Category: News

Canary Wharf Group and Kadans have recently agreed a joint venture to develop Europe’s largest commercial lab, a 22 storey, 750,000 sq ft scheme on the Canary Wharf Group North Quay site.

Shobi Khan the chief executive of Canary Wharf Group, told the estates gazette “If the UK is going to be a science superpower, London’s going to need to have a critical mass of life sciences space, and we think this building and the North Quay Campus can be the start of that. This fits the government’s vision of being able to create a great ecosystem that will compete with some of these other word-class cities”.

According to Kadans, London has just 300,000 sqft of commercial lab space available. ‘’It means that London is losing out and companies are leaving,” said James Shepherd, head of commercial for the UK and Ireland at Kadans.

The joint venture will bring academics, businesses and clinicians together under one roof in a new innovation district. Furthermore, it aims for the life sciences sector to see Canary Wharf as “a city within the city”, offering not just the workspace but also transport links to both Heathrow and City airports, housing for scientists, researchers and key workers, as well as leisure activities.

The development is expected to break ground late this year or early next year.

“An overarching ambition is creating a new science and innovation district for London” said Sheppard. “We can provide continuous growth and home for these companies forever – not just a temporary home until they get on a plane to Boston.”

I believe this ambitious plan will diversify Canary Wharf’s appeal to the life science industry whilst maintaining the existing financial and business services occupiers. Ultimately, it will also help protect property investors from the ebbs and flows of the market long term.

Canary Wharf Group has announced a partnership with the charity behind the Eden Project in Cornwall to improve the estate’s public realm and waterways.

The start of the tie up will see Canary Wharf Group and the Eden Project – which will make Canary Wharf its new London home – develop a “green spine” running through the center of the estate, comprising new parks,  gardens, bridges, boardwalks and floating pontoons.

Shobi Khan, the chief executive of Canary Wharf Group, said “Canary Wharf Group has always worked hard when it comes to greening the estate and focusing on sustainability. The group has bought all of its electricity from renewable sources for a decade now and has no waste to landfill since 2009”.

The new plans are ambitious. Khan hopes to have construction underway later this year and for the ’spine’ to be open by the time the estate launches its Winter Lights display.

There is more to come. Phase two will be South Dock, where the group wants to create a boardwalk giving access to kayaking and other activities.

I think these plans are very exciting and can only add to the appeal of living in Canary Wharf, impacting positively on all local residents, not solely those occupying the new developments in and around the Canary Wharf Estate.

Several new skyscrapers previously allocated for private sale will now be developed as Build To Rent (BTR) under the company’s specialist platform Vertus.

Canary Wharf Group has already completed 1,137 Build To Rent flats across three schemes; 10 George Street, 8 Water Street and Newfoundland.

Alastair Mullens, managing director at CWG’s rental platform Vertus recently told the Estates Gazette: “While Wood Wharf had always been intended for residential, with 3,600 homes across the 23-acre parcel, the new plans are a shift away from the previous for-sale product. The neighbourhood already has two private-market buildings, Ten Park Drive and One Park Drive

Across the wider estate this means residential and BTR from the West to the East along the South Quay, with a further 1.6m sq ft also earmarked at North Quay next to Canary Wharf Crossrail Station.”

What effect will this additional supply of high quality rental property have on rental values?

The prospect of 2,000 high quality rental apartments managed by Vertus and targeted at professionals working in Canary Wharf might be a concern for private landlords seeking the same tenants.

However, the cost of renting the Vertus apartments is significantly higher than the cost of renting a comparable apartment situated in another centrally located development in or close to Canary Wharf. Vertus are advertising apartments to rent in George Street, Walter Street and Newfoundland, the average advertised rent across all three buildings is as follows:-

Studio apartments – £1,964 pcm

One bedroom apartments – £2,368 pcm

Two bedroom apartments – £3,343 pcm

Three bedroom apartments – £5,331 pcm

Fisks London have recently handled the following comparable property lets:-

Studio apartment – 10 Park Drive, £1,622 pcm

One bedroom apartment – 10 Park Drive, £1,950 pcm

Two bedroom apartment – Discovery Dock East, £2,400 pcm

Two bedroom apartment – Ability Place, £2,550 pcm

Two bedroom apartment – Baltimore Wharf, £2,600 pcm

Three bedroom apartment –Talisman Tower, £2,900pcm

All the properties above are located a short walk from Canary Wharf tube station, and have the benefit of 24 hour Concierge and leisure facilities.
In comparison to the Vertus asking rents these apartments offer much better value for money.

How can Vertus justify such high rents?

In my view there are two important and material differences between renting from Vertus and renting from a private landlord via an agent;-

The first is what Vertus call ‘flexible tenancies’, which means they will consider tenancies for a period of less than six months. This is not a new concept, tenants have always had to pay a premium for the flexibility of a short term tenancy. The majority of tenants we introduce to our landlord clients prefer a longer term tenancy, so in this case, I believe they would prefer to rent a better value apartment from a private landlord via an agent for significantly less rent than the Vertus offering.

The second difference is the on-site maintenance provided by Vertus. Tenants will be attracted by the perceived efficiency of an on-site maintenance team. The ability to report a leaking tap, malfunctioning heating or whatever the fault maybe to an on-site technician, employed by the same company that the tenants rents the apartment from and who developed the building, does provide confidence that any issues will be dealt with promptly.

How can a landlord in the private sector compete with the onsite maintenance provide by a build to rent landlord?

First impressions count. A well presented property will give the tenants confidence that the landlord will look after the property during the tenancy. Instructing the agent to inform tenants that any outstanding faults will be dealt with shortly or soon after they move in isn’t good enough. The tenants will just move on to the next apartment on their viewing list.

Retaining the agent on a fully managed basis will provide the tenant with the confidence that any maintenance issues will be dealt with efficiently by the managing agent during the tenancy. In fact many relocation agents representing large corporates only arrange to view property that is managed by an ARLA registered agent.

Having an ARLA registered agent manage the property gives the tenant the peace of mind that a professional third party, committed to delivering first class service standards will efficiently resolve any maintenance issues during the tenancy.

For more information on our managed services click here.

We would like to start off by sharing our gratitude with everyone who has taken the time to write a review on Trust Pilot. The team are extremely proud to have reached over one hundred reviews, in little over eighteen months, and achieve the rating of ‘Excellent’. The feedback of our clients has a huge influence on the way in which we provide our service and we greatly appreciate people sharing their experiences with us.

Building positive professional relationships with our landlords and tenants is the cornerstone of our business and we are always striving to achieve the best possible result for their property. We pride ourselves on offering an expert and reliable service and there is no better endorsement of that service than our existing clients.

Entrusting an agent with the rent or sale of your property is not a proposition entered into lightly and we understand that gaining an insight to our services through the experiences of our clients is a valuable first step in building trust. That is why we collect and make all of our reviews available with complete transparency, so that all potential clients can see an open and honest assessment of how we operate. As a small business, client feedback also forms a valuable tool for us to evaluate our performance and improve our service.

The consistent themes of professionalism and personable service in our reviews are testament to the hard work of our team and we will endeavour to uphold this standard for the next one hundred reviews!

If you would like to read our reviews, please click here

The London rental market continues to be a challenging environment for landlords. Rental values have reduced by 10%-15%, since Coronavirus hit the headlines in March 2020.

At Fisks London we have not seen an exodus of tenants to the countryside as has been widely reported in the press, so why have rental values fallen?

Due to concerns over the virus there is general lack of enthusiasm among existing tenants to enter the market in order to ‘trade up’ and secure alternative rental property. Therefore there is very little churn in tenancies and consequently our renewal rates are nearing 100%.

Enquiry rates from new rental applicants entering the market have also significantly reduced due to the high numbers of Canary Wharf and City employed professionals working from home, and there are very few enquiries from overseas applicants.

This significant reduction in demand has coincided with an oversupply of property. The immense new-build pipeline in Canary Wharf and its environs, much of which has been purchased for buy-to-let purposes started to complete in early 2020 and new homes continue to enter the rental market. In addition the Airbnb and serviced apartments, markets have all but evaporated, and consequently, landlords who had operated in those markets are now also competing for private tenants under cover of an Assured Shorthold Tenancy.

Reasons for optimism

Despite the challenges, the Canary Wharf rental market has continued to function well, and Fisks London have agreed rental deals every month since April 2020. In fact our transaction levels are only slightly less than in 2019.

The reduced rental values have enticed applicants who have wanted to reside in Canary Wharf but previously had not been able to afford it, this underlines the appeal of Canary Wharf as a City within a City and as the area continues to evolve it is increasingly able to entice applicants away from the traditional London Villages and High Streets.

How the life science industry can help

Aside from the provision of Covid vaccines, the Life Sciences industry could have a direct influence in the increase of rental demand in London and Canary Wharf.

In 2020 life sciences-related firms headquartered in London raised over £2.89bn of capital, 7% more than the Capital raised in 2019.

The demand for space in London from Life Science businesses and the capital invested into them endorses the view that it may prove to be one of the more resilient sectors.

London has four life science-focused clusters emerging: White City, Elephant and Castle, Southbank and Whitechapel, each forming around a research-focused university, hospital or institute, due to the new discoveries being made in these institutions. With exception of the White City development, the other three clusters are all only a short commute to Canary Wharf. Staying in London and close by their institutions enables these firms to be in the best position to recruit the top talent, as well as allowing access to London’s vast financial sector for funding.

“What life sciences has got over other sectors is that it requires physical facilities. From a property point of view, it’s going to be quite resilient to the changes being brought about by Covid”
Sven Bunn of the Barts Sciences Programme Director, Whitechapel.

To paraphrase, people employed in life sciences cannot work from home, they need to live close to the laboratories.

Although the life sciences are unlikely to rival the capitals vast financial services sector any time soon, the influx of employees (typically younger people who will choose to rent) will certainly increase demand within the private rented sector.

The government has announced that the UK will stop the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles, including hybrids by 2035, its time to consider the impact this will have on private rental landlords and homeowners.

Where are we now?

All the large motor manufacturers are now producing electric vehicles. The sales figures of EVs (Electric Vehicles) are still only 2% of new car sales in the UK. However, consumers concerns regarding the reliability and range of electric vehicles are being addressed through the improved technology in some of the latest offerings from the manufactures. For example, the Jaguar ‘I pace’ has a range of 292 miles, and a fully depleted battery takes 13 hours to charge. The Tesla Model S has a range of 390 miles and takes 12 hours to charge a fully depleted battery. For those able to securely charge a car at home, these vehicles are a practical proposition for the daily commute, not to mention the savings in fuel cost, and for some company car drivers a reduced tax bill.

There is a lack of charging points, to address this the government has pledged nearly £40 million to the development of EV charging technology.

Where are we going?

All the large motor manufacturers are now producing electric vehicles. Many people who until recently had not been unduly concerned about climate change are now worried about the threat of global warming and are thinking more about sustainability.

The UK, for example, is committed to being net-carbon zero by 2050.

This means a change in the type of vehicle we drive and a change in the infrastructure needed to power the vehicles. The number of charging points will have to increase to meet the growth of, and mandate for Electric Vehicle usage.

This year the government announced double funding for the installation of EV charging points on residential streets. A trial of wireless charging technology will see a partnership between universities, local government and business.

The trial tests superfast wireless street charging pads under taxi ranks, which enable taxis to charge while they wait for fares.

How will this affect landlords and vendors?

Local authorities, electricity companies and private landlords will all be involved in locating, funding, construction and operation of such charging spaces

The UK will develop regulations that require charging points to be built into new developments that fulfill certain criteria. Property owners should consider providing charging infrastructure where possible to enhance the sale-ability and value of the property asset.

 

New Electrical Safety Regulations to come into force from the 1^st of July

Landlords and agents will need to ensure electrical installation inspections and testing are carried out for all new tenancies in England from 1^st of July 2020, or from the 1^st of April 2021 for existing tenancies.

The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations compels landlords to ensure every fixed electrical installation is inspected and tested at least every five years by a qualified person. The Regulations also state that a landlord is required to obtain a report of the results of the inspection and test and supply it to each tenant within 28 days and retain a copy until the next inspection is due.

Upon request, the report must be provided to the local housing authority within 7 days. A copy of the report must be supplied to a new tenant before occupation, or any prospective tenant within 28 days of a request from the prospective tenant.

The regulations will be enforced by the local housing authorities and they have the power to arrange a remedial action. Proven breaches of the Regulations can result in the local housing authority to impose a financial penalty of up to £30,000 on the landlord.

An additional burden on Landlords or a practical safety measure?

Fisks London welcomes this new legislation. The old legislation could be confusing for both landlords and tenants.  Landlords had a duty of care to the tenant to ensure electrical installations are safe but there was no requirement to have the installation inspected by a qualified person or to provide a certificate. This new legislation provides much needed clarity and will help to ensure safer standards within the private rented sector.

How do I arrange an Electrical installation inspection and certificate?

Fisks London have access to qualified competent contractors, and we have negotiated a competitive inspection charge of £180 inc vat.

We will ensure that the existing tenants and any prospective tenant is provided with a copy of the certificate. Should any remedial work be required, this will be overseen by Fisks London on behalf of our landlord clients.

Our managed clients need not worry about renewing the certificate, Fisks London will ensure that the mandatory inspection is carried out every five years.

For more information or to arrange an inspection contact Lubna@Fiskslondon.co.uk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

How has Covid -19 affected the London rental market?

The very top of the market saw activity as applicants sought out luxurious and spacious accommodation to reside in during lockdown.

The middle to upper middle level of the market where one bedroom apartments would normally let for £1,950pcm and two bedroom apartments would achieve £2,600 pcm, has seen some stagnation with landlords having to accept offers approximately 7% -10% below asking price. I do have some concerns about this price point, particularly in light of the scheduled imminent completions in Canary Wharf Group’s Park Drive and Galliard Homes’ Maine Tower. However, a well presented apartment with sensible asking price will be sure to find a tenant fast.

Unsurprisingly, the more accessibly priced apartments have been most resilient in terms of value.

As always, location is key. Throughout the lockdown period, we continued to receive daily enquiries for a one bedroom flat up to £1,500 pcm or a two bedroom flat up to £1,800 pcm in good locations. Price drops were minimal in this price range. As we slowly emerge from lockdown, I expect demand could quickly outstrip supply.

How has Covid -19 affected the London sales market?

From the 24^th of March to the 13^th of May the sales market was effectively suspended. Although it was possible to organise video viewings and some conveyancers were still working, there were not any surveyors available to value the property on behalf of the buyer and the lender. So although in theory a sale could be agreed, it was not possible to arrange mortgage funds.

Sales enquirers during April were very low indeed – averaging 0.7 per day one a day.

Many surveyors have now returned to work, so hopefully we will start to see some activity in the sales market.

It is too early to tell how quickly the sales market will return to the positive signs we saw in February and early March, however, the fundamental market drivers are still encouraging, i.e low interest rates and a lack of housing supply.

What can we expect in the near term?

Parallels have been drawn between the economic impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic effects and the financial crash of 2007/2008. There are, however, some key differences between the two periods in relation to the property markets. In the 2007/2008 global financial crash, insufficiently capitalized banks were part of the problem. Following the better regulation of the financial system financial institutions have had to undergo stress testing and financial modelling in order to be able to better cope with an economic downturn. Therefore, the banks have healthy balance sheets and will be able to provide the funding needed to drive the economy and the housing market.

As we emerge from the lock down and renters and purchasers work to realise their aspirations, we expect the finances to be available to them.

Therefore, I am confident that transaction levels in both the rental and sales markets will recover quickly.