, and who sells it tomorrow, the changes will mean that they pay an extra £7,500 compared to what they would have paid yesterday. This represents an extra 56% in tax on the £85,000 gain.

Longer term, the raising of capital gains tax may discourage individual investors who make up the vast majority of residential property landlords. Although the luxury of a flat 18% CGT was only in place for two years, its demise removes the incentive for investors to gear up against the expectation of significant capital growth.

The change announced today will, however, begin to level the playing field between investment returns comprised of income and those derived from capital gains. This means that there is less incentive to look for high capital growth prospects as against yield and rental growth. This may start to subtly influence investment decisions in favour of the latter.

The new CGT rate also begins to even out one of the many differences between corporate investors and individual investors in the residential sector and between individual landlords and professionally managed corporate landlords and, while there are many more anomalies between these two to iron out, it may, in theory at least, encourage individuals to invest in corporate entities rather than direct into property.

Overall, there are inherent risks in discouraging any type of landlord at this time of growing demand for private renting. There are currently insufficient numbers of corporate investors and fund managers to take up the slack if private individuals withdraw from residential lettings. Compelling 'pull factors' still need to be put in place as a matter of urgency to attract corporate or institutional investors to the sector and to increase rental supply."

Just for Fun - Global Financial Collapse Explained

2010-06-20T23:46:00.002Z

Deposits or insurance?

2010-06-17T00:35:00.003Z

The tenants' deposit is not the equivalent of a new-for-old insurance policy.

The government knows that tenants do a bit of damage here and there so they give you 10% leeway on your rental profit for 'wear and tear' per year. They also kindly allow you to offset any expenditure on your property against your profit to reduce your taxable profit even further.

Folks like HomeLet offer landlord insurance policies to cover damage by tenants or the burning down of your property at pretty reasonable rates.

Or you can self-insure by putting away a bit of your monthly rent and not using it all to finance expensive cars or three holidays a year.

So why oh why do some landlords want to squeeze the tenant all the time? Why have they forgotten that there is a little bit of risk in every investment and frankly you are better off with a flat or a house as an investment than you would be with Equitable Life, Kaupthing or AIG to name a few.

All landlords need to treat their properties like a business. If you had a sweet shop you would expect some seasonal ups and downs as well as the possibility of the credit crunch affecting the business in some way. Little and often would be the best kind of scenario with happy customers and repeat business keeping things on the right track.

Investing in property should be seen the same way; it won't always be 'making hay while the sun shines' and there may be bumps in the road but if you keep everyone happy and watch the pennies whilst maintaining your property in a good state (note that I didn't say perfect there) it will all work out in the end.

Fair and reasonable are the watchwords because the Deposit schemes aren't keen on greedy landlords and tenants don't like feeling that they are being taken advantage of.

If you are looking for a good book to read over the summer which will also help you get in the Landlord Mind Set try the 3+1 Plan which I've linked to at the foot of this page.

The old types of agreement! Difference between Assured and Assured Shorthold Tenancy.

2010-05-29T23:18:00.003Z

Assured Tenants

As assured tenancy is very different from an assured shorthold tenancy. An assured tenant has security of tenure which means that they have the right to remain in their home indefinitely should they wish. Most of these tenancies were created accidentally. For example perhaps a tenancy agreement was not drawn up when they moved into the property or perhaps the correct documents were not served on them when the tenancy was originally created.

Until 27 February 1997 in order to create an assured shorthold tenancy the landlord had to serve a special notice on the tenant called a "notice to quit", If this was not done for whatever reason the tenant will be able to claim the status of an assured tenant. The implications of this are very severe in that you will not be able to get vacant possession of you property.

It is also important to point out that you will not be abe to increase the rent annually as the rent will be set by the local rent officer from the rent office. In most cases you will be responsible for the upkeep of the outside of the property and your assured tenant will be responsible for the internal decoration

Selling An Assured Tenancy

Selling a property that is owned by an assured tenant doesn't need to be a complicated procedure provided you are selling to a company that is familiar with these types of tenancies. In this current climate they are pretty much un-mortgageable as banks and building societies will not consider the property as good security even though they are sold at a discount to there vacant value.

It is also worth noting that you are not required by law to provide a home information pack when selling a property with a sitting tenant.

Pig? Pig? Where?

2010-05-06T22:48:00.006Z

I did a viewing at a property in Abingdon today which we have described as much like a Volvo from the nineties: boxy but big inside with loads of storage space.

It is a true maisonette with two floors and stairs inside to get up stairs to bed. It isn't on the ground floor, it starts on the first floor. As such it doesn't have a garden but it does have a large kind of roof terrace.

I was leaving this maisonette when I heard some snuffling and thought that I could hear a dog next door sniffing to see if I had a bone in my sock or something, but no!

It was a pig. Who on earth keeps a pig in a maisonette?

Imitation is what?

2010-04-17T16:52:00.004Z

Lack of imagination that's what!

Look what I found on the doormat of a property I went to do a viewing at today

BlueDoor has always offered £50 if you recommend a landlord to us and we let their property. The offer is at the foot of every email we send out and we add it to other paperwork periodically which I might add is at no cost to landlords unlike printing and delivering junk mail.

What we do is is straightforward and simple. At the risk of sounding like Nick Clegg, we are straight forward with you up front.

Andrews on the other hand say 'You could receive £50' You helpfully fill in your details and the details of your friend which they then add to their database.

We don't collect data about anyone's friends. What usually happens is that a new landlord contacts us and says that they were recommended by so and so who is someone we know. We call their friend to thank them and put a cheque in the post or add a credit to their account if they are one of our landlords.

We offer Fixed Fees so no matter what your rent is you pay the same as everyone else. We treat everyone fairly which is why everyone pays the same fee.

Ring Andrews and ask them how fair they are.

Get Rightmove on your mobile

2010-04-10T01:22:00.005Z

We have had a few calls from folks lately saying that they were down in Oxfordshire looking at properties which they didn't like only to go home and look at rightmove again and find a property of ours that they DID like. If you have an iPhone you never need to have that happen to you again.

Why? Because you can get an app for Rightmove!

You can download it for free and look at all the lovely pictures we use to advertise all our lovely properties. You can flick through them with your finger very easily and if you are near wifi it is amazingly fast.

Nice. Get your app and never miss a property!

2010-04-07T15:23:00.001Z

Lettings Today
Inefficiencies, not cost, made us leave TDS, says Countrywide boss
Wednesday 7th April 2010

The boss of Countrywide Residential Lettings says the company pulled out of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme because of its service levels, rather than its price hikes.

It has now joined mydeposits.

The firm had been the TDS’s largest customer, previously paying in excess of £500,000 whilst having relatively few disputes.

John Hards, CRL’s co-managing director, said: “The money was one consideration, but it wasn’t just about that. It was more about administration and service levels. When we made comparisons, we found we got on well with the people at mydeposits and it felt to me like a robust business model.”

Hards, previously on ARLA’s Council, said: “I have been a passionate supporter of the TDS and was instrumental in getting it up and running. My company even put money into it. But at the end of the day, this was a business decision and it was time to move on.”

He said that as the workload for TDS had built up, it had led to delays in how it dealt with matters. “In fact, our disputes were well below the average,” he added.

Hards declined to talk about the terms of the deal with mydeposits or whether it would be cheaper than TDS. Nor would he comment on rumours that another very large lettings chain has also been in talks with mydeposits.

Hards said CRL has not signed up to mydeposits for a particular period, but added: “As a company, we do not hop around between suppliers.”

Hards also revealed that he will be stepping down from the board of NFoPP next month. But he stressed: “This has absolutely nothing to do with our leaving TDS, and I remain a very strong advocate of ARLA. However, Countrywide is planning major expansion and there is a lot of work for me to do. It would not be fair on NFoPP for me to continue as I would not be able to offer sufficient commitment.”

Mydeposits was also the specific subject of Parliamentary questions last week when the shadow treasury secretary, Greg Hands, asked about the level of complaints against it. The exchange went as follows:

Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many complaints his Department has received on MyDeposits.co.uk in each year since its inception.

Mr. Ian Austin: The Department has no role in dealing with complaints about the tenancy deposit protection scheme providers. Complaints about the handling of tenancy deposit protection cases are dealt with by the three scheme providers through their own formal complaints procedures.

Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will review the operation of the Housing Act 2004 in respect of the regulation of licensed deposit-takers for the purpose of protecting tenants’ deposits, with particular reference to MyDeposits.co.uk

Mr. Ian Austin: As with any new legislation, we are monitoring the implementation of the tenancy deposit protection provisions in the Housing Act 2004. However, we have no plans to make any amendments to the legislation at present.

Holy fish in my eye BartMan

2010-04-01T01:47:00.003Z

Look at the bend on those kitchen cupboards. Who'd buy a house with such bendy furniture?

Oh, silly me.

The estate agent's fish-eye camera lens strikes again.

I use a normal camera with a lovely flip out and spin LCD screen. It takes pictures that actually look like the thing I have pointed it at. It is pure rocket science really and means that when someone sees my pictures on rightmove then goes to the house, they recognise the rooms!

Words and Pictures

2010-03-25T23:31:00.007Z

We deal in words all day. Telephone calls, emails, texts, voicemail, negotiations, letters, offers, agreements, statements, words, words words.

Sometimes it is a relief to play with words and not have to think too hard about what they mean. Have you ever played with words?

You can make your own over at Wordle Just click on the create button and see what you can make!

Are the stars mis-aligned?

2010-03-23T03:10:00.002Z

Everybody looks but no-one makes offers. No-one can commit right now and they have to have a think about it.

What is going on? Whatever happened to "I like it/it will do to keep my stuff from getting wet/I like the look of that fridge"?

All the properties we have available right now have something special about them. Either the location, the period features, the views.... they are all waiting for someone to love them or at least want to shack up with them for a year then see how it goes. We even have an office available to save a marriage from a miserable entrepreneur working from home and drinking too much coffee.

Have a look at our listings on rightmove and tell me which one you would rent.

Still Unusual

2010-03-17T22:03:00.004Z

Two things you may or may not know about BlueDoor:

We don't charge renewal fees to Landlords or Tenants.

We don't do boards.

It is a little known fact that there are agents like us out there in the wilderness also not charging ridiculous renewal fees. We are proud to be one of them and wish that other agents would join us.

If you read the property sections of any weekend broadsheets you will probably have read a lot about unfair charges levied by agents on poor tenants and landlords and the moves by the Office of Fair Trading to force Foxtons to remove the unfair fees terms in their agreements.

Elsewhere you may have read about Estate Agents protesting that they cannot sell houses without having numerous boards on both sides of the streets of Hammersmith and Fulham and Brighton and Hove.

None of our properties stay empty for very long. The average is probably a matter of days rather than weeks and we achieve this by advertising properties in the best way possible: with lots of pictures and interesting advertising text. We don thave boards and it doesn't affect our ability to let properties.

In and around Abingdon it seems that agents can get a board up faster than they can get a property advertised on rightmove or their own website. How can a tenant find out anything about the property from a board? How many people will see a board in a no through road versus how many will see it advertised online when they are browsing in their lunch break?

Pictures are the key here. If a tenant can see a picture of each room they can really get an idea about whether they can see themselves in the property or not. This saves us time because only people who are really interested in the hose want to view it and it also saves prospective tenants time as they don't waste their afternoon looking at a place that they wouldn't have bothered with if they know it had a shower but not a bath or a mirrored bedroom ceiling or whatever.

Work smarter not harder, goes the saying. Well, we do work hard but we also work smart. You too can work smart by instructing us.

Paying just £65+VAT pcm for management and rent collection is pretty smart don't you think?

2010-02-12T00:22:00.001Z

Sell, sell, sell. Buy, buy, buy

2010-02-08T19:00:00.002Z

I could give this advice every day and if everyone I gave it to took my advice, everything would be ok.

Sell your big properties and buy small ones.

I give you that advice for free.

Have a look at rightmove at the cost of a 1 bed house or flat. Look at the rents on similar properties and do some maths.

The yields on smaller properties are good; they rent very easily; they rent to good people who work all day and those people tend not to make a mess.

Now think about buying just one and getting the smallest mortgage on it that you can. Don't overstretch yourself and go buying 5 of them and spreading your debt far and wide.

Three studios will give more income than one larger property but can cost the same to service. You reduce your risk in terms of voids because it is unlikely that more than one will be empty at any given time.

We want our student properties to have a magic fridge!

2010-01-26T00:02:00.002Z

Elderly widow loses tenancy deposit case

2010-01-19T16:44:00.002Z

News Story
Elderly widow loses tenancy deposit case
Friday 3rd July 2009

A shocking case has emerged in which an 81-year-old widow suffering from dementia was sued in court over a tenancy deposit.

The court has found in favour of her former tenants, even though their deposit had been safely protected, in this case by the agents, just as the law requires.

Yet frail Mrs Dorothy Osborn had to be taken from her care home in Norfolk and driven 200 miles to the county court hearing in Portsmouth by her son Michael Osborn.

The court had previously not been able to advise Osborn whether he could appear on behalf of his mother as her ‘litigation friend’, although when the case was subsequently heard on June 23, he was allowed to speak for her in the case of Locke & Orchard (the tenants) v Osborn.

Osborn, an estate agent and also founder of the website Brightmove, said: “It was very unfair on my elderly mother to have been summonsed in this way.”

The tenants, one of whom is understood to work in the legal profession, had rented the property through Countrywide Residential Lettings. The house in question was in Mrs Osborn’s home city of Portsmouth, and had been bought by her and her late husband Stan, a Fellow of the NAEA, in the 1970s. After their retirement, the couple moved away to Norfolk, where he died three years later.

According to both Osborn and Countrywide, the Portsmouth tenants had had their £695 deposit protected, perfectly properly and as the law requires. Countrywide had used the TDS insurance-backed scheme.

However, for some reason the firm inadvertently failed to give the tenants the prescribed information, as the law also requires, within 14 days of the deposit being taken by the agents. Prescribed information includes details such as the address of the rental property and information as to how the deposit is protected.

The court also found that the deposit was not returned in full within 14 days of the end of the tenancy, another requirement of the legislation.

Section 214 of the Housing Act 2004 allows tenants redress against either the agent or the landlord, but in this case the tenants successfully pursued their elderly landlord through the courts for the legally prescribed penalty – three times the deposit, plus costs and interest.

The money will now have to be paid by Mrs Osborn within 30 days. Her son said: “We are just awaiting the official notification of the judgement.

“My mother was not able to follow the court proceedings at all. I made a point of asking her if she had understood them, and she replied, ‘Not a word, John’.”

John Hards, chairman of Countrywide Residential Lettings, said aspects of the case had been shameful and upsetting, but that the court’s hands were tied in applying both the law and penalties laid down by an Act of Parliament.

“We worked with the elderly lady’s relative throughout,” he said. “We are very strict on our procedures and we spend a lot of time and money in trying to get them right.

“But although we did register the deposit correctly, in this case obviously something slipped through the net and I’ll be looking into what happened. I certainly wouldn’t want to see the lady out of pocket if it was our fault, and we will look to reimburse her.”

Happy New Year Abingdon!

2010-01-05T01:20:00.005Z

The new year has started very crisply hasn't it? The grass looked like frost on frost on frost this morning which was very beautiful.

My frugal tip for this time of year is to wear more clothes. Honestly! Add layers, ladies and gentlemen before you run to the heating thermostat. Having your home like the Bahamas while it is so cold outside is a recipe for condensation and mouldiness in cold spots like window and door lintels and parts of the house which are less well insulated.

This kind of thing isn't pretty but it won't kill you. A wipe with some white vinegar will get rid of the blackness and reducing the temperature inside the house will help the condensation too. Wiping the windows isn't a bad idea and a microfibre cloth from your nearest pound shop is the ideal thing to use. This problem can't me prevented entirely because you can't stop the cold meeting the warmer walls and windows of any house.

See my Topical Tip of the Month from this month last year for more ideas on keeping warm.

The Machine Breakers they need more hits!

2009-12-19T23:36:00.004Z

Feeling like Tom Cruise in every film he has ever done.

2009-12-13T23:26:00.004Z

So he was a cocktail maker and a pretty good cocktail maker too, til he had a crisis of confidence and couldn't make cocktails any more... Then he meets a good looking woman who talks him into being a better cocktail maker.

So he was a fighter pilot, and a pretty good fighter pilot too til he had a crisis of confidence......

If you haven't seen Rich Hall on Live at the Apollo you should look him up on youtube or the BBC. This sketch about Tom Cruise is really funny.

I'm a man in lettings, and a pretty good man in lettings too but I'm having a crisis of confidence. I went out last week for our office Christmas dinner with the folks from Redmayne Bentley downstairs and the chap from the office next door. We went to Kitsons which is ok but I came home feeling like I needed a sandwich or something. The head of RB commented on how good I look in a suit (my dear wife thinks so too...) and how she thought I would get more business if I wore a suit every day.

If you have ever met me in real life you will know that I don't wear a suit every day. I used to when I worked in the corporate place but I chose not to when I started BlueDoor. I like the freedom of a short sleeved shirt in summer and a wool v-neck jumper in winter paired with fine wool trousers but I have also been known to do business in jeans.

Maybe I would get more business if I wore a suit? Could it be true? I don't know.

Since starting BlueDoor I have never failed to get an instruction from a prospective landlord. When I did the corporate thing one or two did get away despite the suit wearing so I'm not sure the theory holds water.

My co-director says it is more about me than the suits and more about the prices than the ties or the cuff links.

Mmmmm what to do? What do you think? Don't suggest that I need a good looking woman - if I look for another one I'll get in trouble!

This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium rent management software.

2009-12-12T10:12:00.001Z

Letting agents 'will be busy up to Christmas'
Published: 09-Dec-2009

This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium rent management software.

Letting agents and landlords are likely to have high levels of tenant activity in the run-up to Christmas, with 65 per cent of tenants looking for new accommodation hoping to move in before the end of the year.

The sustained high demand is a contrast to the typically quiet periods experienced by landlords and letting agents at this time of year.

But with tenants currently cautious about purchasing their own home and rents expected to increase next year, December is expected to be a busy time for those in the residential lettings sector.

Phil Calderbank, director at Lettingsearch.co.uk, the company which carried out the survey, said: "All signs are pointing to high levels of market activity right up until Christmas itself, which is great source of seasonal cheer for lettings professionals, allowing them to cut down on void periods."

Last week, Rics predicted that rents will rise next year due to a drop in the number of rental properties coming on to the market in the third quarter of 2009.

Easy marketing with letting agent softwareADNFCR-1064-ID-19502796-ADNFCR

From Estate Agent Today!

2009-12-07T11:41:00.001Z

Lenders back off with a new 'six month rule'
Monday 7th December 2009

Estate Agent Today would be interested in hearing from agents experiencing problems with selling properties that have been owned by the seller for six months or less.

Mark Savill, of Novahomes in Chard, Somerset, is one agent who reports a sale unexpectedly failing at the last minute.

The borrower had received the mortgage offer, signed the mortgage deed and given the solicitor the deposit. At the eleventh hour, the lender refused to advance the funds as the owner had only owned the house since October.

“The property in question was bought as a repossession to do up and sell on,” he said. The property had been refurbished when it was so nearly sold.

“The lender in this case was RBS. The Halifax now has the same policy. One problem – it does not appear anywhere in their lending criteria that the seller must have owned the property for a minimum of six months otherwise it will not be suitable as security.”

As the agent in this case points out, this restriction has implications for buyers, sellers and – ironically – lenders themselves.

Buyers will find themselves out of pocket on having made abortive mortgage arrangements if the rug is so suddenly pulled at the last minute, whilst sellers will have a property that cannot be sold for six months unless they find a cash buyer – who might pay less.

