Two bosses in Lancashire have been banned from being company directors for six years following an Insolvency Service investigation into the collapse of an estate agency.

The duo are Christopher Wilcock and Adam Balmer who established Balmer Wilcock Limited in 2010 and then built it up into a three-branch business with a turnover of over a million pounds a year.

It had estate agency offices in Atherton, Leigh and Tyldesley which are all suburban areas of Greater Manchester. But by the summer of 2018 the business was in trouble and administrators were called in to investigate.

They discovered creditors were owed over £660,000 by Balmer Wilcock Limited prompting an investigation by the Insolvency Service, which has now revealed its findings.

VAT reporting

The firm’s key financial problems were initiated by the two directors under-reporting their VAT liabilities to HMRC and not truly reflecting the estate agency’s trading position for 2016/2017.

This was later uncovered when their own accountants filed a more accurate VAT return of £310,000 leading HMRC to demand £299,887 from the business.

Despite the firm’s accountants trying to buy time for the company, after an inspection visit was cancelled, HMRC moved to wind the company up.

The Balmer Wilcock brand name continues and is now operated by a new company, EA Property Group (Northwest) Limited which lists Wilcock and Balmer as directors. It has a single office in Atherton and was incorporated in March 2018.

Read more about HMRC.

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Two leading social media and property experts have shed light on the likely reasons behind the departure of Knight Frank star estate agent Daniel Daggers after he posted pictures of a client’s house on Instagram without permission.

Like many Instagram stars working in the super-prime global property market, Daggers posted pictures showing both multi-million pounds property for sale and starry clients on a regular basis via his account.

But while they might look friendly at the parties Daggers attended, his clients are viciously protective of their privacy and it is this desire to control their presence online that most likely helped scupper the Knight Frank agent in the end.

One person who should know is Peter Sheehan of buying agency The London Resolution (left).

“We have self-made billionaires as part of our clientele,” he says. “They’re smart because, despite their fortune, they keep a very low profile.

“If they walked past you in the street you would have no idea who they were or how much you could take from them.

“It is not the job of a property agent to start publishing details of the inside of their homes.”

But being savvy is only part of the picture. High net worth individuals are also paranoid about security, and for good reason. Several have been targeted recently by burglars who have sought to exploit ‘generation overshare’ and track down their victims’ movements and addresses.

The most high-profile example is Tamara Ecclestone, who had jewellery worth £50 million stolen from her home in December last year.

“The internet is a fantastic source of information that can be used against the homeowners,” says Simon Giddins of security and intelligence firm Blackstone Consultancy.

“Within the targeting phase information can be gained from online media profiles such as Instagram and Facebook.

“In most cases victims are not selected at random, instead the crime is strategically planned from start to finish beginning with the selection of a group of targets, usually following a local news piece, rumour or social media.”

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Martin & Co and EweMove parent group The Property Franchise Group says its member businesses have beaten the tenant fees ban and achieved record revenues for lettings.

The claim is made within its latest trading update for 2019 which reveals that its management fee revenues from franchisees increased by 2.13% to £9.6 million, and that the number of rented properties under management increased by nearly 6% to 58,000.

TPFG does not reveal how its franchisees have recouped their income following the fees ban that went live on June 1^st in England and September 1^st in Wales last year, but says it encouraged franchisees to have a ‘mitigation plan’, something it is expected to reveal within its full results in March.

The group says its EweMove hybrid agency is set to report a significant increase in profit during 2019 despite the fees ban and that the business is ‘robust’.

But TPFG only makes a passing reference to its sales division, which it says expects to make hay during 2020 as an expected post-Brexit economic ‘bounce-back’ raises sales volumes and house prices.

“This is my last year with TPFG and I’m delighted that we have continued the journey that we started with our IPO in December 2013, having materially increased the dividend every year,” says Chief Executive Ian Wilson (left).

“Our ability to deliver revenue growth and continued operational progress over the year, notwithstanding the market headwinds, is testament to the strength of our business and the franchise model.

“Looking ahead, there are numerous opportunities for us to now build further momentum across the business, as we continue to invest in our traditional brands and EweMove remains robust.

“In parallel we will focus our attention on growing a national mortgage brokerage network under our newly created financial services division.”

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Agency grouping LSL has revealed the damage its branch closure programme inflicted on revenues during 2019 following its February announcement that 120 Your Move and Reeds Rains branches were to be closed, merged or transferred.

The company’s full-year trading update for 2019 reveals that, although it expects profits to be higher year-on-year, overall revenues are down 4% and 16% lower within its estate agency division.

But the closures are not the only factor – the slow sales market is also to blame and the company says revenues at its sales division would be down 4% even if it hadn’t closed so many branches.

But LSL admits the reductions in revenue are largely down to the branch closure programme, which has seen surplus-to-requirement offices up and down the UK boarded up or transferred to new franchisees.

Slow market

The slow market has also impacted its upmarket London agency, Marsh & Parsons, which has been opening rather than closing branches.

Its revenues are down 3% overall including a 5% dip in sales fees and a 2% reduction in lettings.

LSL’s financial services has been hit by the closures too as referral leads have declined, but its surveying business is one of the company’s bright spots. Revenues there are up 24% year-on-year after it recently bagged a Lloyds Bank home surveying contract.

LSL is relying on 2020 being a better year and an improved sales pipeline at the beginning of this month indicates the market has begun to pick up, it says.

The cost of shutting down so many branches has also pushed it further into the red; the group’s net banking debt increased by nearly £10 million last year to £41.9 million, a figure the company’s board says it is ‘comfortable with’.

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Yes, it’s that time of year again. Rightmove has announced that its full results for 2019 are to be released to the City on 28^th February, its company secretary Sandra Odell has announced.

The results will be published at 7am followed by a presentation for analysts which will be held at the offices of Rightmove’s City adviser UBS at 9.00am.

But while investors will be licking their lips in expectation of another set of record results to boost their client’s pension funds, ISAs and other investment vehicles, this year may not be the usual profits jamboree.

Two dark clouds loom over Rightmove despite another 12 months of no-doubt incredible profits and continuing share buy-backs.

Last year criticism of the annual price increases introduced by the company were at their most strident among agents annoyed by double-digit increases despite difficult sales and lettings markets. These pushed the annual revenue for the branch to over £1,000 a month for the first time, although many agents had been paying this for some time already.

23% increase

One agent, Kristjan Byfield of Base Properties, revealed that his increase last year was 23%, a hike that the portal pushed through despite his strong complaints and attempts to negotiate it downwards.

And following its results last year, which revealed revenues up by 10% year-on-year, London agent KFH said it was considering leaving Rightmove and would spend a year doing comparative portal lead-generation studies.

Agents will also be watching the portal’s next results to see how many agents it has lost. Last year numbers slipped by 2% and the rising profile of OnTheMarket, and Zoopla’s significantly lower costs may drive an even larger reduction in agent numbers using Rightmove.

You can listen to the presentation live via audio webcast at the following link:  https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/z9vuxm79

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Adverts for financial products are not known for being racy or, let’s be honest, that interesting but mortgage broker Habito has got into hot water after its ‘Karma Sutra’ themed magazine ad prompted a reader to complain.

Last year the company ran a two-page spread that include some saucy imagery to illustrate research it had commissioned that had found getting a mortgage made one in ten couples’ sex life ‘hell’.

While most estate agents use mortgage brokers that stick to the dowdier side of marketing their services, broker Habito left little to the imagination for readers of Grazia magazine.

The ad features illustrations of various positions from the Karma Sutra as well as various sexually-themed motifs.

In case readers were in any doubt, the illustrations were accompanied by mortgage-related descriptions including “Down-payment Doggy”, “The Standing Variable Rate”, “Prime 69” and “The Base-rate Scissor”.

Offence

An offended member of the public complained to the Advertising Standards Authority, which has dismissed the complaint after Habito pointed out that Grazia aimed at an adult audience and that that the ad was meant to be fun.

“While we acknowledged that some would find the artistic illustrations of sexual positions and accompanying descriptions distasteful, they were not explicit and we considered that most readers were likely to view the ad as a humorous play on the results of the survey,” the ASA says.

