Residential property is complex but fascinating. Here are 7 interesting facts on property that you may not have known!

1. Did you know that trespass is not just confined to people? If climbing plants such as ivy or wisteria extend into a neighbouring garden it is considered trespass and if damage is reported the home owner could be liable.

2. Movement due to the proximity of trees to a building is a common problem. A mature poplar can take up to 50,000 litres of water from the sub soil each year. The root radius of a tree is often equal to or greater than its height above ground level. In some cases, e.g. willow, poplar, elm the radius can be up to twice the height.

3. Did you know that it's possible to remove a chimney breast from a bedroom to make way for a fitted wardrobe, for example, and leave the chimney stack above? But you can’t just leave it hanging there – it will need to be properly supported, usually with a substantial concrete or steel lintel.

4. Efflorescence is a common sight in new brickwork. It’s caused by soluble salts in solution being brought to the surface as waste in the wall dries out. It is usually a harmless, temporary problem often occurring in spring following a wet winter. The main concern is the unsightly appearance caused by the white staining that it produces. Persistent efflorescence may indicate a design or construction fault.

5. The problem with wood worm is that it can fly! Woodworm isn’t a worm at all, rather it is the larva stage of the common furniture beetle. The female beetle starts the life cycle process by laying eggs directly into the timber through cracks, crevices and existing flight holes. The larval stage can last up to 5 years. The holes associated with woodworm are the flight holes of the emerging adult beetles.

6. If a chimney was built before 1965 the construction would have been controlled by local bye-laws. It was only with the 1965 Building Regulations that there was a requirement for all chimney flues to be built with liners. That is not to say older chimneys would have been unlined – often the flues were rendered with a lime render – but the approach was not consistent.

7. Radon gas is a radioactive gas, but you can't see, smell or taste it! Because it is radioactive, it has considerable implications for people’s health. It originates from the rocks and soil found everywhere in the UK. The radon level in the air we breathe outside is very low but can be higher inside buildings because it can accumulate in confined spaces. Public Health England has produced a map showing the areas where there is a greater risk of radon gas.

Opting to give up the comfort and security of the nine-to-five job, to dedicate your working life to being a landlord, is a big decision - and not one that should be taken lightly.

We’ve put together a guide to the basics, designed simply as a kicking-off point and something to inspire further reading and research…
Do your sums!

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Solicitors have hit out at online agents as causing delays in transactions.

At a recent round table event, one solicitor said they were a cause for concern.

She said: “There’s no after-care service, they’re not project managing the team, they’re not making sure mortgage offers have gone out, that surveys are done.

“We’re all having to chase things like that now, whereas that was always the role of the estate agent.

“So if you’ve got an unsophisticated buyer who doesn’t know when they mean to be doing this and nobody’s telling them they need to do it, delays occur and deals fall through.

“I was six weeks into a transaction and we found out that the buyer at the bottom hadn’t even applied for their mortgage offer because nobody had told them they needed to do it.”

Residential property transactions are, however, generally taking much longer and the length of time between offer and completion is often “eye-watering”.

Solicitors are also reporting that what was a rarity – transactions falling through between exchange and completion – is now becoming commonplace.

At the round table organised by the Law Society Gazette, one lawyer said she had seen several transactions fall out of bed between exchange and completion.

Farrer & Co partner Laura Conduit said: “We’ve exchanged contracts and, for whatever reason, the money isn’t there on the completion date.

“We serve notice to complete, the money still isn’t there and we’ve rescinded contracts.”

Stephen Ward, of the Council for Licensed Contractors, said he has seen cases, adding: “Something else we’ve noticed is the greater time it is taking to get from offer to completion . . . extending out to quite eye-watering lengths.”

Attendees at the round table reported that many transactions are taking eight to ten months from offer to completion, with buyers calling the shots.

At the round table, there was also criticism of estate agents, with one solicitor describing it as “galling” that they receive “ten times a solicitor’s fee for less work”.

Another said that estate agents tend to present conveyancing “as a nasty technicality you have to get over so that you can have your housewarming party, rather than . . . extremely valuable professional due diligence”.

As such, consumers are motivated by price rather than quality – with concerns expressed that once law firms have to publish price information on their websites, consumers will focus even more on price rather than service.

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/roundtables/roundtable-house-parties/5067561.article

Full Article here;

CLICK HERE

If you need to be within easy reach of the town centre and on the ground floor then this is the property for you! The property is offered in excellent order and has a private garden and allocated parking! Do not miss this, call or email us today!

Full details to follow next weekend with video tour and internal photos! Follow this via the link below;

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Once we have moved clients in to a new home, we always ask their opinion of us, our service, the team etc. Its great to get top marks on these areas but it really makes me proud when I read comments like this;

"My experience was that Evolution work well as a team, communicated impeccably well to myself, were efficient, had a polite caring telephone manner and did everything they said they were going to do."

Really well done to the whole team, and this client was referred to us by another of our landlords. The power of recommendations should never be underestimated! We always reward clients for doing this with a £100 shopping voucher for a shop of their choice!

Do you want £100 in shopping vouchers?

It really is very easy to get them! If you know anyone that is looking to sell or rent their home, just contact us and pass their details to one of our team. We will then contact them, arrange a visit and if the property comes on the market then you get to choose which shop you would like your £100 voucher for! We have given out so many of these this year and recognise that recommendations in business are one of the most common and important ways of securing new clients.

Landlords, don’t forget, if you're not happy with the current level of service that you are receiving and the fees that you are being charged, our fully managed service starts at just 2%+vat and we arrange the transfer of the tenancy to Evolution absolutely free of charge, AND, we will also give you the £100 voucher for each home!

Don't delay, get referring and contact us today!

Properties must be within easy reach of our office and instructed on a sole agency basis - contact us today to check eligibility.

So I woke up to this amazing bit of feedback this morning about a house I finished putting online last night -

"Hi Roy,

This property marketing of our house is the best I have ever seen . It is simply breathtaking, brilliant Sir!!

Regards

S" (name hidden for obvious reasons!)

We were called out to this amazing 4 bedroom home on the edge of Maidstone. I have know their mortgage adviser for years and they needed help. I wont bore you with the full details but when a corporate agent is relying on their staff, with clearly basic equipment, to market a top end home then surely they should be armed with the correct tools? Actually, they do offer "Professional" photography but you have to pay or so I am led to believe! It has cost our client absolutely nothing and I am honoured to be given the opportunity to showcase Evolution!

Ill let the photos from the previous agent do the talking and then just click the link to see what I achieved.

and now see how we present it! (and for the record, I need to re-do the front shot when the sun is better positioned later in the day!)

CLICK HERE

We offer all customers a free house valuation Kent service. We offer free, no-obligation quotes and guarantee that all valuations are accurate, the current market price, and which will get you the most profit for your property.

To learn more about our free house valuation in Kent service, then please do give us a call or drop us an email today! Alternatively, you can fill out our online property valuation form and one of our property managers will soon be in touch.

We love great feedback, in fact, we love all feedback!

"The answers isn't a true reflection as I believe instead of very good should be "Excellent!" I haven't come across another agent like Evolution (have used a few over the years!) everything just isn't too much trouble, other agents you can sometimes feel as though you are pestering them or like they have you now and just don't bother or that's what it can feel like! Evolution have been great from the first moment and I would certainly use them and recommend them! I feel confident in saying I think it will only be a matter of time before they are the main agent in Ashford if they are not already!"

Thank you Karen and always here if you need us!

Home-movers must act now to move by Christmas: Rightmove

Home-movers who want to move in by the traditional Christmas deadline, now only 18 weeks away, need to act now to do so, Rightmove has warned.

The average time from agreeing a sale to moving in is 13 weeks so prospective buyers should be active in the market right now and make sure they have necessary finances in place.

For new-to-the-market sellers, finding a buyer adds on an average of eight weeks so they will need to find a buyer quicker than the average if they want to move in before Christmas.

Rightmove notes that buyers have more choice this month compared to last, with total available stock being up 2.1%.

Additionally, the average asking prices of newly-marketed property saw a seasonal drop of 2.3% this month, as new sellers launch a ‘late summer sale’ to try and find a buyer more quickly.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst, commented: “Sellers who come to market in the peak holiday month often have a pressing need to sell and price down accordingly, and are offering ‘summer sale’ prices to entice holiday-distracted buyers. The market started its most recent cyclical price upturn in 2010, and since then the average price of property coming to market has gone up by 32%, stretching buyer affordability. More substantial discounts are therefore required to tempt warier buyers, with higher house prices also tightening the purse strings of lenders. With lacklustre average wage growth, more buyers are bumping up against the tighter lending criteria brought in four years ago following the Mortgage Market Review, which were intended to prevent another boom-and-bust cycle.

“The ‘beast from the east’ weather was a factor in sales agreed numbers being down by 5.4% year-to-date when we reported back in May, but they are on an upward trajectory and are now 3.5% down year-to-date. Overall in spite of political uncertainty sales agreed are holding pretty steady and it is usual for there to be an upturn in prices and buyer activity as we head into the Autumn season, especially if sellers maintain their cheaper pricing to attract buyers.

"The key measures affecting the chances of a successful sale all indicate a higher degree of difficulty, so for a seller to increase their odds and beat the average timescales they need to be more pro-active than other sellers. New sellers who are motivated by the 18-week Christmas deadline therefore need to agree a sale to a buyer much more quickly than the average eight weeks that it takes, and perhaps also compress the average 13 weeks between agreeing a sale to a buyer and moving in. That’s a nail-biting total of 21 weeks that they need to try and cut down. Sellers and their agents who are pricing very attractively in order to beat the averages should also ensure that both the seller and equally importantly their buyer have the necessary financial and legal preparation in place. Lack of up-front preparation leads to mortgage or cash availability hold-ups, and failure to get legally required documents ready in anticipation of a sale can add weeks. Sale-ready sellers and the correct choice of a well – prepared buyer with a short or sound chain can still bring the turkey to the table in your new home in time for Christmas.”

Original story link; CLICK HERE

Evolution Properties have just won The British Property Award for Ashford.
Their team performed outstandingly throughout the extensive judging
period, which focused on customer service levels.
Evolution Properties have now been shortlisted for a number of national
awards which will be announced later in the year.
The British Property Awards provide agents throughout the UK with an
invaluable opportunity to compare the service that they provide against
the service provided by their local, regional and national competition.
Agents who go that extra mile and provide outstanding levels of
customer service are rewarded with our accolade, which acts as a
beacon to highlight these attributes to their local marketplace.

THE BRITISH PROPERTY AWARDS are one of the most inclusive estate agency
awards providers as they do not charge to enter. This has enabled their award to be
structured in a manner that ensures maximum participation, on average judging over
90% of agents that meet their minimum criteria on a local level.
The team personally mystery shops every estate agent against a set of 25 criteria to
obtain a balanced overview of their customer service levels. The judging criteria is
periods to ensure that agents have been rigorously and fairly judged.
Robert McLean from The British Property Awards said “Our awards has been
entry, such as cost, to ensure that we have the most inclusive awards. Our award
has also been designed to remove any opportunity for bias or manipulation. If an
agent has been attributed with one of our awards, it is simply down to the fantastic
customer service levels that they have demonstrated across a prolonged period of
time. Winning agents should be proud that their customer service levels provide a
benchmark for their local, regional and national competition”.

We offer all customers a free house valuation Kent service. We offer free, no-obligation quotes and guarantee that all valuations are accurate, the current market price, and which will get you the most profit for your property.

