This month we are of course discussing the EU Brexit referendum and that the UK is out.
Whilst there seems to be panic setting in, let’s look at the facts as they stand at the time of recording rather than getting embroiled in the current media frenzy. Both the EU and the UK want to get the withdrawal right, that’s a fact. This is in both of our interests as we both equally stand to lose and gain in equal measure.
Only the UK can invoke article 50 and not the EU so in other words, any withdrawal is done on our timeframe and when we are ready. The Bank of England and Chancellor George Osbourne have already said they will do whatever it takes to keep the market stable and again that’s in everyone’s best interest.
There’s been £250 billion worth of funds set aside should we ever need to use it. On top of that we’ve got low stable inflation and fairly solid employment rates. Research out the other morning from Coutts bank shows that most political events do not have a lasting impact on investment outlook, and they, Coutts, do not see Brexit as an exception. Coutts also went on to say that one of the more reliable warning signs for a big downturn in the market is the risk of a US recession, which is seen as very unlikely in the next 12-18 months.
The result is of course a surprise to many, especially the city who were betting the other way. We all knew the result would be close. The financial markets are currently going through an adjustment, to find their new levels, and there was always going to be some initial short-term turbulence. We must remember that the bottom line is that there will be a lengthy renegotiation process and it’s not a case of just flicking a switch one day and getting a new set of circumstances the next.
This is going to be a very gradual process over a minimum of 2 years. So therefore, on the property side, my advice is hold your nerve. Yes, there is financial turbulence occurring currently, but this was always going to be the case. There’s already speculation that Bank of England reducing interest rates to quarter of a percent and if they do this mortgage rates could be cheaper. If so, it will mean greater property market activity as money is cheap to borrow. The property market relies on supply and demand and people will always need to buy and sell property.
Current local property supply levels remain weak and therefore there is an argument for property prices locally to hold firm. The underlying strengths of the UK economy remain in place and property is always being proven to be the best medium to long-term investment you can make.
So, in conclusion on the Brexit referendum, take your time, hold your nerve and above all don’t panic.
Building Surveyor Jon Charters-Reed gives a direct and highly charged interview with property consultant Alex Goldstein. Jon walks through what could be next banking scandal to hit the UK and his prediction is that it will be larger than PPI. In addition, Jon’s years of experience prove to be invaluable when giving insight into the world of surveying, what to look out for and how to manage.
Full transcript below:
Alex: We’ve got Jon Charters-Reed here in the studio, a very interesting chap indeed. Now Jon, just tell everyone, you’ve got a few accreditations to your name, which is a bit more unusual than most surveyors out there I think it’s fair to be said.
Jon: Yeah definitely, I began my career as a classically trained York Minster Joiner, went on to become a chartered surveyor, a chartered builder and I’m also a chartered building engineer.
Alex: You’ve got a lot going on there, a lot going on and I think what’s quite interesting is because you’ve got the building background I think there was quite a famous story involved in that as well.
Jon: There was, we’ve had a few incidents where properties have suffered from structural movement, no one didn’t know what to do or how to fix them, so we took our own digger, underpinned it and guaranteed it ourselves.
Alex: That’s what you call an in-house one-stop surveyor shop. I don’t know many surveyors that will go and survey a property and then go and fix it and guarantee it themselves, that’s pretty impressive stuff. I just want to talk through the different types of survey, I think there are a lot of home buyers and indeed home sellers who get themselves into a bit of a spin as to what level they require and what the actual differences are. Just talk everyone through that.
Jon: Ok well before we do let’s just look at the reason why you have a survey and at the moment it’s all the wrong way round because there’s a basic valuation which tells you what the property’s worth and in essence that’s a bank valuation usually, and you’re lucky if that’s one sheet of paper, you don’t normally get to see it as the property purchaser. Now it’s slightly incorrect as how do you know what the property’s worth if you don’t know it’s condition? For that reason, Alex, that’s why you should have a survey first before you get the valuation. I looked around a 1649 property a few weeks ago and it had horrendous defects and it does have an effect on value, needless to say the costs of repairs is not a straight forward deduction off the market appraisal.
Alex: No indeed and what are the survey types?
Jon: What we have is your basic survey, is the industry standard is the RICS home buyers report. It’s quite a restrictive report because it has traffic lights in it and we often do 4/5 surveys a week where someone’s had the RICS home buyers report, its not clear, its not easy to understand and we’ve been asked to do a subsequent report on it just to highlight effectively what the deficiencies are in there.
Alex: Is it often where banks offer that because sometimes they do this overall package where they will give you a survey and I guess very often because it’s a lower grade one it’s cheaper for them?
Jon: Exactly, so the banks are being rather naughty because one of the things I’ve said in my book, How to Be a Smarter House Buyer, is that the banks are not treating customers fairly, they are carrying out restrictive practices because if you go to the bank for a mortgage and they offer you a mortgage, they must give you the opportunity to get your own independent surveyor.
Alex: What is the next type or survey that you need to get?
Jon: Most individual private practices will offer their own version of that which is usually full of common sense and not standard phrases. So, you get your level 2 scheme which is one above evaluation, then you get your building survey which is suitable for older houses. What you must remember is that Yorkshire has got a plethora of terraced houses, most of them getting on for 120 years old and they too are likely candidates for a building survey.
Alex: So that is sort of the step 2, the next grade up, I think some surveyors call it an infrastructure survey.
Jon: Sometimes its got a number of names, its sometimes called a building survey, or a mains structure survey and you need to be extremely careful because there are a number of companies out there offering a building survey, charging a fortune and it’s four pages long.
Alex: How long are yours then?
Jon: 40-50 pages long and 40-70,000 words because the thing is that everyone needs to understand is, that your home that you are buying is ostensibly the family silver and so why would you skim on going for the cheapest survey on something that is literally worth thousands and it’s your future?
Alex: No, I quite agree. Again, I think there’s confusion over formal valuations and sometimes I think estate agents offer these. Under what circumstance would someone say I want a formal valuation? What are they and in what situation?
Jon: So formal valuations usually begin with a probate valuation or a valuation for tax purposes or a matrimonial valuation. The banks will ask for a valuation because its part of the banks and building society’s acts and regulations that the bank need a valuation to know the property’s value and so the banks are quite canny because they’ll charge the customers up to £600/700 for a valuation which literally is one to two pieces of paper and they’ll keep 60-70% of the fee but they won’t tell you that.
Alex: No indeed, but can you get involved if I needed a formal valuation?
Jon: There’s no reason based on what we’ve previously said about the council of mortgage lenders why a house buyer cannot insist on their own survey. If the bank turns around says you need to use our panel of approved surveyors, its restrictive practice and it’s tantamount to being illegal.
Alex: It is and if you, you’ve gone very specific and ruled out a lot of other options, at the end of the day the clients or the home owner or the house purchaser is actually losing out at the end of the day.
Jon: You can choose your own solicitor, you can choose your own accountant and you can choose your own mortgage adviser. We need to be quite clear that the banks have got to stop behaving like this. I have spent 5 years researching this plus my 25 years in the business in order to create the book that I’ve written.
Alex: So, this is the next horizon, the next sort of scandal in the bank world potentially, certainly sounds as though its heading that way.
Jon: Definitely, we’ve already spoke to a couple of law firms that are interested in setting up departments to actually tackle what is effectively almost an in-house type of mortgage fraud by the banks really.
Alex: So, its setting up a monopoly on it all?
Jon: Definitely and it needs to stop and hence the birth of the smarter house buyer because people have got a lot more savvy as to what’s going on in the world.
Alex: You mentioned your book, I know that’s just recently come out. Just talk where is it, what’s it about?
Jon: It’s called How to be A Smarter House Buyer. Its available in Waterstones and on Amazon, paperback and Kindle. In essence it highlights the deficiencies in the housing market which effectively after the recession became broken we’re still using similar methods for selling and buying houses and advising people how to get mortgages that we we’re doing 10-15 years ago. It gives people tips on how to choose a good estate agent and try to do a bit of mystery shopping.
Alex: That was certainly in an article I’ve just written actually and do mystery shop them, go in behind the scenes and see how well you’re greeted as perspective purchaser if you’re looking to sell a house, I certainly agree wholeheartedly with that. Again, another phrase that’s thrown up is RICS Red Book Evaluation, just to be clear this is formal valuation and it’s what you talk through effectively but what is it? How do you actually go about it?
Jon: Ok so the RICS Red Book its in essence a large book, its red and as thick as the London Yellow Pages and it’s got a whole load of practice statements and guidelines that we have to comply with in order to provide an evaluation. Now interestingly enough when the banks are instructing surveyors in this closed shop environment to carry out an evaluation a lot of companies are not complying to this evaluation. So, I’ll give you another example, a lot of companies will go and do a bank valuation on a house and they won’t look in the loft and there is some practice statements now that say surveyors don’t need to look in the loft on valuations. Now to me this is wrong because the loft, which is probably a third of the property and you know its often the Pandora’s box which can reveal an awful lot of stuff and again lets take the average house price, you know £289,000, you’re buying a house, you’re getting a valuation, you’re paying a load of money for it, you’re not even getting to see it, you don’t know anything you’re getting, they’ve not even looked at two thirds of the house, how can that be right?
Alex: I quite agree, you must have in your years of experience quite a few embarrassing stories for us surely?
Jon: One of my favourite stories is going into a property as younger surveyor, and going into the garden of the property and shall we say the lady wasn’t petite, and it was a summers day and the lady was in her birthday suit and all I could do was offer her my clipboard, but it didn’t serve a purpose in covering a awful lot up really.
Alex: You really need a bigger clipboard Jon. How can everyone get in touch with you? As I’ve said you’ve got a lot of accreditations to your name, where are you based and what are your contact details?
Jon: You can get in touch with our Leeds or Harrogate office and if they type in Charters Reed Surveyors into Google we shall pop up on the screen. You can also contact us on our Harrogate number which is 01423 259601.
Alex: Jon, thank you so much, a fascinating insight as always, really appreciate you coming on the show.
Jon: Thanks very much indeed, take care.
Property expert Alex Goldstein meets Chris Worsley from Easy Fireplace who shares fireplace and home heating top tips. He discusses the pros and cons of open fires versus glass-fronted fires, and reveals whether a multi-fuel stove will save you money on your heating bills, along with many more fire and home heating nuggets of wisdom.
Alex: Very privileged indeed to have in the studio with me Chris Worsley from Easy Fireplace. Chris, thanks so much indeed for coming by. Just talk everyone through your business. It’s a bit more unusual than most, I think.
Chris: Yes. My pleasure to be here, Alex. Our business is based in Huddersfield. Easy Fireplace is what was known as a bricks and mortar showroom and business. That basically means you can come along, touch and feel, experiment with the fireplaces, play with them, see how they work and basically get a gist of what the product is and what it does.
Alex: But you cover a host of entities, not just the sf mantelpieces that go over it, it’s much more than that.
Chris: Yeah, the aspect of the fireplace industry is so much more than what is known as the mantle of the surround. We do the fireplaces. We do them bespoke made from limestone marble, wood Castilian, black granite. You then got things like the gas fires. You’ve got your inset fires, your outset fires, your wall-hung fires. You’ve then got your stoves, you’ve got your wood burners, you got your motor fuel burners.
Alex: Is there anything you don’t actually stock [inaudible] This could be quite a technical conversation I think.
Chris: Yeah. I mean, from the business in…it’s a little village called Milnsbridge, which is in Huddersfield. We’ve got over 180 products on display that we can demonstrate. It’s a case of coming in and we get the product right for you and your home. It’s not about selling a product. It’s about selling something that’s perfect for the home and how you’re gonna use them.
Alex: I mean, it’s been quite interesting. I mean, what are the changes you’ve seen in the market in recent years? I know the oil price, for example, is all over the place, and I don’t know whether you just see it as a direct result whether there’s been an upsurge in business.
Chris: The main thing that’s changed is it’s all about performance of what you’re purchasing. With the economic crisis that we all went through, everyone started looking after the pound. Our money is very virtual, and so are our heating bills. Then once a month we get slapped with a bill, and that’s when the virtual becomes reality. So, suddenly, it’s how can we stop this virtual money becoming such a big reality check at the end of each month.
Alex: So it’s people seeing, as you said, the bill land on the doormat once a month, thinking, “Well, that’s quite a lot to be forking out for my gas oil” or whatever you’re running off, and then people are switching, I dare say, to sf stoves and fire alternatives.
Chris: There is quite a lot of things in the industry that have changed. Basically, the stove market went right through the roof. Everyone wanted wood burning because they thought it was an ideal solution to make their heating bills a lot cheaper.
Alex: Is that true? Is that the case.
Chris: It actually wasn’t. We as a company… My decision was not to join that rat race. Basically, everyone was selling stoves based on no knowledge, no information given to the customers, and the stove and the idea behind the stove basically sold itself. It is a beautiful product. You’ve got the warm, romantic flames, you’ve got the heat from it, it brings back memories of grandparents, brings back memories of holidays in cottages. Whatever it’ll be, an open fire brings back and triggers memories, and that’s basically how the industry romantically rose through the last few years.
Alex: It turned it into a big marketing sf campaign on the stove front, but why didn’t it work out for people, do you feel?
Chris: It’s a little bit… The stoves are a really, really great product, and if it’s used correctly it can be a good heating source. The main thing is the cost. The cost of wood has gone up. The cost of coal has gone up. So the cost of actually fueling that appliance has gone up, so now it’s just not that cost-effective.
Alex: I suppose the other thing that often crops up is that people really want a fire, and you always traditionally think that you need a chimney or a chimney breast that you can actually utilize. But I think I’m right in saying that nowadays you don’t necessarily need to actually have a chimney at all. There are other options open to you.
Chris: The industry has gone down a little bit of a line of interior design. You walk into the room, you assess the room, you assess even things like the shape of the room, the window — is it a bay window, is it a curve, is it a hexagon shape, is it straight — the room layout even before you think about the appliance and the product you’re gonna sell the customer. With our sales, that’s first and foremost because it’s not about the sale.
Alex: Yeah, and I thought it was surely on sf stoves and fires. I just thought most people just look at what’s the output, try and match it with a vague sf room dimension, and then you’re done. But it’s more than that, isn’t it?
Chris: That’s the way a lot of shops and showrooms still work, because it’s all about the sale. With our sales it’s about…yes, it’s about the here and now but it’s about the future, how is it gonna best work for the family. There’s many things: Have they got children now? Are they expecting children? Did they plan for children in the room? Therefore we don’t want to take up too much space in the room because the child is gonna be playing. So therefore we might not go for a false chimney breast. We might go for an inset balance flue fire, which could be either hole in the wall or inset.
Alex: He’s just talking through the flue option there. As you said, if you don’t have the chimney, that there’s a flue option that you can base it…as long as you got an external wall, you can make it happen.
Chris: If it’s on an external wall, you’ve got your power-flue option, which basically is a hole in the wall which has got an external fan, and that pulls the products of combustion out and through the wall. With that, the downside is you get a draft when the fire is not on. If you ever had a power cut, the gas can’t come through. The best market now is balanced flue, which is basically a glass-fronted, high-efficiency gas fire. They range from around about 80% up to in excess of 90% efficiency. So in terms of efficiency…
Because a lot of people don’t understand efficiency, we created, like, layman’s terms of how to understand efficiency. If you physically put one pound of gas into a fire, it’s how much heat you get on your legs? So for a glass-fronted fire, you’re taking 80 to 90 p into the room onto your legs. The rest of it is lost through the flue, through the products of combustion, latent heat, many different things. You’ve then got your open-fronted fires, and with them they range from around about 50 to 75% efficient. But the industry has changed quite a lot and is now a lot more focused around energy efficiency.
Alex: And is that the new frontier at the moment? Is that where the latest technology is being plowed into the industry, it’s all about energy efficiency? Are there any other needs as well being looked at?
Chris: The industry went down a different route, so they went to the glass-fronted. Now, the glass-fronted industry peaked quite a lot, but the cosmetic side of it wasn’t as good and wasn’t as appealing as open-fronted fires. An open-fronted fire, even when the fire is off, you’ve got the look of the coals, all the logs, all the pebbles. You can physically touch them and you can see them a lot easier. So, cosmetically, they were a lot more appealing, but the efficiency rate isn’t as high.
So then you’ve got the glass-fronted fires. So you’ve got the glass in front, you’ve got the coals, all the other cosmetic…whether it’s logs or pebbles behind, and cosmetically it doesn’t look as nice because you’ve got a reflection or a shadow. So the industry went for a big change and the glass-fronted fires, now they’re a lot more appealing. The fuel beds have changed, and whether it’s the angle or the cosmetic look of them, the glass is now non-reflective. There’s a lot of changes.
So, the glass-fronted market for the high efficiency has improved a lot, but the open-fronted as well has, because it’s now a different category. So you’ve got high efficiency, you’ve now got open-fronted, and then you’ve got open-fronted high efficiency. The open-fronted is… If you look at the fire and the face of the fire, you’ve got what I call as face value. How much air can be drawn through that face at any given time?
Now, with the glass-fronted, it’s minimal because as a glass air, as you can imagine, there’s not much air to pull through. It only pulls through the top of the fire and through the bottom. Now, with the open-fronted fire, the face value is a lot more dramatic because you’ve just got the canopy and then all the coals or whatever the cosmetic layout is. So you’ve then got the open-fronted [inaudible 00:09:13], so it’s still open, you still got all the cosmetic stuff,but the canopy is slightly bigger. And then they’ve got a convector on there as well. So the face value is actually reduced. So the visual look of it, you see less of the fuel bed, but cosmetically it’s still more pleasing.
Alex: Chris, thanks so much. And also, if people want to get in touch with you, what are the best ways?
Chris: You can contact us via telephone, and that’s Huddersfield 014846 44464. Or you can visit our websites. You’ve got easyfireplace.co.uk, or you’ve got envyfireplaces.co.uk. We do cover all of Yorkshire, so please don’t hesitate to get in contact. And we’re here to help.
Alex: Fantastic. Thanks very much indeed again, Chris.
The Alex Goldstein Property Show (Part 10) hosts Katrina Allen from Winston Solicitors in Harrogate and Leeds gives the inside track when you are looking to sell and indeed buy a property.
What are the steps that you go through and what do they all mean? What is the point of having a conveyancing solicitor and what are Katrina’s best tips.
Alex: It’s great indeed to have Katrina Allen from Winston Solicitors here. Thank you for coming in, Katrina. Very exciting times indeed, I hear on the great fine. Tell me a bit more about it.
Katrina: Yeah, so we opened our Harrogate office on the 1st of December. There’s myself and Mark Fagan, our Heading of the office for the time being. I do residential property and commercial property. Mark is our Property Litigator. We also offer other services which include employment, wills and probate, and other litigation matters.
Alex: Wow. So, it’s almost the one-stop legal shop there where you say it’s kind of… [crosstalk]
Katrina: It is, it is. It’s very exciting. I must say, there’re amazing coffee shops in Harrogate, so looking forward to it.
Alex: At the moment, what are the other options you’ve got there?
Katrina: So, we have our Street Lane office around here, which is where I have been based for the past three years, and we also have Leeds City centre, so exciting times.
Alex: Expanding, one of the very few solicitors that are actually expanding at the moment. Great to hear. Tell me a bit more about your role within the company because I think you’re a bit more unusual for most on the property solicitors. Just tell me about that.
Katrina: Well, I’m a Property Partner, but I do cover for residential and commercial, which is unusual as most people just sit with one seat, but it is fun and it’s a variation. I do tend to deal more with residential at the moment, just because, sure, other properties listed fine in the markets are really buoyant, but I do commercial as well.
Alex: And when you say residential, is that on the conveyancing side of it?
Katrina: It is, it is.
Alex: And the same on the commercial side.
Katrina: Yes.
Alex: And if there’s a problem, that’s where you’ve got your psychics?
Katrina: Exactly.
Alex: Got you. A lot of people say, “Well, what’s the point of having a conveyancing list, and what is the actual point to having a sale?
Katrina: Property is very complex. There’re lots of different elements to property. It’s a must to have a professional assisting you and guiding you. If you’re buying with a mortgage, in any event, you would have to find a property solicitor because the bank would not lend without that expertise. People sometimes do have the opinion that convenes in transactions can be simplistic, but I’m sure you found, Alex, that that’s a rarity.
Alex: Certainly, yeah.
Katrina: So, property solicitors will do things such as searches, which is local authority searches, water searches, environmental searches, which look at the property. We also have to make sure that we check the covenants on the title. Covenants are restrictions on the property itself, so for example, if you are buying property that you wish to extend, you not only would need to check say a drainage report, which would show a potential sewer or drain pipe in the boundary, which may affect development, we do also need to check whether or not there are any covenants which could restrict development. So, it’s always very, very important you do instruct a property solicitor.
Alex: And how do you check these, these little gremlins? Sometimes people talk about some historic footpaths that no one knew about. I’m guessing when you involve a covenant list, they’re able to sort of check all that out for you.
Katrina: Yeah. We check the documents that are passed to us. So, for example, if we’re gonna check regarding footpaths, the local authority search would be the first port of call that would look for whether or not there are any public footpaths registered. Also at the moment, I’m noticing that there are more applications to register a public right. So, we’re seeing that now more in local authority searches. And so, that is something that’s important. Sometimes your deeds will show a relative way. I’ve just acted recently for a client where they had to fishing right at the bottom of the garden. So, things like this are important for your solicitor to be checking because if you bought that blissfully unaware, and then moved in and then it was alerted to you, then you might be a little bit unhappy.
Alex: Indeed. And then when you try and then the consequences I always say, when you actually come to sell, you’ve then got that problem and you’ve now got to declare it.
Katrina: Exactly.
Alex: In terms of the actual process of conveyancing, obviously once you’re instructed and the deal’s been put together, you’ve sent up for all the searches, as you said, and you get all the information back, what are the actual next steps? Because again, I think a lot of people have overlooked the conveyancing process and they just said, “Oh, well, we will just get our solicitor to run it,” or what actually happens behind the scenes once you’ve got those bits of information back?
Katrina: Yeah, and it is a complex process so if once the client instructs, we obviously submit searches with the client’s authority. We try to do that at the start of the transaction and behind-the-scenes whilst we’re waiting for the search results to be received and we are raising inquiries with the other party’s solicitors. During that obviously, we’re getting replies in working through the replies checking officer the Covenant reporting for the client on the covenants raising queries with the actual client because we need to chat.
Alex: Indeed, a bit of a solicitor legal phrasing here. Sometimes you call it inquiries. People out front will probably call it questions.
Katrina: Questions, there we go.
Alex: But they are effectively the same thing.
Katrina: Yes. So, we’ve got to raise questions with the other party’s solicitor on the title itself, when we receive search results, there may be questions we have to ask them. All this is happening behind the scenes.
Alex: This is if something is not clear. One of the searches comes back, possibly, you’re thinking in your professional mind something’s not quite right.
Katrina: Exactly. You have the basic questions that you will always ask. I’ve never had a transaction where you don’t ask a question. So, there will always be the basic questions that you’ve got to ask as a starting point, and then quite rightly, there will be questions where you may be alerted to something in the form that the seller has completed. So, there’s been an extension, so then we go on to ask the question, “Please supply planning and building regulations.” There may be something that the seller… for example if you’re purchasing a property that’s highlighted such as the dispute, we’ve then got to raise a further question. So, there’s always something behind the scenes that’s happening. We may not always be speaking to you every day about that question, but you will then be reported to further on with copies of those questions because ultimately, the client is your eyes as it were for the property. We never see that property, so it’s always important you keep your client in the loop because they might say, “Oh, fire.” We’ve noticed that at the property in the event the seller hasn’t actually noted that.
Alex: Should a purchaser of a property that you’re acting for, they obviously most of the time people do actually get a form of service as best that you have, and see the site of that for those reasons or nothing to do with you?
Katrina: I always ask for a copy of the survey. I’m certainly not a professional surveyor, but there is always an area, an element matter for the legal representative which we need to check.
Alex: Yeah.
Katrina: For us, the survey and the client are our eyes for that property, so it’s very, very important you have that communication with your clients, so they can highlight to you points that you may need to raise, which ultimately will have impact if you didn’t raise that other question on a future sale.
Alex: Got you. So, once you’ve gone through those inquiries, you’ve tested all the avenues, then this stuff comes on the most part people have a mortgage, and you get the gain of technical phrasing, “I’m pulling down on the mortgage.” Just talk around through if you’re getting a mortgage, how it actually works from a legal, from a solicitor’s perspective? There’re banks and panels, and all it gets…there’s a lot of jargon involved.
Katrina: Yeah, once the client has applied for the mortgage, then the mortgage lender will check the solicitor who’s actually on the mortgage lenders panel. We are because of the number of partners, and we are, generally, on most of the panels. Once the evaluation has been done, the mortgage offer will obviously come to the solicitor, in most cases. HSBC are a little bit different, they send it out before. And for example, if we’ve got all searches, I received all replies to the questions that I have raised and I’m satisfied, and the mortgage offer is set on file, at that point then I would ask the client to attend the office for signature of papers, go through papers with the client, any questions. At that point then if we are ready, we would then say to the solicitor on the other side, we would like to discuss completion dates. Once that date has been agreed, we send off what’s called a Certificate of Title to the mortgage provider, and that is us the solicitor saying, “We are happy that there is a clear title that you can give lending to.” And then we request drawdown of those funds.
Alex: Got you. So yeah, the mortgage line is putting everything up to you.
Katrina: Everything on the solicitor.
Alex: I’ve got you. So, is that part of the reason why the whole process I hear you have a lot of those grumbles?
Katrina: Yes.
Alex: The whole process takes a long time, especially at the moment. I suppose in the last three to five years, the length of time from going under offer, free, to exchange, just things have got slightly longer. I don’t know whether you feel the same with your experience, and I don’t know how long it actually takes from your perspective now.
Katrina: Yeah, I’ve been doing this job a long time. I do hear when people can quote that a property transaction will take four to six weeks. I think it’s difficult. We always give a client an estimate. So, somebody who sells to me three whole purchase, what would you estimate? I would say around six to eight weeks. You can never give a determined time because each property transaction has its variables. It depends on the length of the chain, it depends on what questions you have to raise and what responses you’re gonna get. If you raise questions and you get amazing responses back quickly, then that transaction, ultimately, is gonna happen a lot faster than where you send off queries and it takes four weeks for somebody to respond.
Alex: And does that then make a difference? So, say you’re acting for a buyer, and obviously, the buyer sounds to be extremely efficient, but then on the other side, if the vendor, the house sellers, and their solicitor isn’t as proactive, again, that also hinders the process.
Katrina: Completely. It’s ultimately the variable. So, for example, if it takes longer for the other party’s solicitor to get replies, that’s gonna have an impact because you waited. And then if you get a response that you don’t like, it’s ultimate, you may have to go back and raise additional questions, and I think this is sometimes the issue we have. If a client is told, “Replies are in.”, doesn’t necessarily mean at that point I’m gonna be ready.
Alex: It suggests, yeah.
Katrina: It might mean, unfortunately, I’ll have to go back and raise further questions. Again, it depends on the length of the local authority search. You have Woodcock local authority that can do them within 24 to 48 hours. You have another that, at the moment, they’re saying their lead times 20 working days, but I would say some another two weeks over that. So, so many different variables, it’s so difficult. As long as you chase on the transaction, that’s about as much as you can do because you can only put so much pressure on another party. But it’s important, obviously, that there is chase during the transaction with the help of the estate agents.
Alex: Absolutely. And what actually happens? Because, again, I suppose this is a bit of a hot topic. Yes, it is very much so in the estate agency sector at the moment, but sort of the online disruptors as they like to call themselves, you’ve got this mass online conveyance. What intrinsically is, I suppose, the difference between one of the online guys and then obviously, you guys, in Leads and Harrogate? People just instantly go, “Well, it’s hell of a lot cheaper.” Why is that?
Katrina: It’s difficult to say because I certainly don’t get quotations from line agencies and solicitors. I would always personally choose local because I like that relationship with the local solicitor. Generally, you’re gonna find with local solicitors, they’re gonna know local agents, local professionals, which ultimately if you’ve got the problem, then you can pick up the telephone and say, “Look, I need your assistance. I needed your guidance. I need you to push on this transaction. Can you assist?” I’ve never used an online firm myself, so it’s difficult to comment, but I personally think have been able to step into the office of your solicitor, call and five-minute chat, or deal with everything in one meeting, drop paperwork off rather than you have to wait a week for it to be posted, all these things I’m sure will add to…
Alex: It’s the little things that count.
Katrina: Yes.
Alex: Absolutely. And if I’m a homeowner and I’m looking to sell, are there any things that I should look to get done in advance, or prepare, or things to be mindful of?
Katrina: Most certainly. If you’re selling a property, when it goes on the market, I wouldn’t wait to speak to your solicitor once it’s sold. Make contact with your local solicitor early on. They can then guide you as to what would be required from you at the point that the property does sell, so for example, your identification, proof of funds, things that you can take time in the background to collaborate to pass on. Say, for example, you’ve had a recent gas safety check on your boiler. Your solicitor can say, “Get my paperwork together.” If you’ve had an extension, make sure that all you pay for it for your building regulations and planning permission is all bundled in readiness to drop to your solicitor, because ultimately, the more that they have a start, the quicker your contract papers are gonna go out.
Alex: Good little top tip there.
Katrina: On the purchase transaction, again, speak to your solicitor early. You may have viewed a property, you might not have had that offer accepted, but at least, again, you can have the chat. So many clients just do the basic evaluation which is for bank purposes only, and then until they instruct this list that they may not think about a survey. So, again, if you’ve spoken to a solicitor before, you could’ve potentially had an offer accepted. At least then you might think, “Didn’t mention the survey.” Have that discussion and make an informed decision early on. Then you’re not obviously upsetting the vendor by asking for a survey four weeks down the line, which ultimately may give the vendor a little bit of the… they might be a little bit concerned by that. If you’ve done it early on when you can do it.
Alex: Yeah, just out of the way.
Katrina: Yeah, exactly.
Alex: Because I know you mentioned sort of extensions, and certainly in my experience, that tends to be a bit of an issue where people have overlooked, accidentally of course, on some things when it comes to extending. From your perspective, what are the issues that you come up against, or you would be mindful from the legal perspective?
Katrina: Yeah.
Alex: If I was extending my house, for example, what should I get done?
Katrina: Yes. So, if you’re looking to extend, you’d obviously need to check with the local authority what you would need to do. So, does it require planning permission or is it with unpermitted development? Does it require building regulations? It’s so important to have that contact with the local authority because ultimately when you come to sell, the solicitor acting for your buyer will raise that query. Unfortunately, we do see it more often than not that when people do come to sell, we’re asking for paperwork for that extension, and ultimately, they don’t have that can be able to offer.
Alex: What happens if you fall into say that sort of circumstances where you don’t have that paperwork for an extension? Is there a way around legitimate leave?
Katrina: Yeah.
Alex: Have you sold something like that?
Katrina: There’re different variables. One of the first questions we’ve got to ask is, “When did the extension take place?” We’ve got to give the client the choices to which way they wish for us to move forward with the seller solicitor. So, for example, the best way forward would be for the person who owns the property to go back to the local authority, have a retrospective concern, and they would issue what’s called a regularization certificate. But that would be ultimately only if the seller would be prepared to do so, because the moment you get the local authority to the property, you’re putting a local authority on notice that you didn’t have those permissions.
Alex: Oh, yeah.
Katrina: So, that would be the first conversation you’d have with your client. Now, ultimately, in conveyancing, everybody wants to meet the end result as quickly as possible. For solicitors, we’ve got to make sure that end result is not gonna cause a problem when you come to sell. So, if the seller does not wish to go back to the local authority, most seller solicitors will then offer what’s called an indemnity policy.
Alex: Yeah.
Katrina: Now, that’s fine. That obviously is something that we would agree to, but clients have got to be aware that an indemnity policy merely covers for council enforcement. It doesn’t cover for structural defects as such. So, it would be important for the client to make sure that they satisfy themselves on that point because what you don’t want to do is go, “That’s fine. We’ll accept the indemnity.” And then find there’s a problem with your footings. Ultimately, that could pose a potential problem. What we also suggest the clients is they do check with that building’s insurance company, that they are satisfied, that they’ll also be prepared to offer insurance, on the basis that we couldn’t say whether or not that extension would need building regulations or planning permission. It’s just ultimately very important that clients do think of the bigger picture when they are proceeding. People do proceed with indemnity, as long as it’s notified to the mortgage provider, and they’re happy, and the client’s happy. They just got to be aware that it is partly up their own risk to accept that on the indemnity basis.
Alex: So, if you haven’t got that paperwork for that extension, you can get rounded, but it’s gonna be quite a headache and, as you said, that is another reason why the whole process can take so much longer.
Katrina: Yeah. I have seen recently three…We’ve been acting in three recent cases where the seller has agreed to go back to the local authority when this is on leads, and the local authority, I must say, have been brilliant, and they’ve gone out, and I think we’ve had the regularization certificate within a week to two weeks, from the other party’s solicitors. In one case, it was 48 hours. But that was just a question where building regulations was noted on the local authority search, that just hadn’t had the sign up for the completion certificate.
Alex: Got you.
Katrina: And so there are things that can be done, it’s just ultimately nobody should make an approach to the local authority without speaking to the solicitor. If anybody makes that approach without taking a necessary advice from those professionals, and that can cause a major problem.
Alex: It really can.
Katrina: Because if you make an approach to the local authority, it could potentially invalidate an indemnity insurance. So, it’s a must that people don’t just think, “Oh, I’ll just pick up the phone.” Because the moment you do that, you could be causing yourself and the whole chain a problem.
Alex: It does happen more often than you think.
Katrina: Unfortunately, it does.
Alex: And I’ve got to say, with the length of career that you’ve got, I dare say surely, you’ve got an amusing story for us.
Katrina: Yeah, this was a difficult question because you have to be careful with the information that I gave without highlighting a client’s case, but I do remember this was right at the start of my career. I was reporting to a client on covenants. There was a covenant that you could not keep pigs or poultry, and the client actually said to me, “But what about my pet pig?”
Alex: Wait. We’re talking micro pig here?
Katrina: Yeah. A pig. A full-size pig. At first, I thought she was… because obviously, people have humor but she was actually being quite genuine. She had a pet pig that lived partly in the house and partly in the garden.
Alex: Well, okay.
Katrina: So, this was gonna be a deal-breaker for her. In the end, we did write to the local authority, and they did refuse. So, it’s one of those things that it was quite interesting to be part of. I think she’s the only person I’ve ever met with a pet pig in the house,
Alex: So best declare absolutely everything, including if you have a pet pig.
Katrina: Yeah. This is why is so important when we write to clients and report on the covenant, is so important that people do read those documents because ultimately that one covenant could have impact on either your decision to purchase or future availability.
Alex: And I’m assuming the pig was absolutely fine and he moved in happily.
Katrina: They didn’t buy. They didn’t buy, no. The local authority wouldn’t give consent.
Alex: It’s the way it goes sometimes. But it’s great to have you on the show, Katrina, and thank you so much. If anyone wants to talk through that pig scenario or if they’re buying or selling a property, one of the best ways to get in touch with you, obviously, at the new snazzy office.
Katrina: Yes! So, if you would like to pass through your pet pig stories to me or any questions on that the legal process for buying or commercial property if you can give me ring on 014-2327-5375 or drop me an email at kaa@winstonesolicitors.co.uk.
Alex: Fantastic stuff. Thanks so much again.
Katrina: No, thank you for having me.
When the unexpected Brexit result came though, there were ramifications in the wider economy and the property market. However is all the media hype to be believed? Listen in to property consultant Alex Goldstein give his years of insight in to the the effect of brexit on the property market and picks out what one should be mindful of…
Full transcript below:
Alex: This month we are discussing the outcome of Brexit and to put the record straight. Now come on, let’s face it when we heard the UK was leaving the EU what happened? Panic set in. Whilst one half of the UK were revelling in their success the other half were going into meltdown. The stock exchange was all over the place, sterling fell off a cliff, political resignation went around like wildfire and let’s face it the doom-mongers had a field day. People then started buying into this psychological panic about the economy and they actually lost sight of what was going on. What we’ve got to remember is that leaving the EU is not an on/off switch type scenario. From the point the UK government invokes article 50, there are 2 years from that point of detailed renegotiations. So, in other words it’s going to be 2019 before we know the full extent of the detail. The key to all of this whether you are Brexit or Bremain is mindset. By staying positive and keeping calm you will start to see the new economic and property landscape in a brand-new light. Now, mortgage lending rates, they are at an all time low and money’s never been cheaper to borrow. So therefore, if you’re thinking of moving home you can go up a couple of rungs on the ladder. The Bank of England have held the interest rates at half a percent, however there’s talk that that’s possibly going to come down. Again, good news if you’re borrowing. Supply and demand are kings when it comes to property. In Yorkshire supply’s always been weak but demand very high and this has led to prices holding firm in comparison to other parts of the country. So therefore, if you’re a homeowner looking to sell, demand remains good and as long as your guide price remains realistic there are answers out there for you as well. Investing and buying in property has rarely been about short term flipping, so therefore any changes in the house price index is likely to balance out over the length of ownership. That is why property has always historically proven to be the best investment over the medium to long term. International investors have also plagued on the current exchange rates and are increasingly keen to buy. So, the actual conclusion of Brexit is way down the line and everything in the media currently is on the most part, educated speculation. So, after all no country has ever been in this position before. What we do know is that the UK and the EU wants a clean break on the best terms for both sides. We need them and vice versa. So, when you look at the world in a positive frame of mind keep calm and always take a medium view point, the outlook is not so bad after all. Yes, of course there is some current short-term turbulence but that’s not a surprise, we knew this was going to be the case anyway. Here’s a parting thought for you, will we actually leave the EU in the end? Either way, all the white noise about going in, staying out, meeting in the middle, it’s all talk. Am I going to put my life on hold for a minimum of the next 2 years? No, of course I’m not and I suggest you may wish to do the same.
When it comes to letting your property, what do you need to do and how do you choose between letting agents? During this fast paced interview, property concierge Alex Goldstein speaks with Alison Guggenheim from Lentin Smith, to get a true insight into this sometimes misunderstood industry sector.
Full transcript below:
Alex: It’s great to have Alison Guggenheim, from Lentin Smith, who are a letting agents actually right in the centre of town here. Great to have you here Alison.
Alison: Thanks for having me Alex.
Alex: Getting straight to the heart of it I suppose, you often comes across and you hear on the grapevine that estate agents and letting agents are all tarnished with a similar sort of brush, they’re not very reputable, that they’re dare I say at times sort of lazy, I dare say you feel that’s a fairly unjustified comment. How do yourself and Lentin Smith sort of fit within that context?
Alison: Ok, well I think it’s simply because those particular agents just aren’t doing their job properly. There’s a lot of different aspects to leasing and property management and what you need is a experienced team of property managers in place to deal with the complex legal and compliance issues that you face, and also people who’ve got robust systems in place to minimise any issues you may encounter through your tenancies. As a firm, as a business we take a very proactive approach to problem solving and try to help both landlords and tenants through our experiences that we’ve built up over 50 years now in property management, to help them through the difficult times.
Alex: As a landlord what do you actually need to look for in a letting agent, what are the I suppose issues they could come across and what they actually need to prepare? They’ve got a property they want to get onto the market, what do they need to be mindful of?
Alison: Ok, well legally to advertise your property you need a energy performance certificate, an annual landlord gas safety certificate to make sure all your gas appliances are safe, check of your electrics, again just to make sure you’re not putting anyone at risk with no harm or anything there, and obviously insurance for the landlords building.
Alex: How can you ensure as a landlord, how do you find the right tenants on the right basis I suppose quickly because you don’t want a property sitting there idle for too much time, what are the thing you need to get right as a landlord, what do you need in place?
Alison: Absolutely, it’s very unusual really for any property that it is correctly marketed to have any kind of void period in Harrogate now. The tenant demand is growing month by month and we are seeing a massive shortage of all sorts of houses within the Harrogate area. So really to make sure you don’t get this void period you need to basically present your property in the best possible way. By that I mean make sure it’s clean and tidy, any external area, gardens are well presented and obviously clean inside and well decorated because you want these people to treat it as a home and if you’re expecting them to move in with sub-standard accommodation, quite honestly they’re not going to treat it as you would want them to treat it and it will lead to further problems down the line.
Alex: So, it’s almost like having it in if you like, show home type standard.
Alison: Absolutely yes.
Alex: And I’m assuming sort of does it matter if it’s furnished or unfurnished, is there a preference where we are at the moment?
Alison: I think generally it’s easier to let properties which are unfurnished and then perhaps to have an agreement where you may be willing to provide one or two pieces of furniture if required. It depends if you’re talking about a big detached family home or a small bedsit or two-bed new starter home something like that. But generally, it’s better to let the properties unfurnished and then as a landlord you don’t have that issue at the end of the tenancy where your family heirlooms or items of high value have been left in the property and perhaps have been slightly marked or damaged or just general wear and tear.
Alex: Bit of hot topic but Menwith Hill, the number of employees there I gather, and everyone sort of understands they’re all going back to the States and they were a massive driving force behind this sort of letting market. Have you noticed much of an impact at this point?
Alison: Yeah certainly the last 18 months, the decrease in the number of Menwith Hill workers has had a big impact on certainly the luxury end of the Harrogate housing market, and I think that’s particularly come through in the upper end of the two-bed apartment rates. We’ve seen they’re certainly coming down slightly in price and there’s less demand for those at the moment.
Alex: Then I suppose on the flip side if I’m a tenant and I’m actively looking, how can I, I suppose, put myself in the best position so that Alison knows about me and I’m going to find that great property to rent out. What do I need to do from a tenancy perspective?
Alison: Ok, you need to make sure that you can move quickly and when you go to the viewing if your happy with it and you’re in a position to decide quickly.
Alex: There and then do you mean you can strike a deal.
Alison: Strike a deal or yes certainly within 24 hours at the end of the day it’s not our decision who gets to let the properties it’s always the landlord, so we have to get as much information as possible to give to the landlord after viewing for him or her to make that decision. But you know if we feel that person is the right person for the property then you know then let’s close a deal.
Alex: Does it matter about credit reference and that side of things? So, again if you’re a tenant prior to going down the route with yourselves and finding a property, you almost want to go on one of these websites and do all the background checks and ensure that’s all-in line, you look into that nowadays as well?
Alison: Yes, before anybody can move into a property, we’ll do a full credit reference check on them which will include employment checks, salary checks, previous landlord reference, credit reference as well. So, anything that could come back, you’re much better to be honest and upfront about that at your viewing because it’s not something we would look brightly on if it comes out at a later date once the application has been and fees being paid.
Alex: Ok, understand, I mean do most letting agents do that? Is that the standard doing that number of checks?
Alison: That’s the standard now yes.
Alex: How do you get around it? I mean, again, you hear scaremonger albeit that I don’t know, the tenant abuses the property, they paint the walls all black for example, what do you do from a letting agent perspective and indeed a landlord perspective to mitigate that, to ensure that doesn’t happen, or there are no real guarantees, what can you do to protect yourself?
Alison: I can reassure your listeners that it happens very rarely in Harrogate, we’ve got very good properties and very good tenants and very good landlords on the whole. And where there is accidental damage or where there is excessive wear and tear during the tenancy, most tenants are happy to contribute towards the cost of repairing or replacing that at the end of the tenancy. It’s really important that landlords and agents do make regular inspections of the property so any issues that may come to light, you can deal with effectively at the beginning of the tenancy, rather than at the end of the tenancy and we lodge all our deposits through the deposit protection scheme.
Alex: I was going to ask about that, how does that actually work? This is relatively new all of the deposit schemes, just sort of fill everyone in on this.
Alison: So, the deposit protection scheme or the DPS, is a government backed scheme where an agent or a landlord taking the deposit is required to lodge that deposit within 30 days of the start of the tenancy. What a good agent will do is they will go round at the start of the tenancy before they hand the keys over and make a full written and photographic inventory of all the items in the house and the condition at the time the tenants make that commitment to sign the tenancy agreement. That then stands as a benchmark to assess any wear and tear or damage or dilapidations at the end of the tenancy, when another inventory is undertaken with the photographs and you can compare photographic evidence on the table. There are occasions where it isn’t possible to agree the retentions and the dilapidations and at that stage it unfortunately has to go through the DPS adjudication process.
Alex: So, it goes a bit more legal in that case within it actually goes through the government scheme for them to resolve?
Alison: That’s right, the DPS actually hold the tenants deposit, so the tenant doesn’t need to worry that its held with the agent or the landlord, so they can take increased confidence that their money is being held by a third party.
Alex: Is there any sort of major or significant difference I suppose from a tenants view point that if the property they’re in is managed either by you as the letting agent or indeed I suppose is managed privately by the landlords, are there things from a tenants point of view that you should be mindful of when entering into a agreement or because of again these government schemes there, it doesn’t really necessarily matter these days?
Alison: I think if you’re renting from a private landlord always check where he’s going to lodge your deposit and make sure that you get the appropriate paperwork so you know where that money’s held and make sure that obviously you’re renting from someone that you feel that you can get along with, perhaps someone that’s local and has local contacts in place if you’ve got a repair, you’re not dealing with an overseas landlord where it may take 2-3 days to get in touch with and that obviously repairs can be actioned promptly.
Alex: There are some very significant organisations really that are specialists in the letting side of things and they use sort of two or three offices locally, where do you feel that Lentin Smith adds value or does something that’s different in comparison to the bigger set-ups if you like?
Alison: As a business we’re set up and run by landlords and they’re a very experienced team of property managers and we are independent, and we do offer a very specialised property management service. We are extremely proud of what we’ve built up over the last eight years and we continue to grow and expand really on the recommendation of our landlords and I think that speaks volumes of how we operate. And I would just like to stress that we are local people, who know the market and as a business we’ve invested in technology to be able to offer our landlords and clients a login portal to access their property information 24/7, which obviously helps them at that awful time of year when you have to do your tax returns or any other accounting information you need to do. We offer wide angle photography, 360-degree virtual tools and floorplans on all our properties now. So, the other tip for landlords when they’re marketing their property is to make sure that the agent has time to do a thorough market appraisal of your property, make sure you’ve got the best photographs and it’s presented in the best light. Also, my advice would be don’t necessarily go with the agent who thinks he can get you the best price. Sometimes its that time it takes holding on to that final £25 or whatever it is you’re looking for, that will eat into your costs because you’ve got a longer void period and sometimes its those tenants that feel they are paying top dollar on their rent will demand everything to be 100% perfect in their property, 100% of the time, which may cost you more in the long run with monthly repair bills.
Alex: Now, I have from my experience, certainly the marketing side of things, so many letting agents just don’t even bother doing floor plans and it can be sort of infuriating if you’re trying to point a client in the right direction. I suppose almost to finish on this I suppose, you’ve got the luxurious position someone like you that you’re seeing a lot of properties, day-in day-out you must have a lot of funny stories up your sleeve that have happened in your career, please share.
Alison: Well it never ceases to amaze me how many tenants and people will open the door with no clothes on! Not something I’d do but there’s a lot of people out there who don’t seem to mind.
Alex: And they’ve just been caught out!
Alison: Yes, not that they’ve been too embarrassed.
Alex: It does happen. Just remind everyone Alison if they wanted to sort of touch base with you, what’s the best number to reach you on?
Alison: Feel free to call me at the office its 01423 817777 or you can contact us via our website which is www.lentinsmith.co.uk
Alex: That’s great Alison, really appreciate your time and thank you for coming in.
If you have an empty residential or commercial property, how can you secure it? What must you do to ensure your insurance will cover you? What are the tips and tricks in this industry? Hear property consultant Alex Goldstein interview Nick Bye from Vacant Property Solutions (VPS) during this in-depth talk about vacant property tips on his StrayFM radio show.
Interviewer: Talking about vacant property specialists. Just talk everyone through exactly what you do because I think it’s a really hot area at the moment, especially if you’ve got a commercial premises. Just talk in just general terms the services that you guys offer.
Nick: So my role and responsibility is to work with a broad range of clients in and around the Yorkshire Northeast region. Our organization, VPS, is national however, and it’s to look at the risks that vacant properties incur on a day-to-day basis, so that can be from a vandalism perspective, theft, or the most important one in and around these areas is the insurance aspect of that as well.
Interviewer: Yeah. I know you’ve also got this sort of specialist Guardian type service, which you hear bits and pieces of, but I don’t think anyone’s really got any idea as to what that actually entails, and obviously I suppose the financial benefits of doing that as well, if you have an empty, I don’t know, hotel, or bed and breakfast, or something like that.
Nick: Absolutely, yes. So the Guardian piece started off in central London and the idea behind the Guardian piece is that we can move so far on from the original security, which is just going to a commercial property, putting steels on it, and putting alarms on it. At the end of the day, that’s a cost to a commercial client. So the idea behind the Guardian piece is VPS go and source, vet, and CBRE check tenants that can actually live in these properties. So if you can imagine, you’ve got a large property, let’s say in the center of London, you’ve got a vacant hotel that may cost you upwards of £2,000 to secure on a weekly basis. VPS can provide guardians, which would actually generate a revenue based on the fact that we will charge them a weekly rental for the property, and the most important thing, which is why the Guardian piece is becoming so popular across the UK, is that actually because there are living people, specialist Guardians that we provide, that would reduce business rates down to council tax.
Interviewer: Yeah. That’s a bit of a key point at the moment. Certainly, business rates keep on creeping up and up and up. Who are these tenants? How do you find them? Who are these sort of individuals that sort of come in and say, “Well, I’ll live in a couple of rooms in the hotel.” How do you find them and how do they find you?
Nick: Well, a lot of people seem to think that we go to the local music festivals and hold a board up saying that we’ve got some cheap rooms for rent in Leeds, York, or Sheffield, but we actually have a specific Guardian application system, where we have got a portal where we store all the Guardian’s details. Now, these are professional people. These are doctors, or nurses, or people that work in the professions that are looking to stay in a certain city, due to placements, for six to nine months. We have to do two years’ background check in. They have to earn a certain amount of money, and we actually go in and check the properties on a week and week basis to see that they are working in line with our mitigation.
Interviewer: So, I mean, it’s literally not Fred off the street. I mean, as you said these are very professional individuals, and it may be that they’ve got to be based up in Yorkshire during the week because of their job, but their family and their base happens to be, I don’t know, back down south in London. It’s that type of individual…
Nick: Yeah, exactly. And the great thing about the Guardian services, VPS’s, it’s not a case of we will find the person then go, “There you go,” or like, “You need to go sort the property out.” We will actually make the property Guardian-worthy for you. So with that is putting partition walls in, putting toilet facilities in because there are certain regulations that you’ve got to abide by. There is, but we actually do all those services in-house. So we can actually take a property and say, “Right. That is perfectly suitable for Guardians.” And then in an ideal world, we would come back to it a couple of months later, and say, “Right. This is your saving from business rates to council tax, and we actually, we’ve made your property Guardian-worthy.”
Interviewer: And what happens on the reverse side, if it’s not a livable type of property? I don’t know, it’s a warehouse, or it’s a dilapidated apartment, you can’t actually put an individual in there, or it’s not what the landlord wants. Fine, you’ve got the sort of, I suppose, the security in terms of just boarding it up, but then it’s a fairly ugly site. Are there any variations of that, or any things behind the scenes that you can, I suppose, make it more as aesthetically pleasing?
Nick: Yeah, yeah. I mean, one thing that we developed for the exact reason was a product called decals. Now, we do provide the steel screens, and you’re right, they are some of the most ugly things you’ve seen in your life, and probably wouldn’t suit Harrowgate town center very well. So decals are specific steel screens that are designed to place on the outskirts of the property with the exact same security level as steel screens, but you can give us a design that will go on the front of those steel screens. So as you could imagine, they can be either made up of two doors, windows, stained glass window, if you fancy being really fancy, or anything like that. And those could be created completely bespoke to what you want to blend into the high…
Interviewer: So you’re literally printing up giant stickers to look like the facade of that property?
Nick: Exactly like it, and there are examples where unless you go up extremely close to these properties, if you were driving past, it would be very difficult to notice the difference, and that’s not just to maintain, you know, with the local community, so it doesn’t stick out. But I would know that if I was a prospective buyer driving past these sites, the decals would look much more attractive in terms of where I see that property going as opposed to just steel screens that are placed on the outside of them. So, yes.
Interviewer: Yeah, absolutely because I suppose everyone then if you’ve got exposed windows, everyone’s about, sort of worried about vandalism, and graffiti, and dare I say, people getting inside. How does it actually work from a pure security point of view, when you talk about sort of cameras, and remote videoing, and monitoring?
Nick: Yeah, so because we’re the one-stop shop when it comes to these solutions, in terms of what we can provide, the alarms that we offer that have been developed, built, and installed by our in-house teams, because situations are always going to arise, no matter if you put steel on the property, or Guardians, but unfortunately there may be break ins at the site. Now, because of these alarms that we’ve developed in-house, that are responded to by our in-house team, we’ve got 27 service centers nationally across the UK, with over 500 staff that are on the ground. So you can imagine, we’ve got our own RVRC system, which is basically our own alarm monitoring system, which is based in Manchester. So all those are recorded and monitored by our in-house team. So if someone does, for whatever reason, break into the property, we’ve got the ability to respond to that on a very timely manner. The great thing about the alarm system is based on the fact that a lot of these properties are vacant. You don’t wanna be having to switch utilities on and the risk of utilities being left on. They are all wireless and they’re all battery-powered as well. So there’s no need to have any wires running in and around the property, and there’s no need to have any form of power running to it either.
Interviewer: And then obviously, it’s not a case of someone creeping in, and cutting the wire, and they can get in because again, all of that sort of thing is backed up.
Nick: Exactly, and the actual alarm unit that we create itself is made out of the same material. There’s riot shield. It’s got an anti-tamper device. It’s not one of those kind of things that you would you just stick on the wall and you can go and pull off. There are actually videos on YouTube with people taking baseball bats to these things, and so much so that if they do manage to do some damage to it, it will lay down and play dead, but will still carry on sending a signal to our service center.
Interviewer: Got you. So you really, really, really are secure?
Nick: Yeah. Absolutely, yeah.
Interviewer: If you’re away and we’re obviously, I suppose… certainly the commercial owners mindful, worried, given the summer supposedly upon us, with the weather soon, everyone hopes, you’ve obviously got summer parties and raves, and you always hear about them sort of crashing into an office or warehouse. What sort of thing could you provide, if you were, an empty warehouse, and you’re worried about that? What would you go through? I know we talked about the screens and the videos, but are there any other sort of pointers that you would give for those landlords or owners?
Nick: Absolutely. I mean, there are certain elements that would apply to certain properties depending on the size of it. The most important thing and the most important message that I give to my clients is that this solution is cheaper and easier than the cure. So once people like that actually get into the property, it’s extremely difficult to get them out. So simple things like concrete barriers that we can provide over the entrance. A lot of people don’t think like that, because people can not actually get the cars or vehicles onto the site. So concrete barriers are a massive, massive, massive deterrent for people like that. So that is one of the biggest tips that I can give to people, to look at the simple approach because sometimes the simplest solution is the most effective one.
Interviewer: What about the point of insurance? Because again, obviously, if a property’s lived in, and we talked on the Guardian side of things, your insurance is gonna be one thing. If you’ve got a vacant property, how does that sort of work, and what are the measures you should take?
Nick: Yeah, we work with the biggest commercial insurers. We work with AXA, ALIGNED, and Standard Life, and we are their preferred supplier purely because of the measures that we go to ensure that a property is insurance compliant. Now, if I was to say to you, what would you think you would need to do to ensure that a property is of a certain standard when it is vacant, could you give me some of the things that you believe?
Interviewer: Everyone always thinks sort of locking at the doors, turning off the lights, and sorting out the services, and as you said, probably putting it in a video camera. But, I guess, it’s always gonna be the small things that everyone’s gonna forget.
Nick: Absolutely, yeah. Absolutely. So it’s little things like, and a lot of people don’t know, is the sealing of the letterbox. Now, that may just be a £25 pound transaction to get that done, but the majority of the main insurers, if that action is not taken, would not pay out if something was to happen at the site. We have had specific examples of this at VPS, whether of extremely large, expensive office blocks located in the city center. Now, the reason why is that, if you can imagine, if you’ve got an open letterbox, and if you vacated the site, the post and the junk mail isn’t going to stop coming. So it piles up and piles up behind the letterbox. All someone needs to do is go in there and put a match to it, and then the building is aflame.
Interviewer: And it’s gone.
Nick: And that is your responsibility to ensure that that letterbox has been sealed. Otherwise, technically, the combustibles behind that they have been given access to. So it’s extremely important, and again, one of the biggest things in all the sites that I drive past, is always the main thing that people don’t pick up on, is ensuring that that letterbox is sealed.
Interviewer: So a £25 seal could save you literally millions, because if an insurer doesn’t pay out, you’re on your own?
Nick: Yes, and as we all know, insurers will do whatever they can to not pay out, and so it’s important, from your perspective, that you’ve got the confidence in the person that you know that is going to the site, knows what they are looking for, and knows what they need to be securing from a vacant property perspective.
Interviewer: And have you got any sort of examples in Yorkshire of sites and properties that you’ve helped?
Nick: Absolutely. I mean, we deal with such a broad range of property. Whether that be from… because we’ve got social arm of our company as well. So whether that be the local housing associations that we work with, or right up to the real big projects. And one of those, and the best example, was probably Hickleton Hall, which is basically in Doncaster. It’s an extremely large stately home. Stately homes are full of things that people would like to remove from stately homes, copper wiring, lead on the roof, or the boilers. So we were tasked by the company Sue Ryder, the charity that actually owned the property, after they closed it down, unfortunately, to go in and provide the most effective, cost-effective security solution. Now, man guarding is another thing to come on. It’s one of those things that people will always revert to when looking for security, but because of the ever spiraling cost, the increase of national living wage, for some companies it’s not just a viable security solution. So we went in there, did one of our full free site risk assessments, where we go in and do a 52 point check question on the property, look at what it needs. Is it low medium risk? We’ll also do an evaluation of the local area, look at crime statistics and provide a solution, a bespoke solution, based on what we believe that site needs. And in this instance, for Hickleton Hall, we secured the entire property with steel screens on the outside, also provide internal security alarms as well to monitor that, as well as smoke alarms.
Now, the reason we provide smoke alarms is that Hickleton Hall, prior to us installing these smoke alarms, they were receiving five or six call-outs from the fire department every single week. Now, I didn’t actually know this, but as soon as you go over a certain amount of call-outs by the fire brigade, they will start to fine you. So they were fining Hickleton Hall between £1,500 to £1,600 a week for unfulfilled call-outs, basically. So it’s £6,000 a month that’s just basically going down the drain. So because we can go and install our smoke detectors, and we can respond to that, I can assure you that our call-out charge is significantly less than that. And it’s much, much, much better monitored, in terms of the fact that we can respond to it with a local team, as opposed to dragging resource out of local government and having to send that to what was basically an unfulfilled call-out charge.
Interviewer: So it sounds like Fort Knox, that one.
Nick: It needed to be Fort Knox. There was around about £500,000 worth of lead that was on the roof alone, because of the high profile of the site it was in the local paper. It was in the local news. Everyone who would want to go into a site like that to remove things would have been made aware of it quite quickly.
Interviewer: And the obvious question, did anyone get in and steal the £500,000 lead roof?
Nick: Before we were there, there was an issue at the site. There were some numerous issues at the site, and then when it was raised to us, we managed to secure the property within 24 hours, and there has been zero issues at that site since.
Interviewer: Well, you heard it here first. Nick, it’s fantastic to talk with you and hear just a bit more and an insight into VPS. Now, if anyone wanted to sort of touch base with you and talk through any of their issues, what’s the best number to reach you on?
Nick: The best number to contact me on, I’ll give you my email address, which is nicholas.buy@vpsgroup.com and the best contact telephone numbers is my mobile number, which is 07738818874.
Interviewer: Nick, fantastic and thanks so much for coming on.
Get the inside track when it comes to architects – what do they actually offer and how do they go about it? What are the key tips and tricks to look out for according to experienced architect Nick Silcock of Townscape Architects.
Full transcript below:
Alex: It’s great to have Nick Silcock here from Townscape Architects in Harrogate. Nick thanks very much indeed for sparing the time to come in.
Nick: No problem Alex, delighted to meet you.
Alex: Thanks very much and just talk us through, again there’s a lot of confusion out there, you hear all these job titles and job terms, just sort of steer everyone in the right direction here. I hear sort of there’s the architects, the technologists and there’s the planning consultants. What do these people do, how do they all fit together on the architectural side of things and what you do?
Nick: So, there is vast differences between the architects, the architectural technologists and the planning consultant. Generally, the architect will have studied at university for seven years and will be very design focussed, he will study a Bachelor of Arts qualification and he will be there to open up your vision for a property, a piece of land for a development you have in mind and he will be able to pick up an idea and run with it, deliver that vision.
Alex: So, he is mostly the artist, if you like?
Nick: The artist, he’s the creative guy, he will also probably have the skill set to take that vision through the planning process, through the technical design process and be able to provide all the services that you need to deliver a construction project from that initial conception through to the last nut and bolt and sweeping up on site.
Alex: And that’s you?
Nick: That’s me.
Alex: So then on the technologist side, who’s that?
Nick: Generally, they will study for around four years. They study a Bachelor of Science qualification. So, they are far more technical in their skill set. So, a successful architectural practice is likely to employ a technologist to be able to deliver the technical aspects, the technical drawings and provide the fire power behind the scenes to actually do the drawings. So, it’s very much less or generally less design orientated but they’re and they have a very strong skill set than in a technical understanding of how buildings go together.
Alex: Yeah, so to do the most of the engineering, the build of it and how it’s actually all going to come together, the jigsaw part?
Nick: Absolutely.
Alex: And then the other bit as you said, was the planning consultant. What do they actually do?
Nick: Ok, so planning consultants, they’re often used, and we would work with a planning consultant on those sites where they are harder to achieve planning permission. Either that local residents are adverse to some kind of development on the site and so there’s lots of objections, or alternatively the site goes against planning policy as in the local council, the planning department will have a policy of saying how a piece of land should be used. If you then go against that policy, then a planning consultant can be used to interpret the policy and to out together a case to demonstrate that actually the proposal that is being put forward is fit for that site. So, an architect can often work with a planning consultant side by side, the architect would have the vision, the creativity and will do the drawings and designs, whereas the planning consultant is very much more policy driven, they are experts in the legal side of it absolutely. So, we work with a consultant to deliver on those more harder to achieve sites.
Alex: Great some great explanations there, thank you very much and finally there are a couple of architects in and around town. What do homeowners need to look for in a architect? I dare say it varies on the project type, that are the key differences, what are the pitfalls to avoid if you like?
Nick: Ok so when you’re picking your architect for your project bare in mind you’re going to be working with your architect for a year or two years depending on the nature of the project. So, the first thing is you need to make sure you get on with your architect, you need to trust him to deliver your vision to actually do what he says he’s going to do. So, first and foremost make sure you like the architect, make sure you get on with him, make sure he’s on your wave length. The next thing to do is to look at what the architect does, does he do a project like the one you want to undertake? So, for example if he only builds high rise apartments and you want a cosy extension on the back of your house, perhaps not the best match in terms of a architect so look at what the architect does, look at the types of projects he’s undertaken in the past. Does the style of how he designs meet your style, your vision of what you want to achieve on your project and then perhaps ask for references for the architect. A good architect will be willing to provide references from customers and clients they have worked with, speak to those references, check out this architect and also just check the architect’s qualification. Check they are registered with the necessary bodies. The architect registration board would hold details of that architect’s qualification to be called an architect, it’s a protected title and that architect will be registered on the ARB website.
Alex: Just talk through the process of getting planning and what it entails and surveys and costs. Just give people an idea of what to expect.
Nick: Ok, so in terms of the process, the process of design and the project would always start with the client brief. The brief is a vision of what you want to achieve, it can be a technical document, setting out a list of criteria of what you want to achieve on your project or it could be a series of images, a scrapbook almost of pictures of properties that you like, things you don’t like also because you want your architect to understand who you are and what you want to achieve. So, give him the pictures of things you like and things you don’t like, and he can quite, he or she, can quite easily pick up on your style and your preferred choice of design.
Alex: So, then you get the drawings made up and then when it’s time to go to, in this instance Harrogate Borough Council, what’s the process and the timeline involved there?
Nick: So, the next step in the process is, once you’ve got the brief defined and it’s a working document with your architect, it’s a very important document, that sets out where you see the project going, the architect can then start his process of surveying the property, because your architect would need a set of plans to work from in the first instance, to then be able to develop and design ideas with you, to then move the project forward through the creative design phase. The creative design phase is the really interesting part of the project, this is where we churn out the ideas, we work with you, we use our expertise and the vision for your property to actually push design to the absolute limits, and with you will work with you to design and develop the optimum layout for your house. That will then be used to prepare a planning application, a planning application for a typical domestic project is eight weeks.
Alex: Than after that eight weeks all being well, the council say, yes happy to approve that and you can get on with the building works as soon as that comes through.
Nick: There are a few more milestones to achieve. The next stages after that are to prepare the more technical drawings that you will need, that a builder would need to build from. So, he’ll need to understand how is the house built, what type of materials, what type of products, what type of insulation for example. That is called the building regulations phase. So, your architect or technologist will prepare you technical drawings at that stage and they are submitted to the council or to a building inspector for an approval of those plans. At that point you can then start to obtain quotes from builders based upon those drawings and when you’re ready to start work it’s about informing building control that you’re commencing on site 48 hours in advance.
Alex: Crikey, so it’s a bit more complicated than I think everyone first thinks. As I said in the first sentence, it’s all well and good thinking to go and get planning for that extension but it’s quite a lot of steps to go through.
Nick: There are other steps after it to go through but a architect will be able to guide you through those steps to make your life simple.
Alex: I suppose just flipping it back the other way, we’ve obviously seen the rise of George Clarke on Amazing Spaces for example and I suppose the obvious question is, well look Nick, it’s all well and good talking through all of that, do I actually need a architect at the end of the day for an extension again, I hear on TV it must be so easy, George Clarke says oh you know what let’s go and build, let’s go and do something and it’s all within this, new permitted development rules, where does George stop and you guys take over?
Nick: Ok so you’re in the industry Alex, you know that a well-designed property is going to be worth more, its going to sell quicker, it’s going to get more enquiries. So, a well-designed property is worth the investment. So a architect will go above and beyond your property, he will achieve that next level, it will be designed, it will be executed to the highest of standards, the space will be utilised in every direction, it will be a space you get enjoyment from.
Alex: And where do you stand with the permitted development? I know it’s beyond a certain size that you then have to go through the full planning process, but up until that point you can get away with it and I suppose sneak it in if you like, a lot of people think that.
Nick: No, you can’t sneak it in. The permitted development is a set criteria basically and you have to keep within a certain height, certain size, certain distance from the boundary and you can generally build a small-scale extension under permitted development.
Alex: A conservatory type thing?
Nick: Generally, yeah, some houses have their permitted development rights removed so be very cautious of that in that doesn’t apply to every single house. And it doesn’t or can’t be applied sometimes to very bespoke houses, that are developed over a number of years and have been extended previously so always tread with caution. The permitted development rights are great, it does give you an excellent opportunity to extend a house without having to go through the planning process, so they can be a great opportunity, however tread with caution. Now seek advice before you actually start building.
Alex: Some great thoughts there thank you and again you get the planning permission for example, you now want to build it out again, it’s a split choice decision, some people say well I want my architect, yourself, just to project manager and sort of oversee it all and other people sort of say, thanks Nick, thanks for doing that and then they chuck it out to the builders. What are the pros and cons of doing this? And I guess you guys drew the plans, you know what’s going on.
Nick: It goes down to your experience, if you have built something before, if we’ve prepared all the drawings and a competence test, the drawings could be passed to a competent builder to build from without a project management service. But, do you have that link with the builder? Do you have that relationship and trust with the builder that they’re going to do a great job for you? Are you going to be able to monitor the quality of the work on the site? Are you comfortable with what you’re getting from the builder? And are you comfortable that you’re paying them the right amount of money? So, your architect or your architectural practice will be able to guide you through the process in terms of the tender process, in terms of finding your builder, finding the right builder for that project and then to manage the payment so you’re never paying out more than you should be to the builder and also checking the quality of the work along the way.
Alex: So, it comes back to exactly what I’ve always been saying to people, it’s experience. You have the experience of what to look for, its exactly the same on the estate agency side, if you built up that time and experience within that and you know now what you’re doing, you’re fully able to advise clients because if you know, you know and if you don’t you’re going to be left out in the cold as they say. I suppose a lot of people think that architects, not particularly glamorous, you’re stuck in a back-office sort of thing. How would you counteract that?
Nick: Architecture is a wonderful business, we work with such a wide range of people, we get to meet a wide range of people, ranging from people who want to extend or renovate a house, up to we work wit charities, and working with charities is great because they need a guiding hand through the projects and through the charity projects we’ve worked on we’ve then got to meet quite a few celebrities and Royals at openings.
Alex: Go on drop a few names.
Nick: Ok I’ll drop a few names, Princess Anne opened a building last June, which we designed, had a really interesting 5-10-minute conversation with her on tarmac and what specification of tarmac was being used in the car park. AP McCoy was at the opening as well along with the racing celebrities and Sophie Countess of Wessex also opened a project for us in Cookridge a few years ago. So, met some wonderful people along the way.
Alex: Well look at you. Well some fantastic tips and tricks there for architects and if you want to I suppose drop Nick a line and hand out with some his royal clientele, what is the best way to reach you?
Nick: Website is townscape-architects.co.uk phone number 01423 505924.
Alex: Nick fantastic, thanks so much for coming on.
Nick: Thank you Alex.
Why should you look into professional property photography rather than just letting the estate agent take them? What value can a photographer add to the process and why it makes sense to instruct one. Hear it all from a photographer widely used by the agents to hear his viewpoint.
Interviewer: Very exciting indeed to have Ben Thornton here in the studio with me. He really is a very experienced property photographer. Ben, thanks very much for coming in. I suppose, one of the main questions that you often come across, and certainly I come across, is why people feel that it’s necessary to use a professional photographer when at the end of the day, a lot of estate agents nowadays they’ve got the, I say, professional-looking digital camera kit. What’s the difference between an agent just doing a point and shoot camera versus someone like yourself at Planpics?
Ben: Well, I think the most important point is an estate agent has got 101 things on their to-do list, whereas a property photographer has one thing, and that’s to take images that will sell the house. Firstly, they’ve got the latest and the best kits, lighting, cameras, lenses, whereas the estate agent possibly won’t, will be just, in most cases, using their iPhone or point-and-shoot camera. The professional photographer will also advise on room layouts, you know, presentation, also revisit when the weather is better, possibly.
Interviewer: You mentioned about sort of presentation of a room, and I know this is very much a hot topic. What do you feel are the key points that you want to, I suppose, convey to people? Because often, it’s something that they get a bit het up about, they’re not quite sure what to do. With your experience, what are the key points they need to look for?
Ben: The advice I usually give is to de-clutter everything. That’s the first bit of advice I’d give. For an example, look at a sitting room. We’d normally pull all the sofas out as far as possible…
Interviewer: Yeah, good point.
Ben: …to make the ground space look as big as possible. What we’re not trying to do is to distort the truth by using fisheye lenses, but by, you know, moving the furniture to the edges of the room, we’ll make it feel lighter, brighter, airier.
Interviewer: Is it true that you want to be taking internal photographs on a bright day, or a rainy day, or how do you actually fit that in?
Ben: In the ideal world, it would be brilliant if we could have sun throughout the whole year in England, but for the majority of cases, an overcast day for internal photos is an advantage, because with the lighting kit that we use internally, we can control the lighting and create some really fabulous pictures.
Interviewer: I guess it’s a case of when you sometimes see that you’ve just got that big flash of white light against the windows, with what you use, you can actually see straight through into the garden. It’s as your eyes would see it.
Ben: Yes, that’s right, yeah. I mean, it’s down to a number of things. It’s down to the actual cameras we’re using, the techniques we’re using, and the lighting, but, you know, getting all of those things right makes the shots that we provide the agent essentially look like what you’re seeing. If anything, better.
Interviewer: Yeah, I know. And correct me if I’m wrong, I think it’s a common misconception whereby people almost get confused, because what you’re very sensitive eyes see versus, let’s face it, sadly, a bit of plastic camera kit sees, then has gotta be printed out, I think are two very, well, I think, extreme opposites and it’s how you sort of work the room and get the best presentation out of it.
Ben: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I think it’s just getting the balance exactly right, everything from the colors to the room presentation, the lighting. We put a lot of effort, I would say probably over half of the time is in the editing, which again is over and above what your agent would do with a point and press camera.
Interviewer: Again, it’s a real hot topic because I often see, again, it’s two extremes. You often see these very heavily edited, evidently it’s done through on Photoshop where you’ve got the Mediterranean skyline that we had today, but hold on, the original picture was taken in winter, or it’s actually pouring with rain. Where’s that fine line for you?
Ben: As we talked about the internal pictures, it’s not always a beautiful day, so, but with the external pictures and blue skies, for about 80% of the time, we replace and add blue skies. But we do it in a very, very subtle way.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Ben: So to the untrained eye, it’s not noticeable.
Interviewer: I know there are alternatives such as masked photography, and just talk everyone through that because I know it’s, again, it’s a term widely thrown around, but what does that actually entail?
Ben: Yeah, so we use portable elevated masts. And basically, what they do is they give us…the camera sends up on a telescopic pole, around 40, 50 feet. In most cases, we only use elevation probably about 20 or 30 feet, max. And what it is is to, is basically to straighten the perspective of the property, rather than looking up at it. And it works just as well for a terraced house as it would do a £5 million country house. And the advantage of the ones that we’ve got, they’re portable. So, rather than driving a van through somebody’s garden, we can jump into the neighboring field, or tuck ourselves into a very tight space.
Interviewer: So it’s handheld, and it goes where you go, rather than, if you like, there are a few of them in and around the area whereby it’s actually bolted on physically to a van or a car, you are restricted by where that vehicle can go at the end of the day.
Ben: Yes, exactly. Yeah, the convenience is brilliant. So we can go into, like you say, neighboring gardens and get the perfect shot.
Interviewer: Where does it stand, once you’ve taken the images and you’ve…fine, you’ve given them to the estate agent? Who actually, I say, owns those photographs? Is it done on a license, is it copyright, does the agent own them, does the actual homeowner own them? Where does the land lie with you?
Ben: Well, usually the agreements that we have with the agent is that we own the photographs.
Interviewer: Yep.
Ben: The instructing agent can use that photograph for whatever purpose they see fit, whether it be for selling the house, for just general presentation on their website, other marketing. If a homeowner instructs us directly, they’ve got full use of the pictures, and if they swap instructing agents, they can take those pictures with them also.
Interviewer: So, if for example the agent instructs you, but it’s actually the homeowner that, effectively, is paying you directly rather than the agent, what happens then? Do the photographs belong to the homeowner, or do they belong to the agent?
Ben: Well, in that case, where the homeowner is paying us directly, yeah, the homeowner gets the full use of the pictures, and can do whatever they want with them. It’s only when the instructing agents pays [inaudible 00:06:25] it’s for their use only.
Interviewer: It all comes back to effectively, who’s paid you. Whether it’s the agent, in which case it’s over to them, and if it happens to be the homeowner, albeit could be through the agent, then they own it as well.
Ben: Yes, that’s right.
Interviewer: Got you. Just in summary, what should people who are thinking of coming on to the market, what do they actually need to look for? Because again, it’s a fairly competitive sector, property photography. There are quite a few people that do it. What are the key elements that homeowners need to look for in a professional photographer such as yourself?
Ben: Well, firstly, I think when looking for a photographer is to, well, for property, is to find somebody who only takes pictures of properties.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Ben: Rather than moonlights as a wedding photographer, as a portrait photographer.
Interviewer: That’s a very good point, yes.
Ben: You know, someone whose speciality is property photography. And then, secondly, you know, looking at the experience, what they’ve done. Because anybody can buy a camera from Jessops and call themselves a professional photographer. But, you know, you need to see examples of what they’ve done. Whichever agent you ultimately go with, they should be able to provide you with plenty of examples of, you know, what they’ve done, internal, external pictures, elevated shots. Obviously, with using a specialist property photographer, they’ll be able to give you the time to, you know, discuss property presentation, and if the weather is poor, to revisit.
Interviewer: That’s really great, Ben. Thanks very much indeed. Just tell everyone, if they want to reach you, just tell them the website and your contact number.
Ben: Yes. If you would like to contact me, please go to www.planpics.com, and my number is 07968-445329.
Interviewer: Ben, that’s great. Thanks very much indeed for coming on.
Property consultant Alex Goldstein delves into the world of decorating, interviewing a highly regarded Harrogate decorator Robert Crossman from Gold Standard Decorators. What tips and tricks would he advise? Look to redecorate your home – what should you look out for?
Gold Standard’s Robert Crossman divulges his numerous years of experience to give you the best advice out there when it comes to decorators.
Full transcript below:
Alex: It’s great to have Robert Crossman from Gold Standard Decorators here in the studio with me. I often sum Robert up, he’s the only decorator I know that listens to dare I say Classic FM and that is all you need to know about the guy. Great to have you here Robert, thank you for coming in. I suppose getting straight into it, when it comes to selling your home I think a lot of thought goes into colour schemes, what is actually best, because I think the media say one thing, you’ve probably got a completely different angle on it all as well. Just talk everyone through your thinking.
Robert: Well you do have to go neutral. You might love aqua marine, you might love aubergine, but the chances are the people looking to buy your home won’t. So, if you’ve got a neutral colour my preference these days and it’s definitely on the upper curve of the designer chart is an off-white with a grey tint, looks chic, looks clean, doesn’t stand out as being yellow like magnolia might for example and people can see the size of the rooms much better in a lighter paint than a dark paint.
Alex: What’s the issue in your eyes with just going white? Because again a lot of the TV and the newspapers say take everything out, paint it white and away you go, what’s wrong with that in your eyes?
Robert: Right well, if you have a grand designs style contemporary home then you’ll probably already be white, so that would be good. If you’re a Victorian semi then white wasn’t and in my opinion generally has never been a colour of choice for people in period properties, and white all over might suggest that the owners have slapped on a quick coat of emulsion very quickly to hide all sorts of, goodness knows what rather than portray a sensible colour scheme as I’m suggesting.
Alex: You’ve obviously seen a lot of properties like myself, what do you advise in terms of presenting your room when it comes to selling? What would you say to homeowners?
Robert: Well you have to remember that somebody looking at your home isn’t going to comment on what a wonderful colour scheme you have or how gorgeous your furniture is, how super the carpets are in oatmeal or beige, they’re going to pick out the clutter, the untidiness the uncleanliness and any crack, crevice, hole or scuff mark they will definitely see. So, all of those have got to go, you’ve got to declutter, you’ve got to clean and although it’s time consuming a quick decorate throughout will resolve all of those issues and it won’t take you that much longer than a good deep clean and will probably add to the value of your property.
Alex: You mention about those hairline cracks and sort of plaster work defections sometimes you sort of get. What do you do from a decorating perspective, how can you get around this?
Robert: Well everybody will have heard of course, the secret to a good decorating job is preparation. That’s broadly true. I normally think that a decorating job you’re going to spend days on the prep and hours on the paint, so pitching has got to be right, cracks have to be gouged out, filled, sanded and if needed repeat the process.
Alex: And people often want to I suppose add value to their kitchens, very much something that’s a hot topic today, do they replace the kitchen, or can they add value to the kitchen in another way, what are your thoughts when it comes to kitchens?
Robert: Well in the old days people used to say that the kitchen probably added more value to your home than just about anything else in the home. In my experience these days people will almost certainly rip out the kitchen whatever it is, whether it’s high end, middle end or low end so I certainly wouldn’t recommend replacing the kitchen. If it’s looking a bit battered and a bit worn you can certainly smarten it up, there are primers available today that stick to anything, glass, Formica, metal and then onto that you can paint whatever finish and whatever colour you like, and it’ll make it look clean and respectable. And the people who buy the house will almost certainly rip it out anyway.
Alex: Quite right but I suppose for initial presentation purposes.
Robert: Yeah it stops them being hit with a big negative.
Alex: It’s often a bit of a hot topic in the decorating world, dare I say, you’ve got the brands out there, you’ve got the Farrow and Balls at the very high end, you’ve got the Dulux’s and you’ve got the trade paints and the more value end. What is the actual difference? Is there much? You can obviously colour match but how do you see it?
