COVID 19 Update for our Landlords & Tenants

Dear Landlords &Tenants, 

We do hope you are safe and well in these unprecedented times.  We wanted to provide you with an update on how we are currently operating and the guidance specifically available for Landlords & Tenants. 

Some of our team have been furloughed but rest assured our Rental department is continuing to function as normal with staff now working remotely as per Government guidance for the safety of our team & community.

There should be no interruption to services, but please bear with us if any delays in response are experienced. 

The past week, being the end and beginning of the new month, are our busiest for receiving tenants’ rents and we have been encouraged to see these coming in as contracted.  However, this may change on a day, week and month by month basis ~ please be assured we will work through any issues on a case by case basis and keep you updated at every step. 

For your reference, the Coronavirus Act 2020 came into force on the 26th March 2020 and this emergency legislation prevents new eviction proceedings from being commenced for a three-month period; from the 27th of March the court service has suspended all ongoing housing possession action for 90 days.  Further information with regard the Government support available for tenants and landlords can be found via this link.

The Government has also published guidance for landlords and tenants who may be affected by current events to explain the measures relating to the Coronavirus Act 2020. This can be found via this link.

In line with public health guidance which advises that people stay in their current home unless absolutely necessary, the Government has also recently published advice on home moves during the COVID-19 outbreak. Home moves are still possible but if not essential, home buyers and renters should delay moving to a new home while measures are in place to fight coronavirus. More information on this advice is available here.

We are doing our best to keep you informed as advice changes and we are attempting to keep our community supported with our social media as we know how isolating this can all be. Please keep up to date with us on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter and please do download our Ricky Town colouring book if it will help you relax during this lockdown.

Ricky Town Colouring Book Download

Please do contact us by phone 01923 773 616 or email to salesandlettings@trendandthomas.co.uk if you have any queries, we will do our best to answer your concerns.  We understand this is a worrying time for everyone and we intend to provide our services in a respectful way to the benefit of all involved.

 

We will follow this update with further more specific information in the next few days.

Stay well

Neil Guilfoyle – Director

TREND & THOMAS ESTATE AGENTS

Declutter for January

How many of you have thrown out NY resolutions in favour of throwing out your clutter? 5 Top tips to help you along.

With us in and out of houses many times a day, a decluttered space really is a big game changer when it comes to letting or selling your property.

Clearing out some clutter to allow a potential buyer or tenant to insert their own thoughts on how they would feel living in your home really can make a difference to the success of the viewing.

Decluttering doesn’t have to be religious and zealous like some people might profess but it’s a whole lot easier than giving up meat or alcohol for January and just might make you feel refreshed for the new year….and sell or let your home quicker.

Top 5 Marie Kondo tips summarised below….give it a go…we are!

1. TIDY ALL AT ONCE

Set aside at least two days to completely overhaul your home. If you tidy little by little you will be tempted to shift the remaining clutter into those clean areas and chaos will quickly resume. By tidying everything at once, you will be forced to break any messy habits to uphold the cleanliness of your entire home.

2. TIDY BY CATEGORY, NOT BY LOCATION

Sort through all your books at once, even if you have a bookcase in every room, the same applies for clothes and paperwork and so forth. This forces you to consider possessions as part of a collection, and helps determine what is worth keeping and what you should throw out.

3. PUT EFFORT INTO FOLDING CLOTHES

It might seem like a tiresome chore, but putting more effort into folding clothes can reap long-term rewards. Watch the video tutorial below and learn Marie Kondo’s technique; basically any item of clothing (including underwear) should end up as a compact rectangle. You then stack these little soldiers in neat rows, enabling you to identify individual items of clothing at a glance and pull them out without disrupting everything else.

4. CREATE A STATE OF CHAOS

Do not be afraid to make a big mess before you tidy up again; consider it part of the ‘healing’ process. Pull out absolutely everything and dump it on the floor creating a state of chaos. Sort through each and every item, placing them in either a keep or toss pile. Make sure you actually discard the toss pile before you start rearranging the keep pile – you do not want to be tempted to hold onto anything you originally decided to trash.

5. DISCARD SENTIMENTAL OBJECTS

We have all be gifted something that we hate, but feel obliged to keep it due to sentimental value. It is time to readjust that type of thinking. These items have already served their purpose as a symbol of a fulfilling relationship. Keep hold of that warm gooey feeling but sensitively offload the unwanted gift.

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There’s even a new Netflix show by the Queen of decluttering, Marie Kondo, to help you along…Netflix – Marie Kondo show details

The Guardian also discusses Marie Kondo but amusingly muses, it might spark a domestic row 😉

Guardian article on Kondo & domestic bliss 😉

 

Is your Property Management carried out by a Letting Agent LOCAL TO YOUR PROPERTY?