“Consequently, we concluded that the ad was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence to those who saw it and was not irresponsible.”

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Lettings proptech platform Teclet has landed a major coup after signing the UK’s largest independent estate agency chain, Haart, as a client.

The estate agency’s lettings branches within its 134 office network England and Wales will now use Teclet’s platform to help manage tenancy on-boarding and both ongoing tenancy and property management.

Haart doesn’t publish separate business performance details but it is part of the Spicerhaart group, which during 2018 turned over some £120 million.

In a nutshell, Teclet enables lettings agencies to automate significant chunks of the rental process and enables landlords, tenants, guarantors and agents to communicate in a compliant manner across a common platform.

“The agreement and processing of renting a property can be frustrating and complex for all parties,” says Paul Sloan, Haart’s Operations Director (left).

“Chasing signatures, performing checks, complying with legislation and taking payments securely are all burdens which grow exponentially the more people that are involved.

“We are delighted that with the introduction of Teclet to our network, Haart can cover all of these processes from one simple web platform, increasing transparency and making the process straightforward and convenient for our customers.”

Teclet’s Commercial Director John Evans claims the platform gives agents a competitive advantage over rivals,

Business hours

“With around a third of all customer interactions on the platform taking place outside of normal business hours, Teclet is enabling lettings agents to become more productive and therefore save costs,” he says.

“The platform also enables the compliant and efficient generation of additional revenue streams through its innovative API structure that works with suppliers across the industry in areas such as referencing, inventories, rent guarantee insurance, landlord and tenant insurances, safety certificates, appliance maintenance and ordering and utility management and switching.”

The investment in proptech is the second major partnership announced by Spicerhaart over the past year. In February last year it spent £6 million on ROSIE, an ‘office in your pocket’ platform.

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The shocking case of estate agent Roger Darnton who stole £110,000 from both an elderly widow and the estate of a deceased friend and who is currently serving a two-year sentence for his crimes is to feature in a TV series.

The agent, who was jailed in July last year after pleading guilty to two counts of fraud at Teeside, had run a well-known and eponymous estate agency in the Yorkshire town of Guisborough until the frauds were uncovered.

Darnton (left) was a respected and trusted local businessman who helped raise money for local good causes, but he used the stolen money to pay off debts and buy antiques over a four-year period starting in 2012 as he experienced financial difficulties.

It is understood that Roger Darnton received a lesser sentence after he had sold his family home to pay back the money he had pocketed.

The story of his frauds is to feature on Ill Gotten Gains, a BBC1 documentary series that follows regional organised crime units and police forces as they track down criminals, fraudsters and seize their assets. It is in its third series and is presented by Angellica Bell and Rav Wilding (pictured, above).

In Darnton’s case, it will be Cleveland Police’s Economic Crime Unit which played a key role in investigating the estate agent’s fraudulent activities.

“We’re a small but dedicated team, and we work closely with colleagues from across the force; detectives, analysts and intelligence officers as well as our partners in financial, legal and other sectors – all with the shared goal of identifying, targeting and dealing with those who persist in fraud and other economic crimes,” says its leader Sgt Andy King.

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An lettings estate agency in London has become embroiled in a financial tussle with a young couple after they were swindled out of their rental deposit and first month’s rent by an email fraudster.

Renter Jessica Redman and her partner had saved up enough money to move into an apartment together in Canonbury, North London and found a property via Islington lettings agency Alwyne Estates and had their offer accepted.

What happened next is contested by both the agency and the couple, but is a salutary lesson in why estate agencies need to ensure staff and IT systems cannot be breached by fraudsters.

Redman claims that the email account of a property manager who they were dealing with at the firm was compromised by hackers who then set up a fake email account to dupe Redman and her partner into transferring £1,385 into the fraudster’s bank account.

Fake email

The couple were told via the fake email account that the landlord wanted the cash before he would sign the contract.

Alwyne Estates has told local newspaper The Islington Gazette that it is not willing to reimburse the couple because it contests that its internal email system was compromised, and that the couple were defrauded by an email account outside of its control.

“One of our staff inadvertently revealed his email login credentials – an entirely different situation,” director Kevin O’Grady told the paper, claiming this amounted to a security breach and not a hack.

“While we cannot take responsibility for Jessica’s decision to act on an email that was not sent from an Alwyne Estates email account, we have endeavoured to help Jessica and her partner as much as is within our power.”

The agency says the breach has been reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office and logged with Action Fraud, and that it has put its staff through additional training and its IT systems have been upgraded.

Read more about security breaches.

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Over 100 Propertymark agents and supporters took part in a charity sleep out to raise £57,938 to support homeless young people in the UK.

On the 21st November, a team of over 100 individuals, organised by Propertymark, slept out at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, in London, as part of Centrepoint’s Sleep Out. The dedicated team has already raised over £57,938 for the charity which supports 15,000 homeless young people a year. The Arbon Trust, Propertymark’s charitable arm, is adding to this total.

Lauren Scott, President, NAEA Propertymark, who took part in the sleep out, said, “It’s absolutely overwhelming to have this many people from our industry come together on a freezing cold night in November to raise money for such a fantastic cause! The money will provide vital safety and security to vulnerable young people, it’s fantastic to have such a large turnout”.

Phil Keddie, President, ARLA Propertymark, added, “We all take our safe, warm, comfortable beds for granted so raising money to provide rooms, vital basics and training is worth all of the discomfort. It’s a tragedy that so many young people are homeless, but the money raised tonight will go towards efforts to eradicate homelessness in the UK.”

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Estate agency members of Exeter Golf and Country Club raised £12,531 for the neonatal department at the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, after a year of fundraising efforts.

The 2018 Golf Captains, Lyndon Bent and Lyne Beevers, decided to fundraise for the neonatal unit after Lyndon and his wife, Debbie, lost their young son 30 years ago following neonatal care in Exeter. Lyndon is Commercial Director of Bradleys Group in Devon.

The money was spent on a videolaryngoscope, a breathing tube for the most vulnerable babies. This equipment also enables staff to visualise the vocal cords and allows them to carry out and confirm successful placement of a LISA catheter.

The money will also support training for junior doctors and advanced neonatal nurse practitioners to undertake these lifesaving interventions.

Dr David McGregor, Consultant Paediatrician said, “We are extremely grateful to the members – in particular Lyndon and Lyne – for all their fundraising efforts. It was an honour to be selected as their charity.

Lyndon said, “I am delighted that Lyne agreed to adopt my chosen charity for her year too. We were blown away by the hard work and compassion of the NNU team at Exeter. Unlike many high profile charities this is a little known cause, but it was amazing how many people had been touched in some way by their work.”

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Independent agency Penny & Sinclair chose a UK based Family Action’s Christmas Toy Appeal as one of their chosen charities to help at Christmas.

Family Action transforms lives by providing practical, emotional and financial support to those who are experiencing poverty, disadvantage and social isolation across the country. They have been building stronger families since 1869 and today work with over 45,000 families through over 135 community-based services.

Penny & Sinclair was provided with a list from Family Action of 155 specific children categorised by age and gender to buy Christmas presents for as part of the Christmas Toy Appeal.

Penny & Sinclair employees and clients, along with other Oxfordshire businesses, including Hair of Dorchester managed to purchase all 155 gifts in 1 month, guaranteeing each child from the list a Christmas present.

In addition Penny & Sinclair raised over £200 in donations for Family Action from their residential home owner and landlord clients.

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Property tech firm Reapit has been named as one of the UK’s top technology firms in a list backed by global banking giant Rothschild.

Reapit is the only proptech firm to make it into the 50-strong Megabuyte Scorecard list since it was first compiled five years ago, and has been placed at No.17.

The scorecard is widely recognised as the technology sector’s most independent measure of comparative peer performance and is an influential reference among corporate, advisory and finance communities.

Reapit says its inclusion in the list justifies claims that the proptech sector is beginning to mature and may soon rival its banking counterpart fintech for investment and growth.

KPMG recently claimed that it will take another three or four years for technology based commercial and residential platforms to begin to significantly take hold within the property industry.

Vanguard

And Reapit claims it is the ‘vanguard of the further successes to come from the proptech industry as a whole’..

“The Megabuyte Scorecard is an invaluable tool when assessing financial performance and acts as a reliable reference point for Reapit’s progress made organically and through our acquisition strategy,” says Reapit CEO Gary Barker (pictured, above).

The company may rise up the rankings next year; it’s 17^th placing was judged before the recent launch of its Foundations PaaS and App marketplace.

“Our position on this list matters especially for our customers, because it gives them a third-party view on the sustainability of our business, reassuring them that Reapit is going to be around for a very long time to come,” says Barker.

Read our exclusive interview with Barker.

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The expected uplift in the property market following the General Election and the road to Brexit subsequently being cleared is happening, it has been claimed.

But it is not just enthusiastic sales directors making the claim, but leading property industry research company TwentyCI, which has called the start of the ‘Boris bounce’.

When the property sales market over the past five weeks (from late December until the third week of January) is compared to the same period last year, the number of sales agreed SSTC is up by 6% and exchanges have increased by 3%.

In the prime market for homes for sale over £500,000, sales agreed SSTC are up by 10% and exchanges by 12%.

And in the rarefied strata of the super-prime market for homes over £1 million, the number of sales agreed have increased by 11% and the number of homes coming to the market are up by 17%

But the ‘boris bounce’ has yet to translate into new listings in other markets.

TwentyCI says the number of homes being listed for sale is down 7% year-on-year overall and static in the prime market.

“Whilst we are not expressing a political opinion, government stability has been lacking for some time and this has not been good for the property market,” the company says.

It also quotes leading consumer researcher Joe Staton of GfK, who says: “There is a clear sense of change in consumer sentiment this month.

“We haven’t seen such a robust increase in confidence about our economic future since the summer of 2016.”

Read the TwentyCI report in full.

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Grace Dixon, Amanda Briggs and Andrew Prowse

Bruton Knowles has opened a new office, its 13th in the UK, in Cambridge and appointed Amanda Briggs as Partner to lead it, oversee a growing client portfolio in the region and build the team.

Amanda had worked at Bruton Knowles for 10 years to 2006, during which time she managed offices in Leatherhead and Aylesbury providing support for the Birmingham office. She left Bruton Knowles as Partner in 2006 to join Bidwells as Head of Valuations, to be closer to home in Cambridge, and then moved to part-time consultancy in 2018.

James Bailey, Managing Partner at Bruton Knowles, said, “Amanda’s background, her expertise, and her hugely successful career could not be more highly thought of by the team at Bruton Knowles and we are thrilled that she has chosen to return to the business.

“She has worked across multiple sectors including public sector, finance, education, charity and R&D organisations – managing complex multi-million-pound portfolios. Her knowledge of the Cambridge and the wider Eastern region is unrivalled.”

Amanda added, “I have been looking for a new challenge, so when James asked to meet up and shared the plans for a new Cambridge office I was immediately interested. The regional market would appear to be very well provided for but I know that the team at Bruton Knowles makes all the difference with a more personal, more appealing service for clients and always prepared to go that extra mile. That’s why they have such a strong presence in and around Cambridge.

“It’s good to be back at the coalface and building a successful team and business here.”

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Aimee Harris

Connells is bolstering its Land & New Homes Division in the Midlands with a number of new appointments.

Katy Harwood has been appointed as Head of West Midlands New Homes, while Aimee Harris will be Midlands East New Homes Manager. Taylor Saddington also joins as Land Manager, covering Midlands North and South for Connells, Paul Dubberley and Burchell Edwards in Solihull, Shirley, Castle Bromwich, Erdington and Sheldon.

Katy Harwood

Katy joins Connells after previously heading up the new homes department at Butters John Bee estate agency. With 15 years’ experience in the industry, Katy worked her way up in Countrywide, joining as a negotiator, progressing to branch manager and then moving into New Homes.

“I am really keen to put a plan together that will disturb the existing market with the service we can offer. My team, who have a wealth of experience in all avenues of new builds, is a force to be reckoned with,” said Katy. Aimee initially joined the industry as a negotiator with Spencers estate agency before joining developer Miller Homes. Her role she will work with developers across Leicestershire. “I have a passion for new builds and have done since selling my first site from Spencers”, she says.

