19 December 2018 – the day my life changed forever.

It was the day I arrived in London from Romania, ready to embrace the unknown and build a new life in this vibrant city. I’ve always considered myself a people person—friendly, open, and endlessly adaptable—but moving to a new country is never easy. Luckily, I had lifelong friends here who made the transition smoother, and just one month later, I found myself in my first interview with GHE. From the moment I walked in, I knew this was where I belonged—they loved me, I loved them, and my UK adventure had truly begun.

As a property agent, it’s essential to stay up-to-date with the rules and regulations that govern how homes are marketed to potential buyers. One of the key laws in place to ensure fairness is the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. This law sets out guidelines for how properties should be described and advertised, and estate agents must follow these rules to avoid misleading buyers. These rules include:

The Renters’ Rights Bill successfully passed its second reading in the House of Commons on the 9th of October 2024. It will now proceed to the committee stage, where detailed examination will take place. Once this is complete, it is expected that the Bill will become law in early 2025.

Hi, I’m Daniela. I’m one of the newest members of the GHE team and I’m a junior lettings administrator. Think of me as admin support with a seriously serious quality control hat on, because it’s my job to ensure that everything about your tenancy is carefully and meticulously completed – from referencing to inventories and agreements (among so many other things) – so everyone ends up happy and exactly where they should be, when they should be there. In other words, if you decide to rent a property through GHE, you’ll be chatting with me quite a bit in the lead up to your move-in date.

It may be a little unconventional, but I’m going to start off with an admission. I’m quite new to the whole property profession, certainly when compared with my colleagues who all seem to have been born to do this. But everyone needs to start somewhere, don’t they, and I’m glad to say that there’s nowhere I’d rather be soaking up the sector wisdom than where I am.

So, why is a girl from Patras selling homes in London I hear you ask… well, I’m sure you would have if you were here, so I thought I’d pre-empt the question. The answer is that I love people – working with people, chatting with people, building professional relationships with people so I can help them into their dream homes (ok, so the last one is quite new, but I’ve moved quite a lot in my life so I know how important it can be to have somewhere warm, cosy and familiar to come home to each night or morning) and I love, love, love, the chance to help people find their own familiar place.

When you grow up as a Greek-Cypriot Londoner there are three things above all else that matter in life – food, family and community, though the order of priority is up to the individual! The first two are built right there into my DNA, but I’ve always had a broader perspective on ‘community’, extending the boundaries of this group to include those in my postcode community, work community and client community as well. It turns out that this is precisely the attitude I needed to be good at what I do for work.

I didn’t always dream of being an estate agent, shocker I know! I’d grown up in south London determined to have a bright future in the tech sector. I’d studied systems analysis at a college in Clapham South and was set to take the IT sector by storm when I graduated. But, I needed to find a job to tide me by, so I accepted an interview at a local estate agency in Tulse Hill – low basic salary, no commission and I had to use my own car, but it would do for a little pocket money…

The property market has gone crazy. A shortage of supply and a deluge of renters means that we’re living through an unprecedented time for landlords – many of whom can expect to achieve higher rents and have greater freedom to pick and choose their tenants than at any time in recent history… if they’re working with the right agency team, of course.

“The market’s so much more bullish than we’ve seen it in ages – the average time it takes for us to move properties from listed to let is currently 48 hours and it’s often faster than that,” says Lettings Manager Rúben Bernardo.

Hello, I’m Ed Hulme, director of Asian operations at GHE, and I’m here today to share a little of my own experience as an estate agent, both in the UK and in Hong Kong – where my team are currently based.