The changing face of the internet for Letting Agents.

Posted on February 6, 2012 by admin

When Regal Estates first started Lettings & Property Management from the Maidstone Branch, the internet was seen as something of a luxury. Sales agents had been marketing their properties on-line for some time, but the Lettings business was seen as an ‘Add-on’ to the real business of Estate Agency.

This did not only hold true of on-line marketing. Very few agents bothered to put their Lettings in the local paper and Regal were the first agent to go for a half page in Colour no less! The level of detail a customer could expect from a Letting Agent was also lacking. Freed from the confines of the Property Misdescriptions Act, Letting Agents pretty much wrote whatever they wanted and often it was not much.

Things have changed in the last decade though. It became vital for Letting agents to showcase all their properties and services on their own websites. Then came the portals. At first they all seemed like an expensive extra but soon enough Rightmove started to become vital if you really wished to succeed.

Then came the social networking sites. Facebook and Twitter were not going to set the world alight with new listings or new tenants, but they cannot be beaten for building brand recognition and for boosting the organic growth of a Letting Agent’s web position in the search engines. Blogging and News articles became important for the very same reason.

But the most important change of all is the advent of smartphones. Suddenly applicants and Landlords no longer need wait till they get home to check up on an agent. They can get answers immediately and the Letting Agent must ensure that those answers are presented in the best light possible. No longer will it be acceptable to have a one size fits all web page that contains flash elements and is too unwieldy for a small screen. Smartphone users set their expectations high and the amount of time they are prepared to waste low.

To meet this change Regal Estates has already taken several steps. Our website automatically converts to a mobile friendly version when sensing a smartphone user. All our property details will soon have 3D bar codes attached to allow for quick access to property details. Automatic texts will soon have links to the properties included in the body text. More changes will be announced later in 2012.

For those who are dismissive of the impact of smartphones we can confirm that in 2011 13% of all visits to our website were from smartphones. So far in 2012 that number has risen to 17%.

Thank you for reading.

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A look back at 2011

Posted on February 6, 2012 by admin

A warm welcome to 2012 from all of us at Regal Estates and an apology for the delay in the first post.

It is helpful to look back at a completed year to identify what the likely trend will be for the coming one and in this post we will look to highlight what stands out.

2011 was a tough year for the property sector as a whole. While the London market has remained relatively buoyant for sales, this has not extended to many places around the UK. Certainly in the Medway area there has been a distinct lack of buyers and more particularly investors. The knock on effect of this is to see the number of new properties coming to the Lettings market slipping considerably.

By contrast the number of agents offering Lettings in our areas has swelled at breakneck speed. Where we may have looked at four or five competitors offering Lettings in Rainham, now Rightmove reports as many as twenty five agents. With a reducing stock level it is clear to see that this has brought about challenges.

Regal has long extolled the virtues of choosing an agent that offers professionalism, knowledge and efficiency all of which demand a realistic price. During 2009 / 2010 we have seen many Landlords panicked by the collapse of the UK economy fleeing to the many cut price agents in the local area. We have remained confident that our standards of service are unmatched and our fees significantly less than those of the corporates in the area and that Landlords would soon realise that like anything you get what you pay for. 2011 turned out to be the year of realisation for many of our old clients and we have seen virtually all of our clients return as well as 40-50% of listings in our area coming directly to Regal Estates (figures courtesy of Rightmove).

In addition our marketing, branding and well presented high street offices have continued to build our reputation as evidenced by the decision of Berkeley First in 2011 to appoint Regal Lettings as their partner Letting Agent at the stunning Victory Pier development. The first development in the Medway area to offer a resident’s gym and wi-fi lounge on the riverside.

2011 also saw Regal Estates fly out to Hong Kong and Singapore to establish nearly 40 new investor Landlords looking for UK representation, it is likely that this will be repeated in the spring of 2012.

In summary then 2011 represented a tough year. It is the first year we have not shown year on year growth and have effectively ‘trod water’. We have seen the closure of our Bearsted office as we look to expand our offering into new areas. It has been a strong year for consolidating our business and strengthening our position in the market.

In the next article we will talk about what will be happening in 2012 which looks like being our busiest and eventful year yet.

Thank you for reading.

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Real Estates – Twitter

Posted on October 21, 2011 by admin


Regal Estates have been on twitter for some time as can be seen by more than 700 tweets so far.

Twitter is an excellent means to keep abreast of new posts on our news blog but it also updates each time we list a new property. Each entry has a handy link allowing you to connect directly to the article or property being referred to.

We hope you find it handy but if you would like to see any more content just let us know.

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Cut price Letting Agents – Part 2 – Offices

Posted on October 20, 2011 by admin

Welcome to the second part of our series on cut price Letting Agents. The first part concentrated on Referencing and what to look for when instructing a Letting Agent, you can read it here http://www.regalestates.com/blog/?p=108.

This series is about providing you with information to help you decide on how to choose your Letting Agent. It is relevant to any area and does not make any claim as to the capabilities of budget Letting Agents.

Offices used by Estate Agents and Letting Agents alike are often well known in their local areas. In many towns there will be an area colloquially known as ‘Estates Agents row’ but why is this? To non agents it may seem counter productive to be sandwiched amongst your competition but as ever there are good reasons.

When looking for an office an agent will have a check-list of  desired qualities. When Regal were looking to offer property to rent in Rochester it was clear that we wanted an area with a high footfall, an office with a large area of window space and situated on a road still used by traffic. In addition being near the local competition would also be a plus. Footfall brings us potential Landlords and Tenants, the window space gives us the maximum possibility to market our Landlord’s properties as well as our services and the road allows traffic to pass and be made aware that the branch exists.

Being near other agents is most important of all. It means that all the marketing carried out by your competitors will bring large numbers of potential Landlords and Tenants to your street. People do not simply look in the window of one agent but will instead walk the row and look in every agent’s window. Prospective tenants will usually register with all the Agents and Landlords may be looking to instruct multiple agents or perhaps to change agent due to unsatisfactory services.

However, the Lettings market is a very different one to that of ten years ago. Where a website was once simply a luxury item, now it is the driving force behind your business. More important are the property portals with Rightmove being the most vital for any agent looking to seriously compete in the market. Social media is making strides into every industry and agency is no exception. This has led to the proliferation of Letting Agents that are trying to offer cheap services on the back of a largely IT and Web based service.

The perception of many of these new agents is that the web has replaced the need for conventional high street offices. Many have now moved their operations to low rent commercial units, private houses and in some cases even warehouses. This has allowed a reduction in fees to try and tempt new Landlords to sign up.

While there is some merit to this method, there are also pitfalls. Letting Agents operate in a complex industry which has become ever more litigious. Landlords and Tenant’s alike want to feel that their agent offers security. A long term high street premises offers some security. In contrast we have had many issues with back street agents simply disappearing overnight and taking Tenant and Landlord money with them. The premises are also a 24 hour source of free marketing for Landlords. Our windows are being looked in day and night every day of the year. It is not unusual for Landlords and Tenants to want to come in and meet staff and complete their paperwork. High Streets are designed for visitors and will have parking facilities and other shops adding convenience for any visit.

There is no requirement for any Letting Agent to operate from a particular type of premises. However to offer the best possible service, security and maximise every possible opportunity, there is no replacement for a high street office. A Landlord may decide to go ahead with a non high street agent to save on the commission fees. But if the property remains empty for a month, then has any saving actually been achieved?

We hope you find these articles useful and informative. We gear our articles to cover topics that have been requested. If there is any subject that you would like more information on, please let us know in the comment section.

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Website traffic constant in 2011

Posted on September 21, 2011 by admin

Lettings in Kent is a fast moving business. Any agent with property to rent in kent will quickly find out that demand will outstrip supply. To make matters worse, new Letting Agents spring up on every corner further diluting the supply of rental properties available on the market.

While we are fortunate to be the market leaders in our areas, we cannot ignore the significant drop in properties coming to the market in the Kent area.

While there have been country wide predictions of mass demand, our statistics show that the level of interest through our website has remained largely static. In fact there has been a small drop in 2011 to the end of August when compared against the same period last year. Total properties views sitting at almost exactly 100,000. However, both years represent a significant increase on the 2009 level which hit only 85,000 views in the same period.