Taylor Saddington

Taylor said, “This has been a big career change for me but I’m so glad. It is a massive step but I’m up for the challenge.”

Connells’ Divisional MD for the Midlands, Elizabeth Brown said, “We are delighted to welcome Katy, Aimee and Taylor to our team. I wish them all the best in their new roles and look forward to working with them.”

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Focal Ventures are delighted to announce the appointment of Lee Wainwright as CEO of FocalAgent.

Jeremy Hallsworth, Group CEO, says, “Lee has a passion for estate agency and a deep understanding of all parts of the residential property sector. He has worked at all levels, from Negotiator to CEO, and also uniquely within traditional, corporate and online sectors. We’re delighted he is joining us at a truly exciting phase in our growth and we look forward to him helping our current and future customers make the best possible use of visual content for themselves and their clients.”

Lee, formerly CEO of Purplebricks UK and 26 year veteran at Countrywide, says, “Property marketing is changing in the digital age and being able to harness the power of brilliant visual content with clever technology is adding real value to estate agents in both sales and lettings. I love the products and I love what they do for estate agents and their customers even more. The ambition at FocalAgent is infectious and I know I’m joining a great business at a genuinely exciting time.”

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Crabtree, a London based property management company has appointed a new Managing Director – Chris March.

Chris stepped in after longstanding MD Rob Robertson left after 35 years of building the company from three members to an established business.

Chosen for his experience in team building, management and building a property portfolio, Chris has spent his entire career in the property sector. After selling his own agency, he turned their leasehold management business into one of the UK’s leading managing agents. He has held several high-profile roles in the sector and involved with mergers and acquisitions. Chris comes to Crabtree from his role as Head of Strategic Development for the Fexco Property Services group, the Crabtree parent company.

Chris says, “Crabtree is a business with a 35-year track record that has so much potential, the backing of the group we can provide a full-service offering with extra resources, and more diverse services, which a smaller company cannot provide”. With many prospects on the horizon, Chris sees this as an exciting opportunity to take a great company further.

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Following the recent news of introducing a ‘hub’ style of trading, where activities are centralised and operations have expanded in their flagship town centre office, one of West Sussex’s largest agencies Michael Jones & Company, has announced that it has acquired another independent letting agency.

Managing Director Mike Jones, revealed that Easylet will now trade under the name ‘Michael Jones & Company’. Easylet was formerly headed by Rochelle Hawes and managed 300 properties throughout West Sussex.

The acquisition follows the recent letting acquisitions of Bacon & Co in September 2017 and Curtis & Son in May 2019.

Mike Jones said, “We see great value in growing and developing our sales and rental business. We are delighted to announce we have achieved our initial target of 2000 fully managed properties in lettings through our recent acquisition that will significantly contribute in strengthening our overall position as a group. We are actively looking for other acquisition opportunities in the area as it is an important part of the groups growth and expansion plans.”

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L to R: Ella Homes director Mark Cruse; Paul Broomham, Alexander & Co’s Commercial Director; Mark Ayres, Director, Ella Homes.

Alexander & Co property services group has acquired Buckinghamshire estate agent Ella Homes. The move will further establish Alexander & Co as the go-to agency in the region, with additional offices in Buckingham and Winslow.

One of the oldest and largest independent estate agencies across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Middlesex, Alexander & Co opened its first office in Dunstable 50 years ago and employs 70 staff and represents 3,000 local landlords and over 1,000 buyers and sellers.

Last year, five of the estate agents in the group – Bannisters in Bicester, Claire Lloyd Properties in Aylesbury, Hartwells in Aylesbury and Wing and Baker Pearce in Harrow – all brought under the Alexander and Co banner.

Ella Homes, however, will continue to operate under its own name, retaining the team that has grown the agency to become one of the most respected within the local area.

Group CEO, George Thomas said, “We’re thrilled to have Ella Homes join us. Ella Homes’ long-earned experience and expertise in its local area, as well as its first class service and trusted relationships with its customers, will be extremely valuable assets for our group, which strives to keep the personal touch at the centre of our offering as we continue to grow the business.”

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