The first was in reply to the article: RICS calls for stamp duty holiday to ‘reactivate’ housing market.
Joe Black said: “I have no understanding why the plug has been pulled completely on physical valuations. This seems to have come from valuers themselves.
“Why are they not able to look at, for example, a part complete new build in the open air with no one there? Or an unoccupied property? A pragmatic approach should be used rather than a complete stop on valuations.”
Keeping the economy alive
Last week’s Star Letter ignited a debate: ‘Networks should completely waive broker fees not postpone a debt’ – Star Letter 03/04/2020
The first comment came from Aga Moczynska, who said: “The dilemma is similar to the one where the tenants demand from landlords to waive rents. In reality, if we want the economy to survive, we should continue meeting our obligations wherever we can.
“It’s a domino effect and every non-payment has a knock-on effect on a string of connected entities. I run a brokerage under SimplyBiz umbrella and think it is very fair to offer payment holidays in this format. I don’t think it is okay to expect continued service with no remuneration.”
Paul Smulovitch also responded: “It would be an incredibly welcome goodwill gesture for networks to support brokers in this way as I can only imagine the number that will lose cashflow as transactions dry up and deals don’t complete.
“The market will shrink, people will lose their jobs and companies so in the short term, the networks taking a hit on fees could keep the appointed representatives in business for them to then collect future fees in the long–term.
“It’s all about networks being sensible and looking at the bigger long–term picture,” he added.