Lenders could also find themselves getting less for repos as soon as potential developers realise that their holding costs will be higher.

The agent says: “The real scandal is that this is not policy that is being disclosed to anyone up-front in lending criteria.”

Estate Agent Today is aware of a crackdown by some lenders to buy-to-let purchasers at auction where the property has been owned six months or less, and there was a practice note issued to lawyers last spring, in the context of mortgage fraud, which suggested they should ask sellers selling up in less than six months why they were doing so.

In this particular case, the explanation was straightforward.

Savill says the sellers are simply experienced property renovators. The would-be purchasers of this typical first-time buyer property wanted to live in it. It is hard to see where the lenders could have perceived any risk in a beautifully done-up property (we’ve seen the pictures) going for just under £125,000.

Meanwhile, the property concerned is lingering on Novahomes books, and presumably stands little to no chance of being sold until next March.

Thoughts, anyone?

Muppets Cover 'Bohemian Rhapsody'

2009-11-26T20:55:00.003Z

2009-11-26T20:54:00.000Z

Oxford Mail Link for the story....

2009-11-20T13:51:00.001Z

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/4750043.Estate_agents_raided_over_missing_rent_and_deposits/?ref=mr

Oxford Mail Report

2009-11-20T13:40:00.000Z

Two letting agents' offices and two homes have been raided in a probe into complaints about missing rent and deposit payments, the Oxford Mail has reported today.

The report says police and trading standards officers carried out raids at Charles Lawson (Lettings) Ltd, in Cowley Road, Oxford, and a house in nearby Bartlemas Road at 7.45 yesterday morning.

It adds that the offices of James C Penny estate and letting agents, in Walton Street, Jericho, and a flat were targeted shortly after 9am.

The Oxford Mail says the operation followed a six-month investigation into about 50 complaints by tenants and landlords concerning missing rents and deposits.

A 40-year-old man was said to be in custody last night, arrested under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulation 2008.

Ian Marriott, group manager of trading standards, said: “We had reasonable grounds to suspect offences had been committed under these regulations. Trading Standards have received a significant number of complaints which varied in nature.

“But mostly we’ve had complaints about the failure to return deposits and failure to pass on rents that have been taken.

“There have also been complaints about a general failure to communicate.

“For us this has been quite a big operation.

“It’s really unusual for us to be dealing with high street premises such as these.”

Bags and boxes filled with papers and files were yesterday removed from the house in Bartlemas Road and loaded into a trading standards van.

Paperwork was also seized from the Charles Lawson (Lettings) Ltd office a short distance away in Cowley Road, which has been closed for a month, and the James C Penny estate agents, in Walton Street.

It was trading when officials carried out their operation.

James C Penny has no connection with Penny & Sinclair estate agents, in Banbury Road, Oxford, which is managed by James Penny.

This item read :: 1446 times

High income tenants falling into arrears

2009-11-16T14:47:00.000Z

High income tenants falling into arrears

RESIDENTIAL landlords who rent out more expensive flats and homes to tenants with higher incomes are facing growing arrears, according to Landlord Assist, the nationwide tenant eviction and rent collection service.

While it is easy to assume that lower income tenants are more likely to fall into arrears, the reality is that individuals with higher incomes are feeling the full force of the recession and as such are falling behind on rent payments, says Landlord Assist.

Its managing director, Graham Kinnear, said: “Many landlords take the view that one property at £1,000 per month requires less management and repair than two at £550 per month.

“However, this is not necessarily the case and the situation appears to be changing, as higher earning tenants are bearing the brunt of the economic slowdown.”

To prevent arrears, Landlord Assist is appealing to landlords to get all their tenants referenced before handing over the keys.

Stephen Parry, of Landlord Assist, said: “In the current economic climate, vetting your tenants will go a long way to ensuring that you are likely to receive rent payments.

“We are always staggered that landlords can hand over keys to their properties after one meeting – it really is a false economy.”

source: The Shuttle

Number of property millionaires hit hard by downturn

2009-11-11T17:33:00.000Z

Source: http://www.zoopla.co.uk
The number of million pound properties in the UK has shrunk by 35% over the past two years, despite the recent upturn in property values, according to Zoopla.co.uk, the UK's leading house price resource. The sharp decline in house prices stemming from the credit crunch has hurt the ranks of property millionaires in the UK where, at the height of the market in late 2007, 1 in 97 properties was valued at over £1 million but today that figure stands at just 1 in 1500.

* UK's property millionaires down 35% since market peak in Nov 2007

* 57% of all UK homes worth over £1 million located in London

* North East hardest hit, losing 83% of property millionaires in past 2 years

Despite the decline in house prices, certain parts of the country remain awash with property millionaires, notably London and the South East, where four fifths (81%) of all million pound homes can be found. The capital is home to 57% of all property millionaires, with the largest share residing in Kensington (W8) where 48% of all properties are worth over £1 million. Outside the capital, Virginia Water in Surrey leads the property millionaire stakes, with 28% of homes in the area worth more than a million pounds, compared to a national average of just 0.88%.

Property millionaires in the North East have been hit the hardest over the past two years, with an 83% reduction in the number of those who can now claim to be property millionaires. Wales has also been hard hit, losing 56% of its property millionaires over the same period.

Alex Chesterman, CEO of Zoopla.co.uk, said: "The housing market downturn has taken its toll on the exclusive 'property millionaires club', reducing the number of those who can claim membership from 283,168 in November 2007 to only 183,630 today. London remains the property millionaire capital of Britain, whilst other parts of the country have seen their property millionaire ranks decimated over the past two years, with many of the former million pound pads sitting close to the threshold."

What shall we do today Brain?

2009-11-09T23:58:00.003Z

The same thing we do everyday, Pinky. Try to take over the world.

Ever since the embryonic BlueDoor was first put into the cupboard next to the photocopier, Pinky and the Brain's plan for the day ahead has been our plan too.

Why not?

Is there something that you want to do but the more you think about it, the more reasons you come up with *not* to do it?

Try saying 'Why not?' a bit more often and see where it leads you.

And a bit more on arrears

2009-11-05T03:17:00.002Z

The best excuse yet for late rent payments was uttered over the phone to me last week.

Coutts don't do internet banking so I haven't been able to pay you.

Really!?! I know quite a bit about Coutts and they not only have internet banking but they also provide account holders with a personal banker who is available 24 hours a day to do your personal banking bidding. Perhaps this tenant's private banker was asleep for 2 weeks?

Oh well, perhaps the standards at Coutts are slipping....

Green shoots aren't stopping rental arrears

2009-11-04T14:00:00.001Z

Green shoots aren't stopping rental arrears
Source: http://www.landlords.org.uk
For landlords, life may seem as if it's finally getting easier; interest rates are down, and according to a recent RICS survey rents are on the up. But it's not all green shoots; some tenants are still facing financial pressures, which are leading to increased rental arrears.

Research conducted by the National Landlords Association (NLA), the UK's leading representative body for private-residential landlords, reveals nearly three quarters of landlords have experienced rental arrears. Worryingly, 43% of these occurred in the last 12 months.

NLA Rent Guarantee Insurance offers a way for landlords to minimise the risk from loss of rent. Should problems arise during the tenancy, the cover also provides legal expenses and a dedicated 24-hour advisory service. Available to all residential property landlords, NLA Rent Guarantee Insurance offers much needed piece of mind.

David Salusbury, Chairman, NLA, commenting on the launch of NLA Rent Guarantee Insurance said: "Landlords may not realise they can protect themselves against rental arrears, but our research clearly shows there is a need to safeguard your rental income. Unfortunately we aren't out the woods with the economy just yet, and thanks to redundancy and unemployment some tenants are struggling to pay their rent."

"While it is wise to take out insurance, landlords should not forget the importance of also taking full references and making checks at the outset of a tenancy. Keep in touch with your tenants too. If they feel they can come to you if they are facing difficulties, you may be able to come to an arrangement before rental arrears become more serious."

How to make a complaint

2009-07-17T22:40:00.002Z

Moon Landing

2009-07-17T19:43:00.002Z

It is a quite well kept secret that I am not happy with heights. My dear wife was unaware of my fear until we went to Warwick Castle and climbed up to the very top of the tallest tower there. She said 'Hey Greg look down there - you can see the river'. I nearly keeled over there an then and my secret was out. Fortunately I have other attributes which mean she can overlook this weakness and still love me!

One of our landlords, H, also knows that I don't like heights as I have refused to go up ladders in his property renovations and new builds a couple of times. Today must have been special though because this morning he gave me some top tips for ladder climbing then forced me up a ladder to look at what will be the penthouse in his new development.

The doorway you can see on the right is on the first floor and I went all the way up to that bit of wood near the velux windows. Aargh! H and the electrician A, man-handled me a bit to get me off the top of the ladder and I stood on that bit of wood for a while to chat and admire the view then came back down again.

Here's another view of the roof

H had to get me a cup of tea when I was back on safe ground and I am still not convinced that I am cured of my fear but this maybe Step One of a Ten Step programme.......

Triumph Rocket III

2009-06-30T00:26:00.005Z

I found this tonight and just had to share it with you. It was this very same process that produced BlueDoor all those years ago!! The embryonic BlueDoor was also kept in a cupboard next to the photocopier and no-one ever believed it would one day be a fully grown BlueDoor with its very own knobs

Happy tenant

2009-06-25T23:22:00.002Z

Dear Greg

Thank you for organising the washing machine, which is working fine - and probably makes my neighbours happier as it is so much quieter! I hadn't realised how noisy the other one had become.

Unbelievably, I am approaching the end of my second year here. I would very much like to stay - is that going to be possible?

Of course it is, and we won't charge you for renewing

Hello Summer!

2009-06-16T00:37:00.004Z

We have a little box for a message on our statements and most batches go out with a little something to cheer you up. Last week we sent out a bundle of statements all with the jolly message 'Summer is here at last. Enjoy the sunshine!'

Oops. Did you hear the thunder this afternoon? Or see the cats and dogs raining down?

Bluedoor has absolutely no weather forecasting skills whatsoever and we apologise for raising anyone's hopes!

What is new with you? We are all ok meeting new people and trying to spread the Blueness.

Still here

2009-03-14T00:09:00.003Z

Crikey! You miss a call or two, people forget about the joy of emailing instead of calling and all of a sudden folks are wondering if we are still in business!

We are alive and kicking and very, very busy. You may have seen that our listings on rightmove and bluedoorlettings.com are numerous and splendiferous at the moment and this has led to lots and lots of viewings on lots of lovely properties. When I have been on the phone I've had a few tricky conversations with landlords this week about hitting the 'sweet spot' regarding rents. Thankfully (for them) those landlords seem to have come round to my way of thinking.

Humourous advert + ouchy rent = a good laugh but no interest.

Humorous advert + sweet rent = instant response from interested parties, very often within hours.

Would you believe that we had 61,715 summary views on rightmove in the last 28 days? The blog data is very much smaller and I am so ashamed that I am not going to post how may (few) hits we've had this month at all.

We have also been struggling with taking Bluedoor's back office into the world of terminal servers and remote desktops necessitating new printers and some rethinking. This is mainly all good but as a result of all this hocus pocus our statements will be printed in black and white from here on in which is a bit of a sad moment for us as blue is our thing. Perhaps blue paper is the way forward?

There aren't enough hours in the day to run the business and think about paper colour....

Where is the board shepherd when you need him?

2009-02-22T00:33:00.005Z

Here is another lonely lost board. Keeping very poor company too.

This one is lost near Rivy Field on the path that runs from the crossing by the junction of Audlett Drive and Thames View all the way to the Nature Reserve. If you are a driver and not a walker you wouldn't even know that this path exists. It is a mostly leafy and green alternative to walking along Audlett Drive or Radley Road which is much more pleasant than breathing in traffic fumes.

Most towns have their paths which can make getting about on foot easier than driving and Abingdon is no exception. It took me years to understand how Peachcroft was connected to Radley Road or Appleford Drive and I still can't quite believe that it can be so much quicker to walk from A to B than drive despite Mrs Simpson's assurances.

On a different note, this week's tenant Problem of the Week is mildew. Not Toxic Mold as found on US websites but just ordinary mouldy mildew caused by having the heating on too high, taking long hot showers, drying clothes indoors and not opening the windows enough. We have dehumidifiers out in 3 flats at the moment and have been giving tenants information on ventilation and wiping off mildew with a solution of white vinegar on a cloth.

Modern folk like to be hot and expect to be able to wear t-shirts and shorts indoors even in winter. To do that comfortably you need to have your heating on at about 25 degrees which will play havoc with the cold spots in your house and moisture levels in the air.

I'm not that old as you know but I am an avid wearer of lambswool jumpers in winter and very happy to keep one on indoors and keep the heating low. My dear wife is also a fan of wool and our younger two are big fans of layering but our older kids are hard as nails and only wear a coat when its snowing. I feel cold just looking at them.

My tips to prevent mildew are: keep a window open a crack during the day to keep air circulating, think about how to keep your body warm and not the air around you, fit curtains over your doors and windows to keep heat in, open the bathroom window after having a shower to let the moisture escape and lastly, turn the heating down and invest in some jumpers!

Flat fees - a disincentive for what?

2009-02-10T01:36:00.003Z

This week two customers who I spoke to at the start of January have come back to me to say they don't want to instruct anyone else so can I come and take some pictures of their properties and get them advertised.

Great news as I was beginning to think they had forgotten about me! When I worked for a corporate company we had to chase up new landlord leads on a daily basis if a couple of days had gone by and we hadn't heard from them. I hated doing that and tried to avoid it if I could. Now, as you can imagine I don't do it at all. If they want bluedoor they will come to bluedoor, it is as simple as that.

It seems that the other agents who these two landlords invited into their homes proceeded to hound them on a daily basis offering them all kinds of inducements to instruct them which as you can imagine is pretty annoying - and off-putting. Our deal is our deal and everything I say when meeting a landlord for the first time is the same as what I say a week later. No deals, no discounts and no guilt trips!

Anyhow obviously our honesty, transparency, integrity and consistency have won out yet again and several folks are now sitting in their offices disappointed. Take note of the above my friends.

This latest landlord asked me a strange thing when he called me to instruct me though. He was wondering what incentive we have for increasing the rent on his property if we stand to gain nothing from any increase as we don't charge a percentage. Good question!

I hope that over time he will see that the honesty that I show upfront is also the honesty which drives our business. Our first adverts had the text 'Helping Landlords get more of their rent' You might have seen on in the Post Office in Abingdon or in the Property Weekly. That is what we still do. We do the best for our landlords and charge a flat fee for doing it. Simple and unusual but still true.

Topical Tip of the month

2009-01-25T02:09:00.006Z

It is freezing some nights isn't it? If you are cold, your pipes are too and if you drink the water from the bathroom tap in the middle of the night you might freeze your teeth! Brrrr.

Here are some tips from Direct Line insurers

• Insulate your pipes with preformed insulation, and replace the washers on any dripping taps - if the taps freeze, the pipe will get blocked.

• Know where your water valves are, and learn how to shut them off in case a pipe does burst.

• In very cold weather the heating will need to be on low, or set to come on a couple of times a day, especially if you're going away.

• Open the loft trapdoor on cold days to let heat in.

Click here to read more about protecting your home from leaks caused by burst pipes.

We Simpsons are about as frugal as you can be in lots of ways but we don't scrimp on keeping the house warm enough to keep the water flowing through the pipes. We don't have it like the Bahamas though! We use an oil filled radiator in our living room, freeze in the kitchen and get under the feather duvet at night but we keep the heating switched to constant and the thermostat on about 12-15 most of the time A few nights this month we have heard it click and the heating come on inthe small hours but this is a GOOD thing.

Keeping the chill off the house while you are at work means that it warms up more quickly when you get home. Your central heating switching on and switching off is good for the boiler and keeps it all from seizing up through lack of use.

If the bills worry you then save money elsewhere by taking a packed lunch to work, leaving your car at home when you can and asking your Mum or Gran for some tips on cooking from scratch to save on all those take aways!

Water going places it shouldn't can lead to scenes like this:

Thames Water had a broken pipe under the ground in front of this flat. The grass and weeds there grew like...grass and weeds but the flat was also curiously damp despite there being no leaks from anything inside and the shower pressure was very low. After investigating all possible causes we ended up calling Thames Water to check the pressure on the water main.

They found a crack and got some men out to fix it the same day. Thanks to our dehumidifiers the flat is now nice and dry and the problem is solved. Who'd have thought one call could make diggers appear so quickly! If only everything could be fixed so swiftly and without a bill to the landlord!

Onward and Upward

2009-01-09T02:17:00.009Z

Tonight I've been on Rightmove adding some new instructions and I thought I'd have a look at those folks who I consider to be our competitors and see what they are offering to let this month. This is not a list of all the agents locally just some who I spy on to see what they are up to!

The results just in, hot off the screen are as follows:

Hodsons Abingdon 7 properties Go Robin and Joe!

Hodsons Didcot 14 properties Go Trudles! (she is good you know!)

Andrews Abingdon 8 properties Go Andrew!

Buckell and Ballard Abingdon 12 properties Go James!

Allen and Harris 13 properties Off to a good start....!

Lansbrough Lettings 11 properties Go Hadrian!

Chancellors 11 properties Go team!

Abingdon Lettings Centre 17 properties Go Dougie!

BlueDoor has 20 properties and none are advertised with any other agents unlike some of those above. I could pretend that I don't know what we are doing that other people aren't but I can't be that modest! We are the only people who will answer the phone on a Sunday and take on a property there and then if that is what the landlord wants. We are the only flat fee agents in the county and no amount of maths can disguise the fact that even 10% of your rent is often a lot more than our fee of £65 per month for full management. Oh and we'll give you £50 if you recommend a landlord to us and we let their property for them.

We have not been trading for quite three years yet and we already have a big share of the local and Oxfordshire market because we are unusual. Big corporate companies with lots of office space, staff, overheads and cars are becoming difficult to justify in this market. Slim businesses, smart use of time and frankly crappy looking cars are obviously the way to go!

How many offices have you walked past this week and seen people at their desks surfing the internet or making cups of tea? If you are a landlord you are paying for that to happen and if I were you I'd be wondering if my money was being well spent.

We had the pleasure of taking over the management of a property in Didcot this week and when I popped in to collect the keys from the old agents I was faced with a ghost of my corporate past that I thought was well and truly buried. I only asked how it was going just as you would if you bumped ito a friend in the street and I got a most bizarre response: 'I completed so many lets last month my conversion rate is 1 in 5 which must mean that my applicant matching is really good'. Gosh. Is that a good thing?

We don't use that kind of speak here. We advertise with lots of pictures, do viewings and let properties. We don't have a white board with targets, yields, conversion rates and completions which needs to be monitored and updated daily or someone gets it in the neck. I used to work in a place with one of those though and my colleagues were always irked that my numbers were regularly bigger than theirs in every column.

Smug, me? No, just quite good at this job!

Oh well that's my ramblings for today. Let me find a picture or two for you now.

First, these are our favourite locksmiths who we like because they share our view of how to get business done.

And secondly, probably the highest stairwell I've seen for some time. I don't envy the decorators who painted this! There are stairs there I promise, I just couldn't get the window and the stairs in at once without getting dizzy.

Some pictures from 2008

2008-12-30T20:49:00.009Z

Perhaps you haven't visited our own website yet at bluedoorlettings.com but if you have and you think it looks good that is only partly down to me! All the hard work was done by a team of fantastic chaps at Switch Media in Liverpool.