Recently we have found that we are one of the only Letting Agents locally who actually manage our Rental properties right here from our office in Rickmansworth.

Other agents either outsource their management completely or have a centralised Property Management office based in a completely different county!

We wanted to explain why local Property Management is so important to you and your property investment.

• We know in detail the types of tenants our area & your style of property attracts & can target these tenants specifically & quickly.

• We know all the styles & types of properties our area houses and can advise and inform based on this detailed property expertise.  We’ve properties we’ve managed for over a decade on our books – that’s some pedigree don’t you think!

• We know the area expertly and can advise you on relevant local information, current letting trends, & expected rental values, therefore gaining you the best return for your investment quickly.

• We go the extra distance for our Landlords & properties because we are right here on hand, available for you to come and have a chat with or accompany you to your property. We are not in a call centre on the other side of the country oblivious to the variables of your property & unable to visit it or meet with you.

• We know the transport links, commuting details & local area amenities such as leisure facilities,  local schools & child/elderly care options, so we can inform & attract the best tenants for your property.

• We have excellent long term relationships with local contractors so we can react to your property needs quickly, with the best person for the job giving minimal disruption to your tenants & ultimately your property & investment.

• Our responses are obviously quicker than an agent who has outsourced their property management because we are right here beside your property investment & can visit within minutes of any emergency.

• We do regular property inspections by an experienced independent LOCAL inventory clerk.

• We are immediately available to advise you on your  investment prospects should you decide to sell or  even purchase a  further rental property.

• We do not outsource our Property Management, we only trust our own expert team to manage your property investment & tenants, to us this is the only approach that works.

Is your Property Manager local to your property?  Need to rethink your Letting Agent?

Call and we’ll be happy to pop around for a chat anytime , at your convenience, ….because we are local & easily available…. important isn’t it! 

Phone Trend & Thomas Lettings on 01923 713 680 or Email lettings@trendandthomas.co.uk

Trend & Thomas asks, Is OnTheMarket.com InTheMarket?

You may have heard the rumble of activity amidst the online property portals open to Estate Agents recently and we wanted to give you our summary of the situation and how it will affect our clients and marketing plans.

Last Monday saw the arrival of a new online portal called OntheMarket.com

This portal does a very similar job to the existing market leaders Rightmove and Zoopla with one very large difference – this portal is owned and operated by a consortium of Estate Agents. Emerging quite simply because Agents were tired of the duopoly of the big players causing mounting fees and very little in return. The fees were increasing, functionality was not improving and Agents felt duped that they were losing control of their marketing choices.

For this reason the concept behind OntheMarket.com was excellent. An advertising and marketing choice created by Agents, for Agents with hugely reduced fees in comparison to the existing portals & potentially providing much needed competition to the market with the hope it would reduce the stronghold of Rightmove and Zoopla.

All admirable goals and we support the concept wholeheartedly. Trend & Thomas not being shy of a little competition to the market…with 6 Estate Agents in the High Street it’s not a game for the faint-hearted! However, in order to shake things up, OnTheMarket.com had one very serious condition – in order to join, benefit from hugely reduced fees and gain shares in the burgeoning company – you had to drop one of the other main portals – Rightmove or Zoopla.

The arrival of OnTheMarket.com has been a long term process and we have been watching the development of the portal over the past 12 months along with the reactions of Rightmove and Zoopla, other Agents, the press and most importantly, the public.

OnTheMarket.com launched last Monday and we have watched the week with interest.

Our findings after week one:

• Not enough budget to provide TV Advertising to match the competition
• Not enough budget to ensure market leading functionality
• Not enough diversity of properties listed to make it the go to portal for buyers, tenants.

So after a year of research and debate Trend & Thomas would like to announce our 2015 advertising and marketing decision – we will be staying with Rightmove & Zoopla.

Despite the great shake up OnTheMarket.com can give the industry and the attractive reduction in fees, we have come to the decision that the best interests of our clients are foremost and the giants of Rightmove and Zoopla have much bigger budgets, better current functionality, more exposure to the public and more back end support to fix issues and develop future technology.

While we herald the success of OnTheMarket.com we don’t feel it will currently give our clients & their properties the best advertising and marketing exposure. For the time being it will actually reduce the number of people being exposed to their property. From our research in this first week of OnTheMarket.com there is over 80% more online activity via Rightmove alone in our local area, than there is via OnTheMarket.com

We will continue to monitor developments and report any updates and news to you, but for now we are staying with the market leaders for the sole benefit of our clients.

OnTheMarket is not currently InOurMarket – but you can help us with our research by answering our poll: