Tenants of City Island, Leeds, aren’t limiting themselves to internet supermarket shopping or local convenience stores because they live in the city centre of Leeds. Far from it in fact. GO Lettings have now introduced City Island residents to their very own allotment at Wellington Place and are promoting the idea of ‘Grow your own’ to their tenants.

Natalie Evans, Property Manager at GO, said of the idea, “As a previous tenant myself, I know how much I relied upon convenience stores in Leeds City Centre at times, where there can be more limited choice, and I’d have loved the opportunity to grow my own! I think it’s great that Wellington Place and Parklife have offered us the opportunity to take on an allotment, allowing us to not only promote healthy eating to our tenants, but also inspiring a sense of community within City Island, which is something we’ve been working towards continuously in Leeds.”

Residents at City Island and tenants of GO Lettings can apply for allotment space by calling the Leeds office on 0845 226 0345.

Nottingham City Council today launched a consultation on the introduction of planning requirements for homes shared by 3 or more unrelated tenants. Local authorities were given powers by central government in 2010 and the consultation will run until 27th April 2011.

In an era of rising rents, these changes to legislation will not be good news for tenants already struggling to find affordable accommodation. Inevitably, some will be forced onto the black market as more and more landlords move away from, already scarce, shared accommodation. After reportedly failing to locate and licence hundreds of current HMO’s, the City Councils choice of taking on a huge potential new workload with little or no benefit to the council tax payer may leave some people confused as to the point of the exercise?

The proposed changes will come into force in 2012 if the consultation finds that there is a need.

Interested parties can find out more and get involved in the consultation here

Lettings specialist, GO Property Services this month launch a new operation providing Inventory and Check-in services for private landlords and letting agents in Leeds & Nottingham.

GO Property Inventories will be Association of Professional Inventory Providers (APIP) accredited and will be offering complete Inventory & Check-in packages for owner managers and letting agents alike. The GO Inventories team have the advantage of years of experience in letting & managing residential property and the aim will be to produce fast, accurate documents to simplify the letting process.

"The introduction of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme means that a professionally produced inventory is now an essential for any rented residential property" commented Jonathan Detheridge, MD of GO Property Services. "Current deposit legislation is stacked against the landlord, so we want to help them avoid costly disputes wherever possible. A GO Property Inventory will aid clients avoid disputes, but also help them should a tenancy unfortunately end up being sent for resolution"

GO Inventory reports will be delivered electronically within 24hrs of production, and will also be stored on the GO Property Inventories website so that landlords and tenants can access it whenever required.

Find out more about GO Property Inventories here

The year started busier than most, with a historically higher number of lets in the first three months of the year. Research from the University of Leeds, complied from data from property agents operating in the Leeds city centre market, reflected this, by revealing high levels of occupancy, steady rental returns and a limited supply pipeline for the future. All good news for landlords and with limited supply looking set to continue for the next 5 to 10 years, with only five schemes totaling around 600-700 flats having any potential of being delivered within the next 5 years, this trend looks set to continue. Director, Andrew Sainsbury commented ‘in future the public and private sectors should work closer together to identify areas of the city centre that are most likely to be attractive to occupiers and investors and co-ordinate the phasing of development with social and retail infrastructure. This particularly applies to fringe areas like East Bank, Holbeck and Beeston’.

More positive news for Landlords followed in the press with stories of the UK adopting European rental habits with anecdotes of how the British status symbol of owning your own home is no longer having the same appeal.  The summer saw another record number of lets with a 20% year-on-year increase with good quality properties in the city centre going within days (even hours in one case).  Our findings were reflected in research by Capital Economics who reported that the proportion of households in private rental accommodation increased from 10% in 2001 to 14% this year and that this is expected to increase further to 16-17% by 2015.

Later in the year, the ‘reluctant landlord’ – a phenomenon that emerged during the recession as home owners were forced to let their property rather than sell it re-emerged in the rental market. The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) reported that the number of rental properties coming on to the market because they cannot be sold, peaked during the recession, at the beginning of 2009, but their research was starting to show an increase in the reluctant landlord again.

By autumn, it was becoming increasingly common to hear from landlords looking to expand their portfolio’s. Driven by growing demand for rental property, confidence grew throughout the year. LSL Property Services, the UK’s largest agent network, reported in November that nearly a third of landlords were looking to increase the number of properties during the next 12 months.  With lack of available finance being a theme throughout the year this was the final hurdle in preventing landlord’s from expanding their property portfolio, but fortunately there was further good news ahead. After nearly three years away from the market, buy to let specialist lender, Paragon Mortgages, re-opened it’s doors to new business with an impressive £1 billion lending target for landlords.

Andrew Sainsbury of GO Lettings is very bullish about what next year holds, ‘home to more English heritage listed buildings outside of London than any other UK city, Leeds is a wonderful city ,buzzing with commercial activity. With rental demand looking set to continue and the introduction of more cutting edge technology next year (more about that later) we expect to continue bringing our landlords good news throughout 2011’.

GO Lettings prides itself on letting properties quicker than most, but after the latest member of the team passed their professional exams in record time, it’s not the only thing that’s going fast! With most candidates taking one to two years to pass the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) technical award in property management and lettings, the management team were delighted when the newest recruit at GO Lettings, Leeds, Natalie Evans, passed with flying colours in just six months.

The training and development of staff has been an important theme in the company’s success over the last seven years. Director, Andrew Sainsbury said, ‘it’s often said lightly, but our staff really are our greatest asset. They deliver the front-line service that has given us the enviable reputation we have in the industry. It’s important for us to offer our customers the highest possible standards. These exams are just one way of demonstrating that our staff are equipped with the right skills and knowledge to do just that. We are very proud of what Natalie has achieved and we are sure she will go from strength to strength at GO Lettings’.

Managing Director, Jonathan Detheridge added, ‘the company is a great believer in delivering a professional service to its clients. Training and the development of staff is at the forefront of ensuring the highest standards of proficiency and service at GO Lettings. It’s very important to us that all our staff pass their professional industry exams in order to continue our high standards when letting landlord’s properties in both Nottingham and Leeds’.

Figures show that the North of the country has seen a greater increase in properties being rented out, as opposed to sold, in Q3 2010. ARLA reported that 58% of Agents saw an upward trend in ‘Reluctant Landlords’ from the North, which is likely to be due to market conditions making selling more difficult, as well as an uncertainty about the future. These new landlords will, of course, benefit the rental market in cities such as Leeds, but this does raise concerns about levels of experience private landlords may have in being able to deal with tenants, properties and any potential problems that can arise.

Natalie Evans, of Go Lettings in Leeds, said of the figures, “we have certainly seen a marked increase in new landlords asking for rental valuations in Leeds over the last quarter, many of whom would have previously considered selling, but feel now is not the right time. Many of these Landlords have never rented their property before and need help and reassurance. The idea of being a private landlord is appealing to them from a financial point of view, but the reality is a different matter. Landlords are often surprised by how time consuming a let can be, how confusing the legislation can be and how many issues can arise both during and at the end of a tenancy.”

For more information on the ARLA Q3 report visit their website here.

Following his annual report earlier in the year, Christopher Hamer, the Property Ombudsman, recommended that lettings agents should be regulated to protect both tenants and landlords.  Estate agents are required by law to be registered with an official redress scheme, and as a result, 90% of all UK estate agents are signed up with the Property Ombudsman's scheme.  But the situation, he said, was rather different with letting agents, who are not under any such obligation.  Mr Hamer, said "whilst many agents in the lettings business (a total of 2,241 companies) are in Property Ombudsman membership... there are still many firms operating under their own interpretation of what are appropriate standards.”

Andrew Sainsbury, Director at GO Lettings in Leeds, believes the Government has missed an opportunity to improve  national standards in lettings, commenting, “as it stands, any person or organisation can set up a letting agency with little of no relevant experience or qualifications. Suitable regulation and licensing of letting agents would be simple to implement and would stop a large proportion of unqualified and unprofessional agents operating in the market place within in a short period of time, giving consumers the peace of mind they deserve when renting property.  ARLA (The Association of Residential Letting Agents) currently sets the standard for professional letting agencies. Membership is achieved only by letting agents who demonstrate that they have a thorough knowledge of their profession and that they conduct their business according to current best management practice. Until the government acts, I would urge all landlands and tenants alike to use an agent who belongs to a professional body.”

Leeds is already an attractive prospect to landlords and tenants alike, being a vibrant city, with a wealth of industry, abundant shopping areas, great nightlife and a whole host of city centre living available! Expected to be completed in 2012, the arrival of the new 'honeycomb style' arena will only help to strengthen the already booming Leeds rental market.

Natalie Evans, of Go Lettings in Leeds, said of the plans, ‘our landlords are finding that we are letting their City Centre Apartments in Leeds faster than ever and with crowd pulling developments like this planned, this trend is only set to continue. Built to play host to some of the biggest music acts in the world, Leeds is getting exactly what the residents and tenants of Leeds have been asking for’.

For more information and pictures of the arena, click here