I went up to visit them in the summer to talk about a new idea I have and I took some pictures while I was there. I had no idea that Liverpool was so cool! I'd never been there before and found everyone to be really friendly which was great for me who can talk the hind leg off a donkey.

Here are some Super LambBananas which I think were to to with the Capital of Culture 2008
This is Steve and Will the web designers
And some views that you don't see in Abingdon. I felt like a right country mouse visiting the Big Smoke!

And now to the countryside. I saw this nest and little chicks at a house in Eynsham in the spring. They were down low next to the front door so mama bird must have been quite confident that a cat wasn't going to get them!
Perhaps they thought I might feed them!

And here's a comfy cat (or is it a snake?) just for balance

Continuing on the animal theme, I almost jumped out of my skin at a new property on Cumnor Hill a couple of months ago. I pulled into the drive and got out of the car and as I turned around towards the house I was faced by a big deer about 10ft away. I think I out-stared him because he moved before I did!

My office is at the top of the stairs in 7 Stert Street and the dogs from downstirs in Redmayne Bentley have got me down as a soft touch. They wait until I am in my chair in the mornings before slinking up the stairs and poking their noses round the door for a biscuit.

We've had a couple of dog friendly houses this year too and the current owner's dogs featured in the advertising we did. A new dog is now happily installed and no doubt still sniffing the garden like mad!

Another year almost gone

2008-12-29T01:41:00.005Z

It is almost the end of another year. We are still here fighting the good fight, doing lettings as it should be done and keeping landlords and tenants happy.

We are still growing, meeting new people and finding that people like us and what we do. We have only lost three customers in the whole time we have been trading which is a pity but we don't seem to be able to deal well with control freaks who want to micromanage everything about their property themselves. You pay us £65 per month to get on with it not to do it all yourself! Oh well, they have gone to new agents who we know are now suffering as we did.

Sadly not all agents have survived this past year. Charles Lawson has gone from Stert Street, Buckell and Ballard Sales or Adkin as it used to be has gone from the High Street and their lettings department from Bath Street have moved in there.

We hope that everyone else in Abingdon can hang on in the year to come as even though people hate estate agents for some reason we are all human and lots of us have families who need a salary coming in every month to keep a roof over their heads.

We are still hopeful that our way of doing business will continue to be attractive to new customers and there is no reason why it shouldn't be. We are the only fixed price agents in Oxfordshire with no add-ons or odd charges for this and that, just one simple fee and in times when money is tight even landlords like to know exactly what they will be paying out from month to month (barring changes in VAT......)

And, if I hit the target for new lets set by the wife I can buy myself a new pen!

Abingdon Blog Man He says YES!

2008-12-21T18:26:00.004Z

Well the man from Abingdon's blog has put us back on his links! Thanks for that! It really is the best place to catch up on what is happening in Abingdon!

Happy Christmas to him and all who look at this blog and the popular www.abingdonblog .co.uk!

Been struck off the Abingdon Blog!

2008-12-06T18:20:00.004Z

Well with this old credit crunch we have been so busy letting the properties that will not sell that I haven't updated this blog for months and months!!! To top it all the Abingdon Blog man has taken me off his links which made me a little sad.

Anyhooooo I hope to keep updating it from now on!

Bicester Agents get Blue Door'd but we come in peace

2008-08-09T23:40:00.005Z

Oh yes. What agents in Abingdon and Oxford have long known and feared will now be visited on Bicester agents.

They will do market appraisals and hear potential landlords say "We've had Blue Door round, can you tell me exactly what you do differently for 12%+VAT of my monthly rent? They will probably mutter something like "We pay a man to put up an unsightly board which advertises our company at your expense" or "We will put one tiny picture of your property among 20 others on a page of a newspaper"

They will struggle to come up with anything else really because that is all they do that we don't do. the list of what we do that they don't do is a bit longer.

They need to take heed. They will need to up their web advertising from one paltry photo to at least 10 or so. They will also need to answer emails late at night, take phone calls on a Sunday, do viewings and MAs at times to suit the customer not the office tea and biscuit schedule and they will need to charge a more realistic fee for their work.

Flat fees are the way forward. No renewal fees are also more honest. We're unusual: they are all the same.

They don't yet know how many properties we have in Bicester because they won't see any boards, we don't always get time to put properties on our website either as they are snapped up too fast. We remain a mystery to the competition and that's how we like it. We expect more 'phishy' emails enquiring about our fees from dodgy Hotmail addresses as our name spreads on the lips of those who love us for what we are.

Here's a little bit of maths for you to try out.

What is 12% of £750?

Use the % button on your calculator if you like or do this: Multiply 725 by 0.12 (12 hundredths, which is what 12% is) then press equals. You get 90.00.
Make it into money £90.00 then add VAT if you are sitting down.

YIKES YIKES YIKES!

Now compare Blue Door's fees

Rent PCM	Blue Door Management Fee	Percentage of Rent
£695.00	£65.00	9%
£750.00	£65.00	8.7%
£850.00	£65.00	7.6%
£950.00	£65.00	6.8%
£1200.00	£65.00	5.4%

Even when you add VAT our fees are a reasonable £76.38

If you do the maths and find that you are paying too much for the management of your rental property give us a ring. If you don't have a rental property and this means nothing to you - tell someone else! If we get their business, you get £50. Simple.

Good news from houseladder! Click link at bottom of the post!

2008-08-01T14:46:00.006Z

Decent arguments for staying in buy-to-let market

Posted: 24 Jul 2008 14:08:59 GMT

According to finance site, fool.co.uk, there are a number of "decent" arguments for landlords to stay in the housing market.

The site quotes figures from Paragon Mortgages buy-to-let survey, which shows that rental yields reached their highest level in two years in June and are now at 6.4 per cent and seven per cent.

Welsh landlords and those in the north and north-west are most profitable achieving seven per cent rental yields.

Research reveals that rental incomes have also risen by nearly 12 per cent over the last year and property values have, according to Paragon, risen by 7.5 per cent year on year.

However, Paragon did admit that property prices have only risen by 0.2 per cent over the past six months.

Commenting on the current situation for investors, Christina Jordan of fool.co.uk said: "It seems that for the serious buy-to-let investor, the market is still attractive in many ways. Added compliance costs, plus the added mortgage costs are not enough to put off landlords who are still seeing a decent return on their investment."

Ms Jordan also makes the point that with many first-time buyers finding it difficult to get on the property ladder, the demand for rental property is currently high.

© Houseladder Ltd

Mmmmm Summer

2008-07-26T16:57:00.005Z

Summer makes everyone mad don't you think? We are all too hot to stand around much or rush around much. More people are antsy and irritable and I am one of them I am ashamed to say.

Did you hear the traffic news yesterday about the delays on the A34 and A44 due the 50th CLA Game Fair at Blenheim Palace? I was in it for an hour and a half in the morning trying to get to Yarnton only to get there and find that my viewing had cancelled. Then I came back to Abingdon to do a local viewing and had a call from someone who said they were waiting for me at Yarnton.

I told her I may be an hour or so and set off again for another looong journey with the air con cranked right up. (Air con is the one thing I love about my car which has no other redeeming features) I got the re at last and the electricians said they had let her in to have a look around. Thanks for letting me know. Back in the car again...

I've had cancellations all over the place this week and lots of other people tag teaming me on the phone. If you call me and you are the other half of a couple who called an hour before, can you say so? I've had three couples interested in the same property and they have all been calling me individually and it messes with my head. I don't lie and if I honestly have not heard back from a landlord about your offer and have promised to call you when I do, I will. Honest. Really. I am unusual but I'm like that.

Now I've got that off my chest, apparently some folks thought that the photo from the post below was a stock picture from somewhere or other. We don't do fake pictures here my friends, oh no. That is cake made by my lovely wife, hand-picked strawberries and Nanny Rachel's best blue china which we get out for cake-eating occasions. Here they are at another cakey-do.

I'm off to eat some more cake and have a quiet evening. Enjoy the sunshine!

Summer!

2008-07-08T16:24:00.004Z

Summer is here at last and wow what rain! I can't step out of the office without getting wet. I've been out and about taking pictures of more new properties and managing to avoid getting raindrops on the lens of the camera! We've had a birthday in the family too this week and celebrated with the best home-made chocolate cake and the loveliest Peachcroft strawberries.

Is your mouth watering?

This time last year was when Blue Door really started to get busy and now we are renewing tenancies for happy tenants and letting new properties to newly-happy tenants. Our landlords and tenants have been busy since this time last year too with several having babies and others tying the knot.

Blue Door can't guarantee happiness of that order with every tenancy but we do try our best with the little things.

2008-06-27T00:35:00.009Z

Board Stupid?
or
Board Silly?

Free Advertising? Nothing is life is free my friends, someone has to pay and it is likely to be you as you are the only people giving agents any money! Do you want to pay for this stuff that visually litters our streets then can end up abandoned like these boards?

We don't do boards, we don't do flash cars, we don't do plasma window displays and we don't do suits. We are unusual but what we do works just as well as all those other companies who are spending all your money on power hungry window displays and gas guzzling cars.

If you want to go greener you should think BLUE. Call us for a market appraisal and we will call or email you then fro then on communicate with you using as little paper as possible. When we do need to write to you it will be on recycled paper.

We will encourage your tenants to use kerbside recycling and energy efficient light bulbs. We will fit a Carbon Monoxide detector in your property not because anything with 'Carbon' in the title is cool nowadays but because we value your tenants lives.

Blue Door Unusual and green

Poor Boards! Alone and abandoned

2008-06-23T23:49:00.005Z

What captions do you think should sit above these pictures?

Didcot has a New Mayor

2008-05-30T23:39:00.008Z

Mr Tony Harbour..... who used to be most famous for being the face of the Property Weekly and rather less famous for being a guest at our wedding way back in 2002 when Tony and I both worked for Bradford and Bingley group, better known as Adkin. You can read more about his plans for Didcot here in the Didcot Herald and here too

We wish him every success this year and are sure that he can put Didcot on the map in a good way for a change.

