# Hey landlords, hike up your rents, a Hole advises.



## xenon (Apr 2, 2015)

http://metro.co.uk/2015/03/30/this-letter-could-explain-why-our-rent-is-going-up-5127670/
"
Estate agent CJ Hole, which has confirmed the authenticity of this letter, is actively advising landlords to raise the rent on their properties in Bristol...

A spokesperson for Generation Rent, a campaign group fighting for affordable rent, said: ‘Landlords don’t have to put up rents, but as the housing crisis worsens and tenants get more desperate, landlords who don’t raise rents are being told they’re stupid for not doing so.

‘No-one powerful is challenging them not to raise rents on the grounds of simple ethics.

‘Tenants are increasingly seen as nothing more than cattle to be milked.’
"


More here. Not seen this site before TBF.
"
We look behind the controversial letter.



“ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH RENT?

With rents increasing every week in Bristol, it is highly likely that your property is due rent increase.”

This is an excerpt from the letter estate agents CJ Hole (Southville) addressed to Bristol landlords in late March 2015. The letter urged private landlords to take advantage of the fact that “demand from prospective tenants is far exceeding the number of available properties”. It further asked landlords to “call us and talk about your current rent” if they “agree with the proposed rent increase”.

The letter, has sparked some outrage on social media and several petitions have been launched directed at CJ Hole following the publishing of the letter by anonymous landlords in the city.

We called up James Dear, letter author and Southville branch manager to ask for comment. He promptly referred us on. However the number wasn’t a Bristol number. A bit of research found that the name and number was that of an employee at infamous public relations firm Bell Pottinger.

Headed up by Lord Bell of Belgravia, Bell Pottinger is known for spinning communications and massaging public reputations for dictators such as Chile’s Pinochet and Belarus’s Lukashenko or, more recently the controversial fracking firm Caudrilla.

But CJ Hole? That unassuming local estate agent? Undeterred by Bell Pottinger’s involvement, and CJ Hole’s refusal to comment, we started to root around who was behind CJ Hole and their 19 branch offices.

What we found was quite startling. As it turns out, CJ Hole is a franchise of Xperience Franchising Ltd, which is in turn owned by MartinCo. MartinCo is a London Stock Exchange listed company, alone boasting the current management of “30,000 properties on behalf of private clients, which amounts to a town the size of Maidenhead in Berkshire.” MartinCo counts multiple hedge funds, private equity firms, and venture capitalists as major shareholders. Behind these hedge funds lie some of the most well connected companies and individuals in the country – See the below for some choice info!"


http://thebristolcable.org/2015/03/...d-conservative-lord-and-rent-rise-in-bristol/

Characteristic estate agent behaviour. Gouging filth.

http://www.acorncommunities.org.uk/stop_cj_hole_rent_rises

And FWIW
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-cj-hole-exploiting-the-housing-crisis-in-bristol


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## weltweit (Apr 2, 2015)

scum


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## Chemical needs (Apr 2, 2015)

I offended someone on a thread about the petition against Cj Hole's letter on a mate's fb page - the offendee used to work for an estate agent. They were defending landlords' right to make as much as they can as it's a "free market" and properties are obviously not overpriced if people will pay the extortionate rents. They got all butt hurt when I told them that there wasn't enough facepalm in the world for them.


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## xenon (Apr 2, 2015)

You can at least understand the logic whilst dispising the antisocial centiment of comfortably rich property speculator. Viewing it as a game with a sociopathic disconnection but from peple susceptible to going under because of it. Self deluded fuckwits.


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## Chemical needs (Apr 2, 2015)

I told them that by their logic no-one who has ever  bought anything has ever been ripped off because they paid for it.


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## DotCommunist (Apr 2, 2015)

These people are scum. The rent is a massive financial club held over you and unlike a mortgage you know its month on month dead money, no return whatsoever while Landlord Mgee is having a cruise on your money. Housing precarity is a big stick, ally it to healthcare precarity a la USA and they do a lot of cowing.


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## big eejit (Apr 2, 2015)

I love the Orwellian language in their letter. They state that they will 'manage the changeover process' so the landlord doesn't lose a day's income.

'Manage the changeover process' is estate agent speak for kicking a family out of their home to replace them with someone who can pay more.

Another very interesting aspect was that the manager of CJ Hole's north Bristol branches was reported in the Bristol Post strongly condemning the letter and saying that the north Bristol branches would never do something like this. 

I imagine that caused a few interesting exchanges within the company.


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## big eejit (Apr 8, 2015)

Update on this from fella who organised the petition:

Hi everyone,

Firstly, thanks so much for your support and signing the CJ Hole petition. The huge number of signatories (11,400 and counting!) means that neither the media nor politicians have been able to ignore it. You may have seen some of the media coverage over the past few days, and we’ve had several supportive notes from Bristol MP candidates. We’ve raised the profile of a very important issue.

But despite this, neither the Southville branch of CJ Hole nor CJ Hole’s top bosses at the corporate level have responded. We also know they have hired one of the biggest PR agencies in the country to handle the fall-out. The boss of five CJ Hole branches in Bristol has, to his credit, tweeted his disapproval of the letter and signed the petition.

But the silence from the top means we need to keep the pressure on. *This is why we’ve teamed up with tenants-rights group ACORN to host a demonstration outside the Southville Branch of CJ Hole at 11am this Saturday, April 11th. *At the demonstration we will present the petition and ask CJ Hole to sign ACORN’s Ethical Lettings Charter. We can keep this issue in the spotlight by turning out in numbers. So please come along!

To change things will require leaders. A number of landlords commented in support of the petition, which was great to see. If you are a landlord and would like to endorse the Ethical Lettings Charter please get in touch (details below).

We must make sure this petition is just the start of a campaign to stop bad estate agent practice and advance fairer tenants’ rights. The stories signatories told of extortionate rent increases, huge fees, withheld deposits and poor accommodation were all too common. So please get involved this Saturday, check out ACORN, question your MP candidates about their plans for tenants’ rights, vote, and help fight for a fairer future.

Thanks again and hope to see you on Saturday.

Nathan


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## big eejit (May 1, 2015)

Which #BristolWest candidates back rent controls? http://38d.gs/bw-rent pic.twitter.com/2yWoil5he5


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