June 2021 Newsletter
May has seen a continuation of our success both with 11 properties let and 14 sales agreed valuing £1.4 million.
Stamp Duty Sales Promotion
Our current commission rate of 2% is being reduced significantly to encourage sellers to list their property despite the end of the stamp duty holiday.
We are offering online prices but real agent services.
1.) Instruct Tulip to sell any tenanted / H.M.O property for a flat fee of £1800 inc VAT.
2.) Less than Purplebricks’ charge to sell any vacant or owner occupier property for a flat fee of £995 inc VAT.
No sale no fee.
Offer available during the Stamp Duty Extension period. (July 1st to September 30th 2021) T & C apply.
For more information please contact sales@tulipestateagents.co.uk
Recruitment
Due to our ongoing growth Tulip are recruiting in all areas looking for an experienced Sales Negoitiator, Let-ting Manager and a Maintenance Manager. Anyone interested should send a CV to contact@tulipestateagents.co.uk.
Lettings Market
Private rentals are becoming more and more popular this is fuelled by a lack of social housing increasing property values and better rental yields. Rental growth accelerated in May to reach a new record high. Last month the average cost of a newly let rental home in Britain rose to £1,054 per calendar month, up 7.1 per cent on the same time last year.
Stamp Duty Holiday Extension
The Stamp Duty Holiday is set to end on the 30th June 2021. An extension has been announced as a way of easing the transition. Duty will not be due on property purchases of up to £250,000 until September 31st 2021.
Sales Market
According to Halifax U.K. house prices are rising at their fastest pace in five years – they jumped by 1.4% in April alone (8.2% in the past 12 months), taking the average selling price to a record high of just over £258,000. Further to that, the volume of transactions in March were the highest in more than 15 years.
Is this growth sustainable? It is our opinion that it is not. However, that is not to say the market will burst and prices will come tumbling down. It seems likely that the steady return to the stamp duty status quo will go some way to stabilising the market. It will almost certainly dampen the huge levels of demand currently experienced from buyers, sellers and investors, although perhaps not to such an extent that prices enter into a downward spiral.
The prevailing economic uncertainty that has lingered in the UK since 2016 has played a part in driving this demand. Since June 2016, the country has had three Prime Ministers, two general elections, the fallout from the EU referendum, the formal Brexit process, and of course, the Covid-19 pandemic. In such turbulent times, people tend to gravitate towards safe haven assets, and in the UK real estate falls under that bracket.
Traditionally investors favour property in times of uncertainty which is not surprising when we consider the long-term performance of bricks and mortar as an asset. According to Land Registry data, the average UK house price rose from £50,000 in 1990 to £250,000 in 2020.
Growth might slow or stagnate, but historic data shows us the undeniable, unrelenting rise in prices.
Evictions
The government has announced changes to tenancy notice periods in line with the phased easing of the pandemic restrictions. Whilst some notice periods are reducing, there are no plans to see them back to pre-pandemic levels until October 2021.
From June 1st notice periods in England that are currently six months, will reduce to at least four months. Notice periods for the most serious cases will remain lower:
- anti-social behaviour (immediate to 4 weeks’ notice);
- domestic abuse in the social sector (2 to 4 weeks’ notice);
- false statement (2 to 4 weeks’ notice);
- over 4 months’ accumulated rent arrears (4 weeks’ notice);
- breach of immigration rules ‘Right to Rent’ (2 weeks’ notice);
- death of a tenant (2 months’ notice)
Notice periods for cases where there is four or more months’ of unpaid rent, will reduce to two months’ no-tice from 1 August. The current ban on bailiff-enforced evictions, introduced as an emergency measure during lockdown, ended on May 31.
Breathing Space Initiative
The Government launched a new initiative that came into force on the 4th of May 2021 called the ‘Breathing Space Initiative’ From this date agents and solicitors must include details of the Breathing Space scheme within documentation when seeking to gain possession, or risk the eviction being rejected.
Any Section 8 notices issued and served on a tenant from 4th of May 2021 must include details of the Breathing Space scheme.
Activists such as Generation Rent are actively encouraging tenants to check all paperwork and make sure that all the details are exactly correct encouraging tenants to use typing errors to avoid action. If you need assistance with service of notices etc. please do not hesitate to contact us.
ALTO
We are pleased to announce that the migration of all our lettings and sales data to Alto was successful making our system far more efficient it also means for our clients that they will now have online access to their property account 24/ 7 through property file.
Landlords have access to important documents including historical rent statements. Both Landlord and ten-ant have access to maintenance issues and there progress. Landlords and Vendors have access to viewings, offers and the status of applications.
For more information of services please see:
https://www.tulipestateagents.co.uk/landlords