Photo by Oxford Mail

Alistair the Estate Agent

2008-05-24T23:56:00.006Z

We stay up far too late making our eyes bleed watching stuff on You Tube...

Good things in Abingdon

2008-05-24T22:44:00.006Z

We have been looking down on the street out of our window and seen some friends who have taken a while to see that we are calling them from above, not along the street! We have had some folks bold enough to ring our bell and come up and sit in our comfy chairs for a cup of tea too, which has been nice.

Over on the Abingdon blog it seems that some people think the town is going to the dogs. Whatever next! We do bemoan the lack of this and that here but it is after all a little town close to a big town so you can't complain too much. As for it looking derelict take a look at this:

What could be more idyllic? Roll on Summer.

In other business we have been looking around the internet to see what other agents are up to and finding some new lettings heads poking up above the parapet. That my friends is a sign of the sales market hitting the fan; when the market slows down they all turn to lettings for a bit of monthly income.

Some new businesses have also appeared no doubt after reading the property pages in the broadsheets saying that everyone will be renting for the foreseeable future as no-one will be able to afford a house or get a mortgage for one. One such new business declares itself to be 'Revolutionary' We make no such claims, as you know. All we do is make it simple, which is unusual.

What do you think about doing Market Appraisals on a Sunday, transparent fixed fees and being left like the un-sporty kid on the sidelines when the team is picked? The 'winning' agents refused to go out on a Sunday, charge a percentage and all sorts of add-ons, advertise with one picture and wear shiny suits. What gives? Maybe they thought I was too honest and that didn't fit with the stereotype.

It's not all bad though, as we have got a gorgeous flat on in Waddesdon just close to the Manor there which I have to say is much more in keeping with the high standard of property Blue Door - and our tenants like.

One of our long-standing landlords is cashing in his nest egg and looking to travel the world so has put his rental house up for sale. He instructed some agents who duly came and took measurements and pictures but he contacted us to say that he is really disappointed with how they are advertising his property as we did a much better job when we let it. Come on chaps! You've all got swanky digital cameras so take some more pictures and make houses look good! (It takes next to no time to upload them if you hold down the ctrl key as you select from your folders)

We are in the market for buying ourselves now that the small people are growing larger and larger but my missus is getting a bit picky about what we bother going to see if they aren't many pictures as she is a bit suspicious of what the agents might be hiding!

Wow! Blog readers!

2008-04-21T12:58:00.002Z

Welcome to all our new readers who have found us via ThisAbingdon blog. We were quite surprised to see that so many people had hit our blog on Wednesday after Backstreeter's post about us.

If you are a careful checker of photos you will have noticed that one of the To Let signs he was talking about getting larger is in fact on the wall of our new office! David and Mark over at Meeson Williams will be surprised at their new found infamy!

We have had some lovely potential tenants viewing properties this week including Kathy who emailed us last week to say "I saw a few advertisements of yours on rightmove and liked your ethos and humourous approach! Please let us know if you think you have anything that would suit us. Thank you very much."

She was really pleased to see me on Saturday and find that I wasn't another greasy youth dressed in a shiny suit who didn't know anything about the property they were viewing. I rarely wear a suit nowadays or even a tie. I do wear shirts though and most of them are double-cuff if that makes any difference! I also know a lot about our properties and our service which is apparently tricky information to find out from many agents on a Saturday.

I started as a Saturday viewings lad back in the early 90s but I can assure you that I was almost as attentive to detail back then as I am now. I had very good teachers though which I think is what is missing from the business nowadays; anyone can start up an estate agents or lettings business and although many of them do a good job it isn't always a good thing.

Anyhow, I am glad that people feel that they know something about us from reading our adverts as we have always tried to set ourselves apart from the other agents in more ways than just price. If you are a landlord or a tenant give us a ring to see why we are the Unusual Agents. New office, same phone: 01235 524800

Moving things

2008-04-10T22:12:00.003Z

The lads did sterling work today and my old office now looks rather sad and empty and the new one is now wired up, connected and stacked with paperwork. Unfortunately the filing cabinets haven't arrived yet so I am surrounded by mountains of filing boxes.

I hope the lads had a good hot shower when they got home because they might ache tomorrow. Two hours of going up three flights of stairs, down three flights, up the road and up one flight of stairs then down again while carrying all kinds of stuff might just be a bit more exercise than they are used to! We had some odd looks from folks in town, especially some ladies waiting at the bus stop who eyed them most suspiciously as they were carrying the desktop photocopier past them.

Hopefully Rachel can start organising it all on Monday as I have absolutely no skills in office tidyness whatsoever.

I have got some new headed paper and business cards on order from Laserset in Abingdon who are fantastic. They are a relatively small company who offer great service and rapid turnaround on any job I order from them.

Despite sending out a lot of our paperwork via email we still get through reams of paper every month but all our agreements are on recycled paper and we use recycled envelopes too. If only I could recycle the postage too!

One more thing: this is a snippet of email from a third time landlord Mr R "Many thanks with all the help given. I think you have given me a fantastic
service and will not even think of using any other letting service."

Thank you Mr R; it is so nice to be appreciated.

We have moved

2008-04-08T00:20:00.009Z

It is with some sadness that we have left number 25 Bridge Street to its fate at the hands of Cranborne Homes but with men in suits spraying the walls with words like 'poor' and 'danger' we thought it was time to go.

Our new place is at 5-7 Stert Street just next to Pizza Express, across the road from Added Ingredients, up the road from Pamela Lucas and Mostly Books and above a stock broker. We are in good company!

Here is the view from my window down the street

and up

I had some help from Richard our IT man.

He built the 'puter under the desk and Dabs are sending me a monitor for it tomorrow. He also helped me put the desk up which was more of a 2 person job than I had originally thought! Don't worry though I won't be looking at the wall all day as I've got another desk to have by the window which will be just for the phone and some pens..... I hope.

The 3 smallest people in our family also helped a bit

The eldest will take his turn in the week to help me move all the files, other office hardware, Colette our long lived houseplant who grew out of the space she was in at home and a few other plants I have rescued over the last year or so.

I even have an entryphone thing so just press for BLUEDOOR and come and have a cup of tea if you are passing.

Our lovely Logo...

2008-03-29T01:40:00.002Z

...is two whole years old now and we still think its so cool. I haven't posted it for a while so feast your eyes on this

Musings of a perplexed agent

2008-03-29T01:11:00.004Z

This week has been a scramble to get people referenced, their money in and the keys into their hands after all the viewings over the holiday weekend. I don't think any other agents were open so all the folk looking for places to rent ended up on our doorstep.

I did a market appraisal on the Thursday and haven't heard from the prospective LandLady despite trying to call her to ask her if I had upset her. As I do in these cases I checked rightmove to see if it was on with anyone else.

It is: with FK. Why, I wonder? There is one picture of the front of the place and 3 bullet points including the fact that you could fit a table into the kitchen. No further description or interior photos.

When I met the LandLady she told me that her partner would be doing the negotiation of our percentage and I think I took the wind out her sails by telling her that there was no need to negotiate as we just have a flat fee £65+VAT for full management. She looked bemused and said that that was cheaper than any of the others had quoted her for just rent collection.

So why? Is it that I don't have a flash car or wear a shiny suit? Is it becuase I am honest about possible rents and I move good tenants in quickly and hardly ever have any voids?

If you have ever found us on the internet I'm sure you will agree that we show more picutres of properties than anyone else out there except perhaps LL (you know who you are you cheeky- fireplace-photograper-you) and he only does it on his sales properties. Our descriptions are interesting and often funny and really tell you something about the property.

Perhaps people think that you get a cheap service from us and they would prefer to pay a premium and get a premium service. I would turn that on its head and ask why pay a premium for the same service?

What do you get for that premium? It certainly isn't better advertising or viewings on a bank holiday weekend.

Hello to all those of you who have missed us. We miss you too: give me a ring you miserable lot. Its 01235 524800 or alternatively you can fax me pictures of my head made to look like Ming the Merciless on 01235 524500.

What the Agents Say

2008-03-25T23:39:00.003Z

I've been reading the ads this week from the Oxford papers and around Reading and I thought that they could do with some Bluedoor honestly lessons.

Try these for size:

Good access to A34 - you can hear it from the bedroom.

Close to amenities - above a shop and its probably a chip shop or a bookies.

Deceptively spacious - has large cupboards in small rooms

Guaranteed let in 28 days*
*Terms and conditions apply - we will let it to anyone we can find who will pay the least rent.

Ideal for sharers - families won't like the carpet or the scabby kitchen

Full of character - draughty original windows....

Low maintenance garden - gravel pit spread out flat and no signs of green life

Annexe - right next door to the nosy landlord

Rural location - the ar*e end of nowhere with no amenities.

I'd love to move back to the countryside but my dear wife won't be further than a short walk or a bike ride from a shop. If we ever move we are more likely to move somewhere bigger than Abingdon than to a village or a country lane. She'd like to keep chickens though so I'll have to find a town place with a massive garden......

One of our fav money men!

2008-03-15T11:46:00.002Z

Andy Kenny

Consultant
Savills Private Finance
Caxton House
1, Fore St,
Birmingham
B2 5ER

Tel: 0121 634 8490 or 8496 Direct
Mobile:07967 555 864

If he can't help you no one can!

Please quote bluedoor greg when calling him!

Sorry for not bloggin' for a while

2008-03-09T12:03:00.003Z

What a year and what a start to 2008! We were so busy the end of 2007 that we forgot to blog.

Our FIXED FLAT FEES are really starting to get through to people and the FACT that WE CAN SAVE LANDLORDS MONEY!

But from now on we are going to try even harder to keep up wth the bloggin'!

Yes, I am short

2007-11-28T01:05:00.000Z

We have a lovely flat right up in the eaves of a block near the Manor Hospital in Oxford which has such restricted head height in the bathroom that even the current Chinese tenants have to sit down to have a shower.

