Telecoms startup targets rented property: Property news roundup

Plus, