10 | INDUSTRY INDUSTRY NEWS
AGENTS
www.opp.org.uk | APRIL 2010
Are agents killing the estate agent business?
Estate agents are facing a potential threat from within their own ranks as a growing number of companies look to online models that allow vendors to sell their own properties. Websites allowing sellers to privately
advertise their homes have attracted strong criticism from agents over the last few years, but last month’s announcement that UK-based estate agent group Spicerhaart is launching its own flat-fee online service, iSold, represents a growing concern that the market is changing and that agents need to change with it. “Use of the internet is growing in all
sectors, and we want to cater to that move towards online, for those people who want some control of the process but with the reassurances of a big, experienced company,” said Spicerhaart spokesman Steve Shore. With Spicerhaart linking with
supermarket Tesco for the launch, Google expanding its property activities,
NORTHERN CYPRUS
Northern Cyprus ruling ‘won’t stop more legal action’
A new ruling in the European courts is unlikely to prevent legal action being taken against foreign property buyers in Northern Cyprus, according to lawyers. The European Court of Human Rights
(ECHR) earlier this month ruled that Greek Cypriots with claims to property in the North would have to take them to the Turkish Cypriot Immovable Property Commission (IPC) before filing a case with the court.
and the UK’s Office of Fair Trading putting pressure on the property industry to open up to more online alternatives, more companies could be forced to join their web competitors rather than trying to beat them.
Working harder
The recession has added to the pressure, making agents’ jobs harder and encouraging companies to look for more cost-effective business models. At least 20% of agents in the UK are looking to relocate their businesses from the high street into their own homes, according to a recent survey by property services firm movewithus. Steve Long, managing director of
Spanish agent Casacalida, recently launched Auctionpropertydirect.com in order to allow distressed sellers to market directly to buyers and to facilitate online auctions. “Our estate agent business is dead at the moment,” he said. “The amount
The outcome of the case, known
as Demopoulos v Turkey, has been welcomed in Northern Cyprus by those who argue it could provide a defence against future legal action such as that which led to a British couple, David and Linda Orams, being forced to abandon the home they had built on Greek Cypriot-claimed land in the North.
Court ruling | The ECHR said the IPC should be Greek Cypriots refugees’ first stop
‘Marginal case’
However, Greek Cypriots are not bound to comply with the decisions of the IPC and could still file claims against foreign owners in the Cyprus court system, according to international property lawyer John Howell (pictured). “This new case is marginal because it relates to a limited set of circumstances,”
he said. “The ruling was that a Greek Cypriot making a claim on land has to apply to the IPC first, not that they can’t go to the ECHR.” The final Orams judgment was made
by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and ruled that decisions made in a Cypriot court must be upheld by other
European Union member states. This left the Orams open to legal action in the UK if they did not comply with the Cypriot court’s ruling. “The new case doesn’t alter the fact
that if a someone goes to a Cypriot court, the ruling has to be applied throughout the European Union,” said Howell.
Meeting fate | 20% of UK agents say they want to move away from high street offices
of work you have to do for a sale is unbelievable. We’ve closed our offices in Murcia because we don’t get any clients out there anymore and it’s too expensive to operate.” The growing tendency for buyers to research their property on the internet
and to use a lawyer to handle the sale has reduced the need for agents, he said. “Because people are going online first they’re coming ready with all the info and when they go to view they already know about the area, the property and the legal issues.”
BULGARIAN DEMOLITION
Bulgarian authorities plan to launch an operation to
demolish illegally erected buildings along the Black Sea Cost, according to a report in the Sophia Echo newspaper. Properties including a pair of two-storey houses built without appropriate paperwork on the south beach in Obzor, will be flattened by official crews, said the report.
SPAIN PROTESTS CONTINUE
Hundreds of British expats from all over Andalusia
marched through Malaga last month, continuing the protest of demolition orders issued to owners of illegally built homes announced at the start of the year. The demonstrators called on the junta regional government to stop the demolitions and pay compensation where they went ahead.
COURT DEMANDS REFUND
Developer Alternative Capital Invest has been
ordered by the Dubai courts to refund a buyer’s UAD570,000 investment in the delayed Niki Lauda Twin Towers project, according to The National newspaper. The British investor won the case because ACI had failed to register the property with the Dubai Land Department.
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