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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

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

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?

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!