To learn more about our free house valuation in Kent service, then please do give us a call or drop us an email today! Alternatively, you can fill out our online property valuation form and one of our property managers will soon be in touch.

New data from RICS has shown that, during July, the squeeze on property supply in the lettings market continued with a 22% rise in respondents seeing a fall rather than rise in New Landlord Instructions.

According to the data, this is the eighth consecutive quarter in which this indicator has recorded a negative number.

This pattern reflects the shift in the Buy to Let market in the wake of tax changes which are still in the process of being implemented, as smaller scale landlords exit the sector. Significantly, the drop in instructions is evident in virtually all parts of the country to a greater or lesser extent.

While the supply of fresh rental stock to the market is increasingly constrained, the Tenant Demand indicator remains resilient. The upward momentum appears to have slowed, but the number of tenants looking for a new home remains in positive territory at a headline level (+4% in the latest three month period).

One consequence of this imbalance is that expectations for rental growth, and rising rents for consumers, appear to be strengthening again. Over the next twelve months, rents are projected to increase by a little short of +2% nationally, but the shortfall in supply over the medium term is expected to force a cumulative rise of around +15% (based on three month average of responses) by the middle of 2023. East Anglia and the South West are viewed as likely to see the sharpest growth over the period.

Little change in UK sales market

Turning to the sales market, the underlying message is little different from that reported in June. The headline Price balance edged up from +3% to +4% in July, meanwhile, the Newly Agreed Sales net balance remained close to zero for the fourth month in succession. As we have highlighted previously, the feedback to the RICS survey continues to suggest a stronger market in Scotland, Northern Ireland, much of the north of England, the Midlands and Wales (prices and activity). Meanwhile, the London Price balance was little changed over the month (-40%) with the results for both the South East and East Anglia consistent with very modest price declines.

It is perhaps no surprise that as speculation built ahead of the August Bank of England meeting that the headline New Buyer Enquiries series was little changed over the month with a net balance of +2%. The New Instructions measure also signalled a flat picture, following two months of very modest increases. The June survey signalled some doubts as to whether the pipeline of new supply would continue to improve in the light of the feedback on appraisals being conducted by valuers.

This was upheld as the appraisal balance in July was once again firmly negative. As a result, our judgement is that the average inventory on the books of estate agents is likely to remain close to historic lows. The impact of this is visible in both the twelve month sales and price expectations net balances. While the former recorded a reading of -7%, its most negative number since October last year, the latter was much firmer at +25%.

"The impact of recent and ongoing tax changes is clearly having a material impact on the Buy to Let sector as intended. The risk, as we have highlighted previously, is that a reduced pipeline of supply will gradually feed through into higher rents in the absence of either a significant uplift in the Build to Rent programme or government funded social housing.

At the present time, there is little evidence that either is likely to make up the shortfall. This augers ill for those many households for whom owner occupation is either out of reach financially or just not a suitable tenure."

Simon Rubinsohn, RICS Chief Economist "Our survey suggests that recent Government policy and legislation changes have impeded the growth of the Private Rented Sector (PRS), which is a vital part of a functioning homes market. Withdrawing tax breaks that small landlords relied on, placing an extra 3% on second home Stamp Duty, and failing to stimulate the corporate build to rent market, has understandably impacted supply.

While the current focus is rightly on using regulation to improve the experience for tenants, Government must urgently look again at the PRS as a whole, including ways to encourage good landlords. Ultimately, Government must consider the impact of its policies, and if the wish is to move away from PRS, it must provide a suitable alternative. If they wish to improve PRS, as we have suggested by professionalising through regulation and the PRS code, there is justification to reconsider the approach taken to tax."

Original Article; CLICK HERE

We offer all customers a free house valuation Kent service. We offer free, no-obligation quotes and guarantee that all valuations are accurate, the current market price, and which will get you the most profit for your property

To learn more about our free house valuation in Kent service, then please do give us a call or drop us an email today! Alternatively, you can fill out our online property valuation form and one of our property managers will soon be in touch.