Our analytics show that if you have a property to rent in Rochester, you will have the largest number of potential applicants at present. Want to know more? Why not contact the Regal Lettings Rochester on 01634 887 101 and speak to the manager Zaira Saguato.

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Rent arrears on the increase? Not at Regal Lettings!

Posted on September 20, 2011 by admin

There can be no doubt that the UK is going through a period of economic uncertainty. With a lack of new investor Landlords and the difficulty of securing funding there are not a great deal of new rental properties coming onto the market. Our data shows this has certainly been the case in the Maidstone and Medway areas.

While in isolation this may not be a problem, there are other factors to consider. There are a number of properties coming onto the market for sale as people try to leave their precarious financial situations and others being repossessed on the back of poor decisions. This has reduced the stock of available rental properties in the private rental sector and at the same time there is a dramatic increase in the number of people looking to rent.

The natural conclusion to the above is that rentals will start to increase. Affordability will drop and there will likely be a substantial increase in the number of tenants who cannot pay their rental, either on time or at all.

This is borne out by statistics provided by one of the UK’s largest Letting Agents that has noticed Rents rose by their fastest rate in a year in August, bouncing up 1.2%, whilst tenants arrears grew by 19.5%.

Data also shows 10.7% of all UK rent was unpaid or late by the end of August – up from the 9% of rent unpaid or late in July.

At Regal Estates things are not so gloomy. With a robust qualifying process in place our staff are tasked with ensuring affordability before even carrying out viewings. While applicants do not like to divulge their earnings at the outset it is explained that this information will help to ensure administration fees are not lost at the referencing stage.

In addition our excellent client accounts team headed up by Manager Elaine Roberts have a wealth of experience in working with tenants to avoid any arrears.

The net result is that Regal Estates currently has the lowest number of arrears in our history currently running at just 1.69% of our management portfolio.

If you have a property to rent in Rainham, Rochester, Gillingham and the rest of Medway, Maidstone and Sittingbourne, why not give us a call.

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Students at Victory Pier?

Posted on September 9, 2011 by admin

While not something we would normally write a news article about, it is something that has led to some confusion. More importantly there seems to be a great deal of misinformation being passed around and this is a chance to clear that up.

To those that know the area, there is a large purpose built student block on the Victory Pier development called Liberty Quays. This block was built to student specification by Berkeley Homes and subsequently is used by the local Universities to house their first year students.

With the approaching completion of the Boat House at Victory Pier, Berkeley Homes approached the Liberty Quays site with marketing to identify if any students and/or parents would like to purchase a unit. The unfortunate consequence was that a large portion of the student population believed that The Boat House was to be another Student Block. This culminated in Regal Estates being inundated with applications numbering almost 400.

At the outset Berkeley Homes were prepared to consider student applications. However this was put on hold when needing to take into consideration the owner occupiers looking to buy and live in units in the block. At this stage Regal were obliged to inform all students that there would not be any accommodation available to students.

The latest is that a couple of units became available that were suited to students. These units were not furnished and did not come bills inclusive. They were in the main single occupant one bedroom apartments. While there is a small possibility of another couple of units becoming available in September it is not set in stone and there is little Regal Estates can do to change this.

If you wish to register your details you may do so, but due to the volume of student calls we request that you do not call to find out if anything has become available. If something does we will call you.

Thank you.

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Regal Estates Sittingbourne

Posted on September 9, 2011 by admin

As intimated earlier in the Regal Estates Blog, we have been looking to move into the Sittingbourne area for some time now.

Early in 2011 we took a look at which areas offered the greatest opportunity for expansion. The office in Bearsted had been languishing outside of Maidstone and was increasing slowly. This coupled with all the sales only agents opening Lettings Departments and the sudden appearance of a number of living room Letting Agents meant that there were as many as 35 agents sharing from a decreasing stock. We toyed with the idea of moving back into Maidstone Town Centre but in the end decided that our existing stock levels and portfolio were sufficient for the area.