Robert: In terms of quality of paint, I don’t suppose there’s much difference. Farrow and Ball make claims about the quality of their paint. Most professional decorators don’t particularly like using Farrow and Ball mainly because often you have to use three coats, super finish though it’s absolutely dead flat matte, which gives an almost chalky like appearance. Not practical if you have pets or children because it can’t be washed. The trade paints like Johnston’s, Leyland’s and Dulux are all good quality paints and as all your listeners will know Alex, paint is a solid suspended in a liquid, either solvent based or increasingly these days water-based. The liquid evaporates leaving the solid behind, the solids generally speaking these days are vinyl, plastic. So, when you see vinyl matte, the water in the paint will evaporate off leaving a thin skin of vinyl, which is durable, washable and protects the surfaces, dries almost completely flat matte, it doesn’t have a sheen. I would recommend to anybody who still thinks that a shiny paint on the walls looks good, it doesn’t, get a matte.
Alex: What about window sills and skirting boards because that used to be the fashion of doing gloss on it.
Robert: Those people still when they’re looking at a decorating scheme still think the ceilings have to be brilliant white matte emulsion, all of the woodwork has to be brilliant white gloss. It doesn’t, and it shouldn’t, depending on the colour scheme your going for you can paint all of the wood and walls the same colour, which will make the room look bigger. And on the wood my preference certainly and I think most homeowner’s preferences would be for eggshell. It’s a nice flat-ish finish it doesn’t put a spot light on all of the imperfections that you’re going to get, particularly in older homes where you’ve got dents and signs of decades and generations of repair and redecoration to the wood and it gives a nice matte finish. But I know your listeners should think about being adventurous here and forego the white gloss on the wood, go for the same colour as the walls, try one room and see what you think. Always looks fantastic in my opinion.
Alex: And people often I suppose go to all the big DIY shops, they think it’s all fairly straightforward, with your experience why would you disagree with that? What are you putting in with your time that you’ve done in the trade?
Robert: As opposed to people DIY-ing or getting a decorator? Well I mean some DIY-ers are perfectly competent. I see a lot of houses where the DIY work has been terrific, I’ve seen more where it’s terrible. You’ve got to get paint on the surface that it’s supposed to go on and nothing else, clean lines between paint colours for example, blemishes shouldn’t be visible, cracks, blisters, holes shouldn’t be visible. People looking to buy a house will see all of these things, a quick slap over of a paint to hide badly prepared surfaces wont fool anybody, you’ve got to do a decent job and it is worth getting a decorator in. It’ll be a few hundred pounds you might not want to spend but it won’t give your possible purchaser a opportunity to knock something off your asking price because they’re going to decorate when they get in.
Alex: Quite and yes that’s one of your sort of cardinal sins with your experience in terms of as you said don’t cut a corner with the decorations and as you earlier said it’s all about the preparation work.
Robert: Yep it is. I have done a number of houses for customers where the house has been on the market, they’ve not been able to sell, we’ve gone in and we’ve redecorated top to bottom and it’s sold within a few weeks after that. It does make a huge difference and for relatively speaking a minimal outlay, it’s definitely worth doing.
Alex: Out of interest what’s your biggest frustration with other decorators within the industry because I suppose it’s got a bit more of a mixed reputation if you like?
Robert: Generally, it is a sweeping generalisation here, tradesmen in the main can be pretty untidy and when you’re working in somebody’s home they do expect you to treat it with respect and tidying up as you go around is a simple thing to do.
Alex: Yep and when it comes to redecorating a room finally what are your, one of the Robert Crossman gold standard top tips when it comes to that?
Robert: Clear rooms out and if you’re looking to decorate in order to help the sales process then don’t be tempted to go for daft colours. Just pick a nice neutral as I say something in the grey spectrum is definitely in and is chic. You can be adventurous and paint the wood the same colour as the walls as I’ve said. You don’t have to go completely crazy and strip off every bit of paper and put another bit of paper and paint over that, but blemishes that are visible to you will be visible to your purchaser so make sure you deal with those. If you’re just doing a redecoration for yourself and you’re not looking to sell your house then when you’ve cleared everything out of that room, go for a different colour scheme and don’t put everything back, take that opportunity to de-clutter, maybe even look at changing a few bits of furniture. These days you can buy side tables, lamp tables, lamps, things like that because the furniture of the room isn’t just what you sit on, it’s what you put books in and lamps on and the lighting in the room is crucial as well and all of that is affordable.
Alex: Some great top tips there Robert, thank you very much. And if people wanted to reach you what is the best contact details for you?
Robert: RCrossman@btinternet.com or 07793807991.
Alex: Fantastic Robert, thanks very much indeed for coming in.
Robert: My pleasure Alex thank you.
Join property expert Alex Goldstein and regarding home remover Val Evans from Evans International. Val discusses expert home removals top tips when it comes to this often misunderstood industry. Being a woman in this business sector is highly unusual. Val gives all her insight in to the industry, what you need to know when it comes to removals and moving home!
Full transcript below:
Voiceover: The Property Hot Seat
Name?
Val: Val Evans
Voiceover: Business?
Val: Evans International Limited
Voiceover: Years experience?
Val: Twelve years.
Alex: Great to have Val here in the studio with me and just to get a real insight and feel for the home removals business sector. Val, just sort of kicking things off I mean a lot of removals is a very stressful time. What are you actually doing that’s different? There are a lot of removers out there but how do you set yourself apart?
Val: Yeah, well here at Evans International we actually pride ourselves right from the very first call we make to you on the pre-move survey is to make sure that we’re looking after your needs as the person who we are moving. We move people every single day so therefore the mechanics of the move to us are simple and straightforward but what I like to pride myself in is to take care of you, the person who is moving house, because your needs could be very different to the person that we moved yesterday or the person that we’re moving tomorrow.
Alex: So, in terms of if it’s a elderly couple or indeed a young family, I guess you will be a bit of a chameleon and react accordingly?
Val: Yes, we certainly do. We find that we get quite a lot of recommendations for families who now live quite a way from their elderly parents and if a significant person dies or they have to move into a care home then often the family could be either abroad or at the other end of the country, so they like to feel that there is somebody close to the family, that can actually help that person and be there for that person, to help them move house and look after their personal needs. We automatically look after moving the effects but what we also have to deal with is the emotions and the stresses and strains that that persons going through. And that’s where I feel as a lady in the industry I can actually really come into my own.
Alex: That’s a really valid point Val, I think because being a lady in the removal sector must be incredibly rare. Dare I say how many have you come across, ladies in the industry?
Val: Yes, we are quite a rare breed, especially a lady like myself, who prides herself being able to do all aspects of what happens within a removal. My philosophy in business has always been, I will never ask somebody to do something that either I can’t or I won’t do myself.
Alex: So, it’s a woman’s touch, which is unusual in that business. And what when people come to sell, what do they really need to be aware of when you’re looking for quotes from a removal company. It’s very easy especially on a estate agent side, you can get easily hoodwinked into sort of going one way or another. Is there things people should look out for when they’re getting removal companies out for the first time?
Val: Yes certainly, I think one of the most important things that you need to do when you are getting a quote from a removal company and this can start right at the first visit, the pre-move survey, when a member of the removal company will come out and visit your home and run through with you what it is that there is to move. That is an important part because we need to assess the number of staff and the size of the vehicles and also the service that you require from us. And I think the most important part for you as the customer is that you need to be comfortable with the person that is in your house, you need to have faith that what that person is telling you is that they are going to look after you and look after your possessions in a manner in which you want it doing.
Alex: How does it work? Because it’s not necessarily a case of pick up all the goods, throw them in a box or give them over to Alex and I pack it myself. What are the ins and outs and what do you sort of offer?
Val: Well as a removal company and especially Evans International, we can offer anything from just providing you with all of the packing materials and you do your own packing. There’s a very popular packing service which is what we call a fragile only service, that means that you pack anything that is not breakable, and we come in and pack everything that is. Or the one that I would always promote because it’s the one that takes the strain completely and utterly off the customer is just let us come in and do it all. It will take us maybe a day or two days to pack all of your goods, where as it will take you weeks.
Alex: What are your top tips when you come to move home, sort of getting the removals lined up, is there anything that you would advise people to do in advance or to be aware of?
Val: At the end of the day we need to remember that actually moving house can be a very stressful time. But, it is also one of the rare things in life that has to be done on that day, there is no movement, if you’re moving, you’re moving on that day. Everything else has to fall into place. So, what we need to do is we need to make sure that we’re ready. Because if you’ve packed yourself then basically that’s what you need to have done. You need to make sure that all your things are boxed up nicely and presentable and ready for the movers when they come in. If we do the packing service, then of course we will naturally do that, and we’ll make sure that we are clear of the house in time for the other removal to be able to come in and unload the truck that’s waiting outside. And you need to talk to the person that’s doing the pre-move survey and ask them at what level they are inured it because we all have different levels of insurance. Also, you need to make sure that there is things in place when accidents do happen because there is no removal company around that can ever say that they’ve never done something and that they’ve never damaged a piece of furniture or something hasn’t gone wrong, because accidents do happen.
Alex: That’s the way it goes.
Val: It does unfortunately so what we like to do is we need to make sure that we basically correct that, and we can either do it by repairing if it’s just a polished surface that has got a scratch mark on it, basically we can get that polished out or we can replace or just do whatever needs to be done.
Alex: Got you. And how, we’re moving on to I suppose the more international side of things, the clues in the name as they say with the Evans International, but how does that actually work in terms of logistics and shipping if I’m going to move say to Australia or Europe, how on earth do you actually bring all of those different threads together?
Val: Well it’s very different moving to Europe, well it is at the moment, the jury’s out on that one, but anyway we’ll move swiftly on. So, within Europe as it would be today then basically it would be our vehicle and our staff that prepare all of your furniture and move you to Europe. So, within Europe that actually stays in-house. If you’re moving to Australia as much as I would like to be that constant or consistent person, unfortunately I don’t want to travel in the shipping container all the way to Australia, but what we would do is we then work with a reputable shipping company and because we’ve been in business now for quite some time, twelve years, then we know who we like to work with. So, we work with the shipping company and we prepare all the goods for shipment in the UK, we then engage with the container and then the shipping company then takes over and appoints a reputable removal company at the point of destination and they take over from there.
Alex: Val, been really interesting indeed, thank you very much. If people want to sort of reach you and talk it through and all their issues with regard to moving, what are the best ways to get hold of you?
Val: The best way to get hold of me is to just pick up the phone, because I’m one of those people where I prefer to talk to you face-to-face than through emails. So, whatever you do just pick up that phone and call me on 01765 640882 and ask to speak to Val.
Alex: Fantastic Val, thank you very much indeed.
When you undertake improvements to your home – whether it be window replacement, building, electrics and plumbing – we often completely forget to do this…
Alex Goldstein shares his top tips on what to do when you undertake any works at your home and how not to be caught out!
Full transcript below:
Alex: When you have any works done keep all invoices and especially any guarantees in a specific folder. This may well sound obvious, but I tell you the number of times I’ve had transactions renegotiated or even fall through because the homeowner was unable to lay their hands on some appropriate certificate never ceases to amaze me. Whilst you can often secure these retrospectively the amount of time this takes can be onerous. If you keep work invoices, guarantees, warranties, building regulations certificates, planning details etc. all together then you know you will never have an issue when you come to sell. You simply just hand over the entire folder to your conveyancing solicitor. Job done.
The Goddess Medusa and the PLC developers have something in common... #property #propertyexpert #harrogateproperty #alexgoldstein #yorkshireproperty #propertyadvice #estateagents #yorkshirepost #selling property #buyingproperty
Read about my insight into the world of gladiatorial estate agents and what you need to know to survive! #propertyexpert #harrogateproperty #alexgoldstein #yorkshireproperty #propertyadvice #estateagents #yorkshirepost #selling property #buyingproperty
Hello Alex,
