Spring Lettings update for 2025
As usual the start of the New Year has been brisk and the market for letting remains very strong.
Demand
This remains steady both from the local market and those coming to work in the area. Whilst of course Bae and the Mod are our main customers BAE’s recruitment levels are continuing to affect the local employment market. What we mean by this is as so many local people now work in BAE that local employers are ever increasingly having to employ from outside of the area and indeed outside of the UK. This is now across almost all sectors.
The medical and nursing sectors bring the most customers from overseas and this trend is expected to continue.
Whilst BAE bring staff at all levels it would be fair to say that there are in particular higher numbers amongst younger graduates and indeed a number of apprentices.
The AUKUS agreement (a collaborative defence agreement including the UK, US and Australia) is starting to bring more clients from Australia although with small numbers at this stage. The US contingent has been slowly growing for some time and our bespoke service for these valued customers has remained very popular.
Supply
Whilst it would be true to say some landlords are selling at the moment, we have found our numbers growing as many more customers come to the market. Over the last three months alone we have brought on 25 new houses and apartments to let.
Traditional let only landlords are moving ever more to the comfort and security of a managed service both for the time it gives them back and the help with compliance and repairs. Tax changes and what we saw as oversupply has also brought many holiday lets into the longer term rented sector.
As has long been the case we have also found a growing number of landlords moving away from estate agents to a use a specialist letting agent whose focus is completely on landlords and tenants.
In fact writing at the start of March 2025 there is more available to rent on Rightmove locally than there has been for several years. The supply of rooms within Hmos continues to increase and this part of the market does seem to be oversupplied.
Rent levels
With demand still very strong rents have continued to increase although the market has softened a little as rents continue to exceed previous record levels. The biggest increases tend to arrive when one tenant moves on and a new tenant is found with a rent akin to current market levels. It is now not uncommon for rent to increase as much as 30% when a tenant of 4 or 5 years has departed after property is refreshed/updated and re-let.
There is, and always will be a great value in long term tenants and ensuring rents are fair will be beneficial to both the landlord and tenant.
Expected changes
The long awaited “renters right bill” or “renters reform act” is expected to come into law this year and is a causing concern for some landlords. Sadly it is very much misunderstood and, as with much “news” these days, the facts are different from the headlines.
It is true that tenants’ rights will become a little stronger but there are positive aspects too and whilst the headline seems to be the abolition of section 21 the reality is notice periods are doubling. We have always prided ourselves on the reliability of our tenants, being almost the only agent who references in house, never more will such a task prove it’s value.
Sadly it is true to say that the legislation is quite frankly stupid in some regards and tenants with longer leases could actually lose the security of previously agreed longer agreements.
In the next few weeks we will add a more detailed article for landlords and tenants alike to try and explain some of the expected changes. As always we will work to ensure things work for all parties.
Staff
To help accommodate growth and progress our team in general, several staff have taken on more roles and promotion in the last year. Both Stephanie and Sophie now complete valuations and have enjoyed meeting so many new customers already this year.
We were very sad to see Tina move on at Christmas and have added several new staff over the last year with Ken, Keira and Laura all joining the team.
Contractors, Safety checks and renovations
It’s hard to believe but it has been over five years since we started completing EICRS and many of these are now becoming due again. We use several contractors for this to cope with the volume and will complete them where required for managed customers.
Whilst these is a constant issue with contractors going to work in Bae we currently have a great team and can assist with property renovations after longer lets or before first lets.
We do now ask all customers for a retainer of £150.00 and will start to ask existing customers for these. This simply allows us to pay for smaller jobs and safety checks without the contractor having to wait several weeks for payment. Most of our team are self-employed and swift payment is of paramount importance to them