Regal Estates have always had a strong presence in Sittingbourne however. Our portfolio of managed units is high and that is without having a high street presence. Comments from Landlords suggested that they did not feel they received the service they wanted from the few agents already on the High Street hence their decision to appoint Regal Estates as far away as Rainham.

In the end the decision made itself. A premises became vacant that would lend itself well to the high standard of refurbishment Regal Estates like to carry out. It is our belief that a Letting Agent branch should be well presented and a nice place to do business. The premises is also situated in a position that would generate a large amount of passing traffic as well as being situated centrally for convenient access for our Landlords and Tenants Alike.

Having secured the premises, we look forward to the launch of Regal Estates Sittingbourne in Autumn 2011. To register your interest, simply contact our branches at Regal Estates Rainham, Regal Estates Rochester or Regal Estates Gillingham for more information.

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Cut price Letting Agents – Part 1 – Referencing

Posted on September 1, 2011 by admin

There are a number of purposes to the Regal Blog. While there is an obvious desire for the company to benefit from the posts and popularity, there is an equal desire to provide Landlords and Tenants alike with more information about the industry. Why would we want to do this? Well the answer is pretty simple. We do a great deal more than most of our competitors and we would like everyone to know it. We don’t do it for fun but as a result of many years of experience in the industry.

In recent years a new type of agent has sprung up. These are often populated by individuals who after a short stint in a professional agency have decided that they know all there is to know and set up on their own. The business plan is a simple one. Keeps costs to a bare minimum and undercut all the competition. What could go wrong?

This mini series is a chance for us to demonstrate some of the methods agents use to cut their prices. The articles are not here to suggest these methods are wrong per se, but simply to point out the risks associated with cost cutting in a high risk industry.

Referencing represents the most important part of the Letting business. It is the one chance a Landlord has to identify the potential risks of any given applicant. When considering that a tenant will have access to a property worth £100s of thousands of pounds it is pretty clear that you should know as much as you possibly can.

The internet is rife with tenant horror stories. While there are always exceptions, the most common theme is that the references had not been checked correctly or in some cases not at all.

A local Rochester Agent recently moved a tenant into a property that subsequently turned out to be a serial con artist who knew exactly how to play the law to stay in the property without paying rental for as long as possible. The Landlord on searching google was able to pull up a great deal of information on the tenant that the agent’s ‘referencing’ had not picked up. Naturally when asking to see sight of these references, the agent refused.

Here is the heart of this article. Despite an ever increasing array of professional referencing companies out there, many agents are choosing to carry out the references in-house. Thankfully most agents will as a bare minimum carry out a credit check. They will then send out a request for references to be completed by a previous Landlord, current employer and in some cases a character reference.

The above sounds reasonable enough, but, if not carried out by a professional company it is easy to see holes in the process. Firstly, if ID has not been taken, how will the agent know whether the applicant is who they say they are? Proof should be given by way of photographic ID to confirm this. When giving a previous Landlord reference, how does the agent know that the tenant resided there? Proof should be requested and a check should be done on the electoral register. When approaching the employer, is the agent identifying who in the company is authorised to give that reference? The name given by the applicant could simply be an office junior who is a ‘mate’ doing a favour. With a company let, who is finding out if the company actually exists or trades? Many of them are set up with glamorous Mayfair or Canary Wharf addresses but simply turn out to have hired post boxes.

The above are commonplace scenarios for professional referencing agents. In addition to the above they employ income multiples and scoring systems that use real life data obtained from years in the industry to identify those that cannot be trusted. For that reason, many of the larger professional letting agents employ specialist firms to deal with the referencing on their behalf. However, the costs of using such a company are significant. At Regal we expect to spend over £60k per annum on references. You can therefore see the attraction to a cut price agent of carrying out the references in-house.

The final and most important benefit to using a third part referencing company is that of impartiality. The referencing company have no vested interest in passing the tenant. Indeed if anything they are protective of their reputations and want to ensure they don’t pass applicants that prove later to be problem tenants. By contrast an agent dealing with the references in-house has a clear interest in the tenants passing, most particularly on a find only basis. When tenants pass references, they earn more money…….

We hope this post has been informative. If there are any topic areas you would like more information on, please do not hesitate to let us know.

