A new Google-powered free to use property portal claims it will help make landlords’ lives easier.
The Big Property List, an independent business, initially came under fire for publishing estate agency sale and rental listings under a Google map viewing format.
However now the list style has been edited and the site now also displays Google’s database of property in the UK in a familiar portal style, which the website says answers the search engine’s critics that suggest that users do not like Google’s map format.
Many industry commentators and property portals had dismissed a possible threat posed by Google, saying that house hunters did not want to search for property using the Google map view but prefer a list format.
Now, says The Big Property List’s Managing Director James Cole, the site addresses this by combining the power of Google Property with a familiar listing design.
He added: “Any agent can send property adverts for free to the map-based Google system.
“These properties will then automatically appear, for free, on The Big Property List. Estate agents fork out millions of pounds a year to advertise on nationwide sites.”
Cole added that thebigpropertylist.co.uk and Google provides the same service, in a familiar style, for free.
He said: “At thebigpropertylist.co.uk we do not have to justify how we have to charge the fees normally paid by estate agents to a portal, allowing us to focus totally on what the consumer wants.
“If we help people find the property they want, this results in better quality enquiries for estate agents. So what benefits the consumer benefits the agent.”
• A landlord who pleaded guilty to 12 charges of failing to maintain a property he rented out to students in Wales has been fined £8,500, and ordered to pay costs of £2,287 plus a £15 victim surcharge.
Peter Teifion Jones, of Newton Road, Mumbles, admitted a string of ‘poor management’ offences following a report on his house of multiple occupation (HMO) property at 34 Bryn Road, Brynmill, near Swansea.
The poor state and conditions at the eight bedroomed house were discovered after a visit by Swansea Council environmental health in July 2009.
The breaches found by the inspectors included:
• Failure to maintain fire alarms and fire fighting equipment
• No safe means of escape in case of fire
• Failure to maintain common parts, fixtures, fittings and appliances in good working order
• Untidy and unsafe gardens
• Failure to maintain a boundary wall in good repair
• Failure to maintain the internal structure of the house
• Incomplete log book and relevant documents for inspection
• Failure to comply with an improvement notice
