Once again we are pleased to be attending this year's annual ARLA Conference at the London ExCel. It is always a great day filled with familiar faces, networking opportunities, the latest industry news and a review of those crucial legal updates.

In January 2019 a new Housing Complaints Resolution Service was announced for the entire housing market by the Communities Secretary, The Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP. Estate and Lettings Agents have had a legal requirement to join a redress scheme for many years and the legislation will now apply to landlords as well, regardless of whether they use a letting agent or run their portfolio through a limited company. There will be a fine of £5,000 for those who fail to do so.

Over the past few years the use of video in a business marketing strategy has increased ten-fold. The benefits of using a video on your business website has shown to increase conversions by up to 80%, which is incredible.

Currently, over half of London boroughs are operating additional licensing schemes, likely with more to come and each council decides which HMOs require a license.  Trading standards can be quite heavy-handed with issuing penalties.

Since the beginning of 2019 there have been a lot of new articles giving hope to first time buyers and those who have, for so long, thought that the prospect of getting onto the property ladder was just a pipe dream.