I had a phone enquiry about the flat this evening and don't ask me how I ended up talking about height but I did and I had to tell the lady that it wouldn't be worth even looking at.

Perhaps she thought she was talking to a leckie who was being a bit cheeky so she sent this email follow up tonight.

"I called this evening to enquire after this flat, and was informed that my Fiancee might not fit. He is 6'5". I would appreciate it if you could keep me abreast of any new flats that are available with rents up to £900 a month"

We don't usually measure room sizes for lettings but I will have to raise my awareness of ceiling heights from now on.

November

2007-11-06T21:05:00.000Z

Firstly, I must apologise for something. If you look at any of our rightmove property listings you will see that they have some pretty whacky reference numbers. I started doing it because people I know in the business were always asking me how many properties we had and I didn't want to tell them in case they fell off their chairs. Lots of other agents look at our listings - Mr H and Mrs Y you know who you are! Most agents use the same references that they have on their property files which would be a bit of a giveaway so to keep them guessing, I made up ridiculous reference numbers.

Up until now it hasn't been a problem but this week I've had phone messages and calls from people who have used the reference numbers to tell me about the property they want to see and the conversations have gone something like this:

Caller: I am calling about property number 9888997899939.

Me: Ok..... what does the property look like in the photo?

Caller: It's a house I think

Me: In Clarendon Close or Boswell Road or Reliance Way?

Caller: I don't know

Me: Just let me get rightmove on my screen and I'll see..............

Yikes. I must stop doing it. From now on I promise to use shorter references but you'll still be guessing!

A whole year has gone by since I last posted about fireworks at the Baldons, doesn't time fly?

This year I managed to beat FK to the roadside banner

and someone else sponsored the Hog Roast.

The fire was big , The sparklers were lovely

and the fireworks were loud and sparkly.

October!

2007-10-04T13:14:00.000Z

Another month of madness has passed and there are tall tales to tell but this is just a quick note about the postal strikes planned for the end of this week and the start of next.

You can contact us by email on bluedoorlettings@aol.com or greg@bdea.co.uk or rachel@bdea.co.uk or even monkey@bdea.co.uk

We do try to answer the phone if you call the office but you might have better luck ringing around 7pm when everyone else has gone home from work and is eating their dinner.
Try 01235 524800 or 07855 524500. Texting is good too.

If you want to send us documents you can fax them or send them as email attachments.

We send out draft copies of offer letters, confirmations of tenancy to landlords and draft agreements by email so you don't need to worry about information for you from us getting lost in the post.

If you want to give us money it is easier and cheaper for you to use telephone or internet banking to make a direct transfer to us. No stamp, no trip to the post box or bank charge for the service. We can send you a receipt by email too.

So, percentages

2007-08-30T20:51:00.000Z

You will know that Bluedoor is all about fixed fees. Same work = same price. Rent of house is irrelevant.

Our local competitors are trying to make their proposition look better by advertising low percentage rates. Andrew's most recent one is full management for 8%. Tempting until you get the old calculator out and do the maths.

On a £1200 rent that's £96.00 and that's before VAT. Even on a relatively modest rent of £850 its still more than our fixed £65+VAT.

We have just let a lovely house in Abingdon for £1600 pcm and the fee the landlord will pay us equates to a percentage of 4%.

So we've been a bit naughty and got a banner ad on the front of the Property Weekly with words to that effect. Keep a look out for it. You can collect the paper from your local agent or register free to read it online.

And remember, don't do a deal with anyone who talks percentages without checking your calculator first!

Oh nooooo pass me a bowl

2007-08-24T15:47:00.000Z

For anyone who tried to contact us by phone on Wednesday we sincerely apologise for our inability to raise our heads for long enough to find out where the ringing was coming from.

We were all struck down by the horrendous vomiting bug which is apparently skulking the streets of Abingdon infecting those who are usually hard as nails and of cast iron consitutions.

Thank you to those who left us get well messages and I am pleased to say that bar slight queasiness Blue Door is back 'on' now and back to normal. Well, things are as normal as they can be when a tenant rings at 7.00 in the evening to tell you he has had a fire in his kitchen.

Please, whether you are a tenant or an ordinary householder, get up from your 'puter NOW and check the BATTERY in your smoke alarm. Check that it is connected and press the 'test' button or get someone else to do it while you put your fingers in your ears.

Thankfully, the tenant is ok if a little embarrassed and this should all look fine once it's been cleaned and repainted.

If you ever want any advice on fire safety we are good friends with Abingdon's Fire Reduction Officer and we can get him to visit you and tell you how to protect yourself and your home.
Our number is 01235 524800 so give us a call and we'll put you in touch.

2007-08-13T13:21:00.000Z

Every now and then we get a property to let that is beautifully preserved in original1980s style and hasn't been touched since. This one falls in to the category of places I wouldn't have liked to take a girlfriend back to, back in the days when I did that kind of thing.

I am so tempted to advertise it in the style of Ralph Bending: something like "It's not pretty, it's not in a cool position and frankly its drab but it will do for a place to sleep (alone) and keep your stuff dry."

If you are looking for a house with an upstairs and a garden in Kidders under £650pcm this is all there is so if you need a large holdall and aren't too fussed about its lack of beauty or funky features give me a ring on 01235 524800 and I'll show you round.

Location Location Location

2007-08-11T00:46:00.000Z

Do you watch it? We do and we love it!

There are several reasons: one is Kirsty - half woman, half sweater and the other is Phil - half man...(can you tell we also love Dead Ringers?) Oh and they have a real honest streak which we like to think that Bluedoor shares.

Here's a great quote from Phil 'Mate, it's the mutt's nuts, what are you waiting for?'

We have a property in Headington which is the mutts nuts. Click here to see it and decide for yourself. If I could get this landlord to re-do my house like this I'd be laughing.

Where did July go?

2007-08-07T23:08:00.000Z

Yikes its August! How did that happen?

We have met so many new landlords, let so many rand moved in so many tenants over the last month that we haven't had time to sit still other than to do more paperwork and eat!

Of course the biggest news has been the torrential rain followed by flooding in Abingdon and other places around the county. This is Ock Street in Abingdon on that wet Friday.

This is a picture taken on Sunday of the river rising under the bridge a few yards away from my office. The boat is one the river but it it supposed to be next to the footpath! You can usually walk under the bridge through the narrow arch but it was well underwater and impassable for a couple of days.

Sky news parked up there for a couple of days and talked up the threat of flood inch by inch which had all our landlords ringing to find out if their properties were safe and if we were ok in the office. We had dry feet but we did have some leaking through the ceiling which set of the fire alarm and I collected a bowlful of rainwater which came throught the top of my window.

The council brought us sandbags just in case but thankfully we didn't need them.

Our door is looking terrible but with number 25, the Police Station and the Old Gaol up for sale no-one but me and my neighbours Peter and Deane seem to care about it at all. We have become quite attached to our little offices and will be sad to be moved - if and when someone makes a decision about its future. Apparently this is the only building along Bridge Street which isn't at least Grade II listed so it can be knocked down without many people shedding a tear or getting agitated about it which is a real shame.

Here you can see my window in the middle of the top floor, the Old Gaol boarded up behind to the left and the Police Station to the right. We'll see how it all looks in a couple of years' time.

I had my five minutes of fame being interviewed by BBC Radio Oxford becuase I was doing a viewing for an Abingdon lady and her family who needed to rent somewhere to live as they ahd had to leave their house due to the flooding. I don't know how many people heard me becuase it was broadcast early on the breakfast show - I certainly didn't catch it live!

We also had a new banner ad on the front page of the Property Weekly yet again announcing our fixed price of £65+VAT. Thanks to Seb and Tony for that!

One of our landords has been in the Oxford Mail too as coach of ice dance champions Katie and Josh.

Much to my wife's shock and my children's delight, I found an albino rat roaming Audlett Drive one day on my way to work and managed stop it biting my shoe and bring it home. We called the RSPCA to come and collect it but they dsay they called at about 6am the next day and it would have to be the house falling down to wake anyone up in our house at that time of themorning! They said they would not call again so we rang a few petshops to see if they would have him; none would but one told us not to ring **** Pet Shop as they would have it and feed it to their snakes! We made some Lost Rat notices and put them up round and about but no-one called.

So we kept it in our recycling box to feed it up a bit...... with my wife still protesting that we absolutely didn't need a rodent as a pet - not after our experience with Snowy the hamster who we inherited from a childminder years ago, (don't ask) - then it escaped...only to be found hiding under the wendy house in the garden.

By this time we had been informed by a friend that we shouldn't call it an 'it', we should find out if it was a he or a she. None of us wanted to pick it up and see but we are reliably informed that if it was a male there would be plenty between the back legs to distinguish it without needing to pick it up sooo it is a 'she'.

Here she is on the day I found her. I can assure you that she is much more chubby and smiley now but we haven't been able to see her for long enough to get the camera out!
We carried on putting food out for her and now she has made herself a little entrance under the shed from the back garden and a little exit from the other side of the shed out to the front garden. She seems happy to live in the garden and has escaped the jaws of the neighbourhood cats for 4 weeks now so we do have a semi-pet rodent now and it is my wife who feeds her. She is kind- hearted really!

I think we're all caught up now but if it carries on like this I'll be ready to retire soon and after watching the Red Bull Air Race I think I might just retrain and become a pilot :)

Apprentices Wanted

2007-06-30T20:23:00.000Z

This is the most fantastically finished HMO I have ever seen. I don't even want to advertise it as a shared house because that sounds too seedy. This is Oxford's version of the house where Alan Sugar's Apprentices live in London.

It has 7 bedrooms and seven beds but the HMO man says 'No.'

He thinks that the 7th room is to small to be a bedroom. Yikes. Its got a bed a wardrobe and a bedside table in it. If it looks like a bird and flies like a bird... And as for sizes: the understairs cupboard in this house is bigger than my bathroom at home; the 7th bedroom is bigger than most second bedrooms I've seen in modern flats lately.

