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Welcome to AJM Removals Bristol monthly blog for May!
This month we are looking at a few interesting tidbits from the topsy-turvy world of property news here in Bristol!
Firstly we look at the rental sector and first port of call is the new Tenant Fees Act 2019 which will affect Bristol and the whole of England and Wales. In case you haven’t heard about the legislation it is pretty significant! Anybody who has rented property over the last 10 years or so may well have noted how expensive it is getting to pay for all the fees that agents and landlords can charge, right? Well, the government has decided to act. The legislation was actually passed in February but will come into effect on June 1st – that’s right – in a couple of days!
So, what’s it going to mean for anybody looking to rent? Well, the main gist of the act is that it will not be possible for agents and landlords to charge for a lot of things they have been charging for over recent years. According to The Bristol Residential Letting Co’s website examples of banned fees would be –
- Charging for a guarantor form
- Credit checks
- Inventories
- Cleaning Services
- Referencing
- Professional Cleaning
- Having the property de-flead as a condition of allowing pets in the property
- Admin charges
- Requirements to have specific insurance providers
- Gardening Services
The Bristol Residential Lettings website states also that restrictions on rent will be made to stop agents raising the rents to offset the loss incurred by not charging the fees. Further, deposits will be restricted to 5 weeks rent where the annual rent is below £50,000 or, where above this amount, a maximum of 6 weeks rent.
If you want to gain a bit more of a comprehensive view on what these changes mean for you as a tenant, agency or landlord you could view the full article here – https://www.bristolreslet.com/fee-ban-latest/ or visit the gov.uk site under Tenancy Fees Act 2019.
We think overall that this is great news for tenants and hope the changes will be welcomed by all but what do you think? Get in touch to let us know your opinions via our email address or Facebook.
In terms of the rental market in general in Bristol, Home.co.uk, an interesting website claiming to be the ‘UK’s Most Comprehensive Property Search’, tells us that the average price for 1 bedroom properties is £853 per month whereas a 5 bedroom property is likely to cost £2,115! They tell us that the total number of properties available in Bristol for rent is 1,560 and the average time on the market is 241 days.
The most popular rental property on the market at the moment, according to the Bristol Post, is in the Old Market area and is on the market for just £400 per month! The article cites the original ad as saying “This is a great opportunity to enjoy living in Bristol city centre at a much lower cost.” However, they also tell us that the building has boarded-up windows, overhanging windows and dark interior. If anybody is interested in viewing this flat it is offered by Global Guardians who state they are a leading guardian company (companies which offer properties which are not being used at lower rental prices than usual though without the security of a contract).
Now we’ll move onto the property sales market and to an article in the Bristol Post which informs us of the highest sums paid for properties in the region over the last month.
They tell us that the most expensive property was sold for £1.25 million! Perhaps unsurprisingly the property was in Redland where, according to the online property resource Zoopla, the average price is £518,141. The detached house has 3 reception rooms, cellar and garage with a lovely front lawn. It looked to be from the Victorian era. We hope it was worth all that money and wish the new owners all the very best – what a lovely time of year to move in!
The second and third most expensive properties sold according to the article were both above £900,000! One of these was in Sneyd Park and the other was on Henleaze Road. The report tells us that there were 451 house sold for over £1 million in England and Wales in March which they state is up from 366 in February.
Next, we look at a highly informative article, again on www.home.co.uk. The information comes in the form of a report named ‘House Prices Report for Bristol – January 1995 – February 2019’. It shows a rise in property prices which is quite staggering.
We are told that the average price for detached properties has risen from £102,329 to £463,760 which is an increase of 353%. Flats have risen from £50,279 to £234,212 – an increase of 366%, semi-detached houses have risen from £60,436 to £309,746 – up 413% and the biggest shift can be seen in terraced houses which have risen from £46,077 to £303,304 – a massive 558% price increase – wow!
An interesting article on This Is Money.co.uk shows that Bristol saw the highest price rise of any city in the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2018. The city topped the poll with an average increase of 8.9% each year. London followed with 8.6%, then came Oxford (7.4%), Cambridge (7.2%) and Portsmouth (6.7%). The average for all twenty cities included in the report was 6.9%.
We hope we have managed to keep you informed and up-to-date on just a few of the trends in and around Bristol. Please feel free to get in touch with us with any questions or queries you might have about moving house so that we can help you in any way we can. We are a Bristol Removals Services Company you can trust and are 100% dedicated to providing clients with the best service you can find.