With house prices reportedly rising at the fastest rate for five years according to a recent report in the Guardian, the average selling price has hit a record high of just over £258,000.

The cost of borrowing remains historically low according to new data released by the Bank of England, with an average mortgage rate of 2.09%. The rate has remained unchanged since the start of 2021, with gross mortgage lending in March hitting its highest ever monthly total at £35.6 billion.

Manager Lizzie Burt said the local picture remained buoyant and anyone considering a move would be well placed.

“Although stamp duty relief is going to be phased out over two stages in June and September, we think the demand for property will remain strong for the coming months,” she said.

Savings accrued as a result of the lockdowns and the new mortgage guarantee scheme have made first steps on the property ladder more feasible for some.

Existing homeowners looking to move to a hybrid model for future working are also keen to trade-up to a property with space for a home office.

Mortgage approvals remain over 20% higher than the long term (5 year average) as interest in moving home continues.

The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously on May 5 to maintain rates at 0.1%. The next meeting is June 16.

This week the Debt Respite Scheme, approved by Parliament in October 2020, has come into force.

The aim is to help people who are in debt, which includes rent arrears, to help better manage finances, seek professional debt service advice and reach sustainable solutions.

The Breathing Space Moratorium and Mental Health Crisis Moratorium) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020 pauses enforcement action from creditors, such as letting agents and landlords, and freeze charges, fees and certain interest on qualifying debts for up to 60 days. 

There is also an alternative way into the scheme for people receiving mental health crisis treatment. A mental health crisis moratorium lasts as long as a person’s mental health crisis treatment, plus 30 days.

Property Manager, Joe Rocks, said: “This new piece of legislation is important and a good step for tenants or anybody suffering genuine hardship and struggling to keep up with their rent and bills. It is an opportunity to ring fence the debt and come up with a sensible plan to pay it back. 

“Landlords need to be careful of contacting any tenants who have set up a Breathing Space otherwise they will face penalties. It is important to have good procedures in place to not fall foul of the new law.

“They also need to be mindful of a small number of the tenants who may try to take advantage of this situation to avoid paying the rent. This new piece of legislation is another example of why it is important to employ the services of a good managing agent to ensure compliance and to keep abreast of ever changing legislation that affects the private rental sector.”

A Breathing Space moratorium can only be accessed once every 12 months, but there is no limit to the number of times that an individual can enter a mental health crisis moratorium.

Just look at this lovely old auction poster we found in our basement dating back to 1984.

This is a great example of what Chinneck Shaw is all about.

Continuity, attention to detail, service with a great big smile – we’ve built our reputation on all of these.

And guess what, 37 years later we still manage the property advertised in the auction poster.

In fact, we’ve just re-let this home to a new family and so the circle continues.

If you would like to find out more about our services, please take a look at our new website where you can find information covering every aspect of rental properties.

We are rising to the green challenge by addressing our carbon footprint.

Having been established in 1883, we may have our roots in the past but we are very much looking to the future.

Director Neil Shaw, explained: “We believe we are the first estate agency in the region to nail our environmental colours to the mast.

“When the first lockdown happened and images of the bright blue waters at Southsea made national headlines, many of us became more aware of our own environment and the responsibility we all have to secure its future.

“It can be a bit overwhelming for businesses to know quite where to start so we are taking first steps to offset our carbon footprint with a number of initiatives.”

We are working with Carbon Footprint Ltd to analyse our carbon footprint, with the aim of offsetting and reducing the impact the business has on the environment.

Neil explained he had been particularly impressed by the work of the Package Free Larder in Elm Grove, Southsea’s first plastic free shop.

“We’ve really admired the messaging from the Package Free Larder team. They recently said you don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly, you need millions of people doing it imperfectly.

“We couldn’t agree more,” said Neil.

The Chinneck Shaw team has got behind the green initiative and come up with a whole range of ideas including removing single use plastics and making sure any printed items are fully recyclable.

“We will be looking at everything from the products we use to keep our office clean to planting bee bombs in our office garden to promote pollination.

“We will also be looking into running electric vehicles and we would love to plant a tree in our home city,” he added.

After many months of planning, we are delighted to reveal our new look.

As one of Portsmouth’s longest established businesses – we started trading in 1883 – we wanted our rebrand to reflect our history and our position based at the heart of our island city.

The re-brand is designed to capture the essence of living in a waterfront city and Portsmouth’s nautical heritage has been the inspiration for the energetic new design.

Director Neil Shaw explained: “We have been looking at how we present our company for sometime and like everyone else, our view of living in Portsmouth was affected by the lockdown.

“We were influenced by the clear blue seas that were captured in images of Southsea during the first lockdown and the importance of being able to walk by the shore.

“Websites have taken on an even greater significance during the pandemic as they quite literally became the shopfront for countless businesses. That was true for ourselves and we wanted to be able to showcase the technology we have been using during the lockdowns to market properties.”

The new look website goes live in April and will include 360 degree tours of properties and the full marketing experience for both properties for sale and rental.

“Even when the restrictions are eased, websites will continue to be the first means by which people will look at properties so we needed to make our site the first port of call for home-hunters in Portsmouth,” said Neil.

Eagle eyed naval enthusiasts are sure to spot the use of nautical flags to convey messaging as part of the re-brand (even the logo combines the flags used to convey C and S). In the coming months, the team will be using their artwork to convey hidden messages as part of a fun social media campaign.

“It all comes down to communication and the flags were an important way for the Royal Navy to send messages.

“There’s nothing twee about our new design – we have abstracted the flags and plan to use them in a fun way,” added Neil.