The landlord is a builder who has owned the house for years and he's really pleased with the result and not too pleased with HMO man - or himself: when we were looking at the outside of the house he said to me that he had been cursing the idiot who scratched all the brickwork when he put the Coronation Street rendering on. Then he remembered that he had done the job himself 20 odd years ago!!

But even the brickwork looks great now though after some hard graft done through clenched teeth and if you know anyone who wants to live here get them to call me.

Good things come...

2007-06-30T20:02:00.000Z

I thought that this would be the week I would be buying a new computer. The switching off thing had got ridiculous and no amount of de bugging or spy botting was making any difference. But no, the problem with the 'puter has been remedied and we are now the proud owners of a ball of dust the size of a week's worth of lint from the tumble dryer in winter. I am so ashamed. One of my landlords suggested that windows had lost its mind; another one suggested that I disconnect the power cable and then reconnect it which I think is the posh version of switching it on and off at the plug. Richard's diagnosis at a distance was over heating. It turned out that Richard was the lucky winner of an evening at the madhouse with a can of that cleaning air and a little brush. It seems that 4 years of not cleaning inside the box is a bit too long! Now its staying on as long as we want it to but the sound doesn't work.... Then the next morning I switched on the monitor and it stayed awake long enough to boot up then went black. Mmmmm time for a new one. So along with the mound of dust, we are now the proud owners of a flat screen monitor - about 5 years or more behind the times! Its smallness frees up lots of room on the desk for more junk, like pens, and hopefully it will use less power too. We also had to buy a new tv this week but that's another story. And now Blogger isn't recognising my return key....... New keyboard? Please not.

So, so secure that I can't spend any money

2007-06-15T22:29:00.000Z

Our computer at home has been doing odd things lately like shutting down all of a sudden when the boys are playing Peggle at the same time as listening to Napster and running the internet in case they need to look for cheats for the PS2 game they are also playing. It sometimes does it when I'm using it too and I'm not sure why but it can only be a bad sign.

The quick and easy solution seems to be an external hard drive. Its definitely cheaper than a whole new machine and better than losing all the data on this one which include loads of photos and music which I foolishly haven't really been backing up anywhere. My friendly IT assistant says this kind of behaviour is another step along the road to computer oblivion; we need one that's bigger, better, faster, quieter - and more expensive.

I found just the thing at dabs.com called Buffalo something which made me think of Buffalo fencing but smaller. So I clicked to buy and added my card details and the new Verified by Visa thingie popped up. I duly entered my card number, expiry, card name and my date of birth and waited.

Mmm error, try again. 3 times I tried and then it locked me out. Ring Visa it said. They shut at 5.00 so that was no good and I spent the night worrying that the 'puter would conk out next day and all would be lost because I hadn't bought the Buffalo.

When I rang them the next day they 'took me through security' and when I said my date of birth the girl said 'No, that's not your date of birth sorry, try again'

What? Really? No wonder no-one could ever come to my birthday parties as a kid. I thought it was because they were snowed it but obviously not!

I told her again and again she told me I was wrong. No wonder the card verify hadn't worked. She wouldn't tell me what date she had on her screen so I told her to ring Barclays where I have my account and cross check.

She rang me back and admitted that they must have made a mistake. It would be fixed but I wouldn't be able to use the card for another 24 hours while they updated the system.

Aargh. Another day hoping that it will restart every time it shuts itself down.

Click to buy at dabs is fantastic. I clicked at 11pm Wednesday and it arrived at 2pm on Friday. Plug and Play and half an hour later all of our computer is now in two places at once. I know techies don't think this is cool but I do. Wow.

So now I am free to click and buy once again. Do you want to see what I've been looking at?

Cult Pens and The Writer's Edge for pens and here for Classic Mercedes.

I can see myself in a big old gangster car - well it is Blue

and this little convertible is just the right size for my dw.

How would I expain that to the accountant? Sadly we are more in need of a 7 seater than a 2 seater and in the meantime you will see me in my Citroen

Imitation..........?

2007-06-07T11:54:00.000Z

Is it the sincerest form of flattery? Or lazy business? Or just plain rude?

I don't know but I think that some aspects of Bluedoor's business model are worth copying because they are good for customers: using more than one photo in web advertising for a start.

Flexibility and making people happy not mad as hell are good too.

The fixed price is of course our USP. We have it because we genuinely believe that if we do the same work for all our landlords we should charge them each the same price for that work.

It is not a gimmick or a limited time offer: it is a sign of our wish to treat people fairly and honestly in a truly transparent manner.

Others may imitate us but none are truly like us.

We are the unusual agent.

Call me......

2007-06-04T23:46:00.000Z

Bluedoor is always open. Any day of the week that you want to view a property I will oblige.

Any time of day that you want to view a property I will oblige.

If you want to view a property on a Sunday afternoon I will oblige.

If it turns out that said Sunday afternoon is hot and sunny and you don't fancy viewing a house - PLEASE call me to tell me you have changed your plans then maybe I could make plans for the sunny Sunday afternoon myself!

I don't even mind being dumped by text. Try me.

TFI Yellow Pages

2007-06-01T18:58:00.000Z

I met a new landlord last night who said he was a friend of my good friend Pete over at Mallams and his family who had recommended me because his current agent was so bad (nameless but begins with 'C')

It turns out this landlord's wife is midwife and works with Pete's wife. This is what they do on those long night-shifts between catching babies - complain about agents and talk about houses as well as cleaning up, smiling and being there for so many people at an amazing time in their lives, obviously. When our last baby was born we saw Pete's wife on our way out of the hospital and she offered to sort me out with two house bricks -yikes.

Unfortunately I am known to have caused my dear wife to suffer through two difficult labours because my darling girls are so special that they cause a fuss getting out and she was offering to spare her more trouble from me.

Pete's wife couldn't remember anything other than that I am Greg and we're called Bluedoor.

I asked the landlord how he had found me then

"Oh it was easy - you are in the Yellow Pages"

And there was me cursing the waste of money that was our box in the yellow thing that most people use as door stops or trip over on the bottom step of the stairs - or is that just in our house?

This is he very first time anyone has ever said that they used the old fashioned way to look me up. Maybe I will pay again next year.

Get me thinner

2007-05-29T23:19:00.000Z

A while back I mentioned a man who came to look at a house to rent and told me he could shoo spirits away if they were hanging around too long. Well I bumped into him at the leisure centre (I wasn't there doing sports I can assure you - we go there to buy chocolate when the other shops are shut!) and he told me he thought he should pay me a visit becuase I was looking tired.

Anyhow he popped in to my office the other today to give me a consultation becuase he is also a herbalist and reiki healer. From having a good look at me he thinks I must have a lot of stuff trapped in my colon.. I though I was just a bit fat! Never mind, I also need to use my name as it was given to me GREGORY not Greg. I had a thought that maybe I need MORE name so how about a middle name (my parents couldn't think of one apparently) something like T - for Trevor? Or TM Trevor Milo? Gregory Trevor Milo Simpson?????

The cure for my sticky colon is a box of goodies which arrived this morning. Guaranteed to increase the number of toilet visits in any one day and needs a few days at home to sort out. I won't be doing that any tome soon as I can't always be sure of being close to a bathroom.....

There is other stuff in the box though incuding green liquid chlorophyll which smells like mint sauce but tastes very greeeen and some other pills to calm my nerves. The kids tested my nerves before and after taking a pill and pronounced no difference but we will see how it goes over the next week and I will update you.

I received another box this week which was much more exciting becuase it was filled with pens. I am on such a strict budget at the moment that I am reduced to buying stationery from eBay to satisfy my longing for something new and shiny. New Porsches are some way off but pens to keep me going. This box had a couple of those cartridge pens that were popular in schools in the 80s. Did you have one too?

It's Friday!

2007-05-25T19:18:00.000Z

Well the week went by and I've only just found time to post.

What a week! Happy tenants, frustrated and frustrat-ing landlords, appointments here there and everywhere and then the government manage to cock up the whole Hips thing. Who'd have thought it? Maybe they had a busier week than me and lost their minds!!! And the estate agents will get the blame for sure. Here in Abingdon I can't tell you how many 'Beat the Hip' type promo leaflets have been pushed through our door. I wonder if the agents who were offering £250 off their fees on instructions before 1st June will be extending their offer?

There are so many properties for sale this month that buyers can afford to be really choosy. A birdie tells me that sales are falling through because all of a sudden buyers are seeing something they like more than the one they had agreed to buy. Greedy, green eyed buyers? Surely not!

Look out for all those 3 bedroom houses with study, painting studio and upstairs lounge for sale in August. Seriously though this only makes not selling your property even more attractive doesn't it? Who knows what wheeze they will think up next?

Lost Weekend

2007-05-21T17:41:00.000Z

I have to admit that although I know bluedoor will take over the world soon and other agents will be wondering where their market share has gone - I really, really miss weekends and I am really, really tired.

Part of the blame for the tiredness lies with my lovely baby daughter who is not so much cuddly baby as a constantly moving dirt spreader and part is to do with running this giant looking business on my own and being all things to everyone.

Some landlords are recommending me to their friends which is great and some are buying more properties and want me to let them which is also great but both those things mean more properties, more viewings and more tenants. Which is fantastic but everyone wants a piece of me! I need a fake me to take some heat for me!

And who are those guys who are paid to call me and sell me space on their charity calendar, or sell me a new telecoms system, or advertising space on now-you-see-it now-you-don't crappy websites? Do they never rest?

I did make it to visit friends on Saturday afternoon then another friend on Sunday but I can tell they are wondering why I haven't bought a bigger house, a smart new car and why my trousers have what looks like mushed up biscuit around the knees. I'm calling my current look "eccentic entrepreneur" but I really want one of Thomas Mahon's suits and I can't wait to be back to sartorial elegance soon and my girlie won't be sticky fingered forever....

So here I am at the start of the week again. Lets see what it brings.