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Lettings for Overseas Landlords

Posted on August 23, 2011 by admin

As the UK suffers from a lack of local investors and first time buyers, overseas investors are being attracted to well priced new developments offering generous returns. Historically such investors would concentrate solely in London, but lately alternatives such as Medway have started to offer realistic alternatives at affordable prices.

The most recent example of this is the stunning Victory Pier development by Berkeley Homes. Superb modern apartments, resident’s gym and wi-fi lounge all help to create a high demand for rental property and an attractive investment for overseas Landlords.


Regal Estates were chosen as the partner Letting Agent by Berkeley Homes as a result of a review process to identify the Letting Agent most likely to provide a professional, fast and efficient service for Berkeley Homes and private investors alike. As units have been letting fast, some investors have not received a detailed description as to how the UK Lettings market works. We therefore hope to address these issues below with a brief explanation of how the UK market works.

Lettings in the UK

The UK lettings industry is both complex and technical. It is important that your Letting Agent uses up to date contracts and paperwork to safeguard your interests.

Step 1

The Letting agent will take on your property. They will agree with you a rental price, a commission fee and any other requirements.

Step 2

The property will be marketed in the local papers, branch windows, website and property portals to identify interested applicants. When applicants call they are registered and asked what they do for a living, how much they earn and who will be moving into the property.

Step 3

The applicants will be shown around units they are interested in. If they like a unit they will put an offer in. This will include a rental amount, start date and tenancy length.

At this stage we will then pass the details of this offer to the Landlord to ask if the Landlord wishes to proceed with the application subject to suitable references and signing a contract. If the Landlord agrees the offer is considered accepted. If the Landlord then changes their mind for a reason other than references a withdrawal fee will be due.

An offer letter is sent out to both parties to confirm the details of the proposed tenancy.

Step 4

The applicants will pay an administration fee. This fee pays for the legal agreements and the references. They will not get this money back if they fail their references or have a change of mind. Once the fee has been paid the applicants will fill out reference forms. These will be sent to a specialist reference company. Regal Estates use FCC Paragon.

The decision will be either 1. successful  2. failure or  3. partial failure that can be passed if the applicant has a guarantor or can pay the whole rent in advance.

A copy of these references as well as a reference approval letter will be sent for Landlord approval if requested.

Step 5

Once the references have been passed a Tenancy Agreement (Legal Agreement) will be sent out to both Landlord and Tenant. These agreements will need to be signed prior to any let commencing.

Before the tenant can collect keys they must pay a deposit (six weeks of the rent) and one month’s rental in advance.

An inventory report will be carried out by an independent firm to detail the condition of the apartment.

Keys will be issued and the tenants will move in.

Step 6

The deposit will be lodged with a government approved scheme. The deposit can only be repaid to either party at the end of the let when an agreement is reached.

Rental will be paid by automated transfer. A charge will be made of circa £20.00 for each payment. This is the amount charged by the UK Bank for processing. Payments will be made in Sterling and the Landlord bank account will convert the currency accordingly.

A statement of account will be sent each month by email.

Step 7

When the let is coming to an end and if neither party wish to renew, the property can be re marketed two months before the end (with tenant agreement). When the tenant vacates a check out report will be carried out by the inventory clerk to detail the condition to ensure that the deposit can be dealt with correctly.

The above is a very brief guide and should not be considered definitive. To help further, please note the following points:

1. All UK letting properties must have an Energy Performance Certificate. Your unit will have one of these already. Under current legislation this will last for 10 years.

2. If you are resident overseas for more than six months per year, you must either have 20% of the rent deducted by your Letting Agent and paid to the tax department or you must complete an NRL1 self assessment form which allows your letting agent to pay over all monies.

3. All fees and costs will be deducted from the rental. A good Letting Agent will not require you to wire funds.

4. All UK letting properties should be supplied with either curtain poles or blinds.

5. Tenants in the UK have a legal right to a property for at least six months. Repossessing a property from a bad tenant is a lengthy and costly process which we will cover in another post.

We hope you have found this brief introduction to lettings helpful. We will continue to update this blog site with futher updates to help understand the UK Letting system. Please feel free to ask for more information.

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