A dog is for life and not just Christmas is a sentiment we can all embrace.

The soothing effects of having a pet at home are well known and the government’s update to the model tenancy agreement now makes it easier for tenants with pets to secure leases.

Changes to the agreement meant landlords could no longer issue blanket bans on pets.

Instead consent for pets has become the default position and landlords have to object in writing within 28 days of a written pet request from a tenant and provide a good reason.

The Dogs Trust explained one of the top reasons they saw dogs being handed in for re-housing was because of a change in circumstances which meant the owner was moving into private rented accommodation and their pet was not welcome.

In 2020, only 7% of landlords advertised their property as suitable for pets (GOV.UK). With such a small proportion of pet-friendly rentals, some tenants have no choice but to give up their pets.

The Dog’s Trust now hopes that under the new model tenancy agreement more tenants will be able to re-house pets that have sadly been given up for adoption.

Tenants will still have a legal duty to cover the costs of any damage caused by pets, but more tenants will be able to find suitable accommodation. 

Housing Minister Christopher Pincher MP said the change struck the right balance between helping more people find a home that’s right for them and their pet, while ensuring landlords properties are safeguarded.

If a landlord is open to taking a ‘pets considered’ approach then the model tenancy agreement can be really useful to ensure that they are taking into account all of the aspects of allowing pets in their property. 

According to the Dogs Trust, with more and more people becoming pet owners, adopting a ‘pets considered’ approach can increase demand for a property. You are also likely to attract long-term, responsible tenants.

The newly proposed Pet Protection Bill is also awaiting approval from Parliament.

The Dogs and Domestic Animals Accommodation Protection Bill is designed to help responsible pet owners find suitable rental properties.

Currently awaiting its second reading, the bill will allow dogs and other animals to be kept in rental accommodation in England.

The bill will help responsible renters and its focus is the protection and welfare of domestic animals. As well as giving tenants the right to keep pets in their rental property, the bill proposes pet owners have a certificate of responsible animal guardianship.

Certificates will be issued subject to a responsible ownership test, conducted by a registered vet, including:

• Microchipping (for dogs and cats)
• De-worming and de-fleaing
• Required vaccinations
• Ability to respond to basic commands

The bill also proposes that all information regarding an animal and its ownership be entered into a database – including mandatory microchipping for all dogs and cats.

If the proposed bill goes ahead, tenants will not have an unconditional right to keep a pet. Tenants can’t have a dog or domestic animal unless they hold a responsible animal guardianship certificate. If living in the rental accommodation puts the animal at risk, or causes danger or nuisance to people nearby, they will not be allowed.

Under the new legislation, landlords could also restrict their tenant’s right to keep dogs or domestic animals if they hold a certificate of exemption.

These would be issued if the property wasn’t suitable for an animal or the landlord or another tenant has a religious or medical reason not to come into contact with a dog or domestic animal.

The government has recently announced new rules on domestic fire and carbon monoxide alarms within all rented properties.

Key changes to the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 mean landlords need to ensure a carbon monoxide alarm is fitted in any room in their homes where there is a fixed combustion appliance, including a gas boiler.

When any new fixed combustion appliances are fitted a carbon monoxide alarm will need to be fitted by law – gas cookers are excluded from the new regulations.

Landlords in the social and private rented sector need to be aware they will be required to repair or replace smoke and carbon monoxide alarms once they have been informed they are faulty.

The main changes at a glance are:

• Smoke alarms will be mandatory in all social rented homes
• Carbon monoxide alarms will be mandatory in rooms with a fixed combustion appliance (excluding gas cookers)
• Carbon monoxide alarms will need to be fitted when any new heating appliance is added (excluding gas cookers)
• Landlords need to repair or replace faulty alarms

The All-PartyParliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group (APPCOG) has been pressing for changes to the regulations and according to Policy Connect they have welcomed the update.

John McNally, MP for Falkirk and a parliamentary officer for APPCOG, said:

“UK government appears to be making a step in the right direction, a progression to be welcomed, but “asap” needs a firmer target time.” 

Every year there are approximately 60 deaths in England and Wales from Carbon Monoxide poisoning.

According to the NHS website low level exposure to carbon monoxide poisoning can bring on symptoms similar to food poisoning or flu.

The main sources of carbon monoxide leaks will be incorrectly installed, poorly maintained or poorly ventilated household appliances and heaters and central heating boilers.

Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas that has no smell or taste. Breathing it in can make you unwell, and it can kill if you’re exposed to high levels.

The symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are not always obvious, particularly during low-level exposure.

A tension-type headache is the most common symptom of mild carbon monoxide poisoning. 

Other symptoms include:

• dizziness
• feeling and being sick
• tiredness and confusion
• stomach pain
• shortness of breath and difficulty breathing

Long-term exposure to low levels of carbon monoxide can also lead to neurological symptoms, such as:

• difficulty thinking or concentrating
• frequent emotional changes – for example, becoming easily irritated, depressed, or making impulsive or irrational decisions

Breathing in high levels of carbon monoxide gas can cause more severe symptoms.

These may include:

• impaired mental state and personality changes (intoxication)
• the feeling that you or the environment around you is spinning (vertigo)
• loss of physical co-ordination caused by underlying damage to the brain and nervous system (ataxia)
• breathlessness and a heart rate of more than 100 beats per minute (tachycardia)
• chest pain caused by angina or a heart attack
• an uncontrollable burst of electrical activity in the brain that causes muscle spasms (seizures)
• loss of consciousness – in cases where there are very high levels of carbon monoxide, death may occur within minutes

Please keep an eye out for future Chinneck Shaw blogs regarding a deadline date for the new regulations.

With COP26 underway, now seemed like an opportune time to review where we are as a company regarding our green commitment.

You may recall in an earlier blog post back in April, we nailed our green colours to the mast and became one of the first estate agents in the region to do so.

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.

We used their business calculator to calculate our business carbon footprint and so far we have invested in:

•         Tree planting in South East UK
•         Tree planting in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya.
•         Global Portfolio of verified Carbon Reduction Projects
•         Gold standard Community Based Verified Carbon reduction Projects
•         Americas Portfolio of Verified Carbon Reduction Projects

And the great news is, we purchased 5x more than our actual calculated CO2 emissions. This means that Chinneck Shaw Limited is a Carbon Neutral PLUS organisation. (the PLUS comes from offsetting more than your footprint).

 Our Green Pledge

We promise to plant a tree for every house we sell. Chinneck Shaw has registered with a scheme that allows businesses to plant a tree on behalf of their customers. The customer can choose from the projects available and they will receive an email with a certificate to confirm that we have planted a tree. Together we can make a difference to climate change.

As a business we want to work in the most sustainable way we can and do a little bit more – we are making a commitment to be Net Zero by 2050 by getting involved with the government’s UK Business Climate Hub and we hope other Pompey businesses will follow suit …

As the day’s draw closer to the clocks going back on October 30, you can definitely feel a crispness in the air – autumn is well and truly here.

The season of conkers and walking through crisp, fallen leaves is definitely a good time to be selling your home. 

The property market is still buoyant and with Christmas literally just around the corner, people are keen to get transactions underway and sorted. They may even be time for those who want to to move in and celebrate their first yuletide gathering under a new roof.

With many years experience helping people to sell their homes at this time of year, Manager Lizzie Burt has these top tips:

• Light your woodburner or if you have a real fire get it glowing in the hearth. Nothing makes a home feel more cosy than a real fire.

• If the viewing takes place in the late afternoon or early evening, lighting is really important. You want to create a warm glow about your home – T-lights and fairy lights help to enhance the mood.
• Scented candles are also a good idea but be warned there is a balance to be had and too much fragrance can be a little overpowering.
• Throws and cushions in autumnal tones can help to endorse the feeling of warmth and comfort.
• Brush up those fallen leaves – while gardens may not be looking their best, it’s important to keep them tidy and show their springtime potential.

Today (Friday October 1) Stamp Duty levels will revert to pre-holiday levels with the property price threshold returning to £125,000 or £300,000 for first-time buyers.

It’s fair to say that the Stamp Duty holiday gave a much needed boost to the property market after lockdown caused a slump in the housing market.

The stamp duty holiday was introduced in July 2020 and extended again until June 30 2021. It meant buyers purchasing a property for less than £500,000 before July 1 2021, paid no Stamp Duty and from July 1 to September 30, it was payable on the cost of properties above £250,000.

The Government introduced the holiday to help people feel more confident about buying and selling – and it certainly seemed to do the trick. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported the average house price in England rose by 8.0% to £256,000.

Even with the staged re-introduction of Stamp Duty payments, the property market has remained buoyant and Manager Lizzie Burt is confident there will be sustained growth in the market into 2022.

“We were inundated with interest every time we put a new property up for sale at the height of the Stamp Duty holiday and the interesting thing is, we are still dealing with multiple buyers for each property and the phones don’t stop as soon as we put a property live.

“More stock would be good to be able to match the interest from potential buyers. Looking ahead, we are anticipating 3.9% growth in 2022,” she said.

With the UK property market continuing to perform at record levels, opportunities for investors can be found in both residential and commercial. But the question remains the same – where should I invest my hard earned money?

According to experts both markets are continuing to perform well despite being impacted by the pandemic.

While a commercial investment may offer a higher yield, the recovery timeline as a result of the pandemic is set to be far longer than the residential rental market and residential property investment remains by far the dominant force when it comes to availability, affordability and total sector value.

Chinneck Shaw Property Manager Joe Rocks said: “As with all these things, a balanced approach offers the best return for a property portfolio holder.

“However we would always encourage people to look at residential over commercial.”

The latest major industry survey seems to back up this position too. The State of the Lettings Industry Report from Goodlord and Vouch provides a temperature check of the market and involved 550 agents and 1,700 tenants.

Their report highlighted tenants are reporting strong signals of confidence around their finances.

The vast majority – 81% of tenants – said the pandemic had no impact on their ability to pay rent in the past year and the majority believe their finances are secure.

Most tenants predicted they would be staying in the rental sector for many years to come. Less than half of tenants said they would expect to own a property within five years.

According to Propertymark, the UK government has today confirmed that notice periods will return to pre-Covid lengths in England from October 1 2021.

All notices were increased to six months for most grounds including Section 21 notices (with exemptions for some serious cases)  as a result of the pandemic and the introduction of the Coronavirus Act 2020

Since 1 June 2021 until 30 September 2021 notice periods must be at least four months in most circumstances apart from exemptions for the most serious cases. Notice periods for cases where there are less than four months of unpaid rent, reduced to two months’ notice from 1 August.

Property Manager Joe Rocks, said:”This announcement will be welcomed by many landlords across the country. Of course landlords and agents sympathise with those tenants who have genuinely struggled during the coronavirus pandemic, unfortunately there are a minority of tenants who have taken advantage of the pandemic and some landlords are tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket. 

“With the changes of the notice periods back to pre-Covid levels it means that the landlords can minimise the delay in starting legal proceedings against tenants. With the Renters Reform Bill on the horizon expect further consultation and changes to notices and notice periods.”

The changes mean that for a Section 21 notice it will revert back to 2 months notice and a Section 8 notice will return to 14 days notice for tenants who owe 2 months or more rent arrears.

An unexpected rise in house prices in August saw them go up 2.1% month-on month, the second largest gain in 15 years according to experts.

The Office for National Statistics reported the average value of a UK home went up 13.2% between June 2020 and June 2021 and the UK House Price Index said the average house price in the UK was £265,668 as of June 2021 . 

While the Stamp Duty Holiday had a lot to do with encouraging people to move, the race for more space to allow for working from home has also been a contributory factor to the positive housing market in Portsmouth.

“We are hearing all the time that people are looking for more space to accommodate their new working patterns. More people are adopting hybrid ways of working that will see them spending some time in the office and also working from home a couple of days a week,” said Manager Lizzie Burt.

A recent article by Which magazine is forecasting that prices will remain high due to the lack of new properties coming to the market.

And Mark Hayward from Propertymark says we remain in a strong seller’s market.

“In Portsmouth the market remains strong,” added Lizzie.

As one of Portsmouth’s oldest established firms, we have enjoyed a long and important relationship with Portsmouth Football Club.

Founder of the firm back in 1883, James Steele Chinneck, was also a director of the football club from 1938 to 1951 before becoming Chairman at the time of the second title win in 1950. 

He was famously photographed sat next to Field Marshal Montgomery at Fratton Park with Portsmouth FC’s championship winning side of 1948 to 1949.

Mr Chinneck was chairman of the club, while ‘Monty’ was president and still in his pomp after his decisive role in D-Day and the Allied victory in the Second World War.

The years under Mr Chinneck and Montgomery are remembered by many Portsmouth fans as the glory days. The club went on to claim the Division One title for a second consecutive season in 1949- 1950 as well as the Charity Shield in 1949.

“It’s such a great photograph and it still makes me feel proud when I see it,” said Neil Shaw, who runs the business today.

“The football club is so important to Portsmouth – it is the heartbeat of the city and our association goes back to what many see as a real high point for the club.

“When I look at that photograph I can see individuals whose families to this day we still act for – there is a huge amount of history between us.”

Over the years there have been many other links too – Mick Williams who helped to save the club when it nearly went into liquidation in 2012-13 is a client and Touchline Tony – the voice of Fratton Park – is a contractor Chinneck Shaw calls on for repairs. 

A keen player himself and an even more ardent football fan, Neil explained the close ties with the club remain to this day.

“For the past five years we have proudly sponsored a member of the women’s team and we are currently sponsoring defender Hayley Bridge,” he said.

Earlier this year when Chinneck Shaw were busy rebranding, they made sure to include a reference to the club they hold so dear.

“Over the years we’ve had many different connections and the ties are still as strong. When we had our recent re-brand, we made sure that the artwork in our meeting room reflected that strong association.

“The message in the flags reads ‘Play-up Pompey – the famous Pompey Chimes, ’” he added.

If recent times have taught us anything, it is that technology allows us to work with people quite literally all over the world at the click of a button.

Managing properties on behalf of owners is no exception and at Chinneck Shaw we have landlords based in some pretty far-flung places.

The furthest is New Zealand, with others based in Canada, Ireland, France, Spain, Malta, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Accounts Manager Shelley Morris-Green, explained: “Obviously the modern world we live in helps with the way we can communicate with them, it doesn’t matter with time zones as we can pick up their emails the next day.”

While technology is key, it comes down to relationships and trust.

“Our overseas landlords are content for us to make emergency decisions, if we ever have to, and trust that we will always do what’s right.

“This means we have happy tenants living in properties for longer and happy landlords who are being very well looked after, despite sometimes being on the other side of the world,” added Shelley.