BREAKING NEWS – top 5 stories 09/07/2021

Estate Agent Networking Breaking News

Daily bite-sized proptech and real estate news in partnership with Proptech-X. Today, Stanton looks at Help me Fix, Foxtons, Coadjute, and more.

 

  1. Help me Fix connects qualified tradespeople via video in triage and mend service
  2. Foxtons dumps Chair Ian Barlow due to share price doldrums
  3. Coadjute breaks cover to sell property on the blockchain
  4. TM Group has a new strategic owner and will stride forward
  5. Ministry of Justice wants to hike grant of probate fees

 

Help me Fix connects qualified tradespeople via video in triage and mend service

It has been reported that a video-chat maintenance service connecting tenants to tradespeople over video has seen a marked uptick in new clients. After all, value and efficiency win over the hearts and minds of those in the maintenance sector of lettings.

Ettan Bazil, the founder of Help me Fix, said: “It’s Service as a Software. Help me Fix is a professional service disguised as a piece of software, not the other way around. It saves money for landlords, increases passive income for agents, reduces workload and stress for property managers, and eliminates waiting times for tenants.”

Ettan is a skilled and qualified tradesman in his own right, so he knows what he’s doing. He built the solution having seen first-hand the frustrating process of dealing with maintenance tasks at properties.

The result is a piece of technology that sits in between landlords, property managers, tradespeople and tenants, that gets the right engineer to the right person quickly and efficiently. Game-changer.

 

Foxtons dumps Chair Ian Barlow due to share price doldrums

It has been announced that the incumbent Chair of Foxtons, who has been in place for a number of years but has not managed to steer the ship into calm waters, will step down. Perhaps now a new Chair will get on board with a more intuitive grasp of the realities of real estate in the digital age.

 

Coadjute breaks cover to sell property on the blockchain

I must confess that I do know a great deal about what Coadjute have been up to, and I wish their CEO, Dan Salmons, all the luck. Their tech team, headed up by Founder John Reynolds is second to none.

It is good to see that they have now embarked on a very public working case study with the selling of their first property on their blockchain. I for one genuinely hope that transparency and speed are pulsing through the whole project for all the stakeholders.

 

TM Group has a new strategic owner and will stride forward

The TM Group (UK), fronted by a very clever man named Joe Pepper, has lost two shareholders, LSL and Connells. However, it has gained a strategic new owner in the shape of Dye & Durham, a global force based in the US.

Knowing that there are likely to be further consolidations and alignments where big players look to concentrate their market share, this buyout seems to be a great result for all. Cash for Connells and LSL, and a sole focusing business.

 

Ministry of Justice wants to hike grant of probate fees

It has been announced that the Ministry of Justice is looking at ways of making probate applications pay. At present they are a loss leader. The current line of thought is to have a new blanket fee of £273, replacing the present two-banded system. A consultation is in play ending in late September.

Andrew Stanton

CEO & Founder Proptech-PR. Proptech Real Estate Influencer, Executive Editor of Estate Agent Networking. Leading PR consultancy in Proptech & Real Estate. Want to contact me directly regarding one of my articles or maybe you'd like a chat about future articles? Email me via editor@stagingsite.estateagentnetworking.co.uk

You May Also Enjoy

Estate Agent Talk

Commonhold White Paper – Thoughts from the Industry

The sale of new leasehold flats in England and Wales is to be banned under Labour’s plan to end the  ‘feudal’ system. Labour wants to switch to Scotland’s commonhold system There are around 5 million leaseholders in England and Wales. Under commonhold, each flat owner would own the freehold of their home, but also have…
Read More
Breaking News

Greenpeace Ruling Exposes UK Government Policy

In January 2025, Greenpeace brought a collective action against the Dutch state for failing to comply with a 2018 European Court of Justice ruling on nutrient neutrality. An appeal is expected: however, as the UK Government has adopted the same ‘tax builders for pollution others cause’ approach to reducing nutrient pollution, it may find itself…
Read More
Love or Hate Rightmove
Breaking News

Rightmove commentary on mortgage market + weekly tracker

Commenting on the mortgage market, Rightmove’s expert Matt Smith said: “The market has settled after the unexpectedly high inflation figure. Average mortgage rates on many products have trickled downwards, and we’ve even seen the return of some eye-grabbing sub-4% mortgage rates for those with the biggest deposits. It shows that mortgage lenders are still keen to…
Read More
Breaking News

Government plans to ban new leasehold flats

With the Government’s plans to ban new leasehold flats, an expert says the system must be ready to cope. With the news that Government is to outline plans to ban new leasehold flats and adopt commonhold, with draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill to be published later this year, Scott Goldstein, Partner, Payne Hicks Beach,…
Read More
bank of england interest rate
Breaking News

Bank of England Money and Credit Report – January 2025

Overview These monthly statistics on the amount of, and interest rates on, borrowing and deposits by households and businesses are used by the Bank’s policy committees to understand economic trends and developments in the UK banking system. Key points: Net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals rose by £0.9 billion, to £4.2 billion in January.…
Read More
Breaking News

Right to Manage: changes to legislation come into effect on Monday

On Monday 3 March further provisions within the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 come into force, including Section 49 which concerns the change of non-residential limit on Right to Manage (RTM) claims. This secondary legislation will mean that residential leaseholders within a mixed-use scheme will qualify for RTM when the commercial element of a…
Read More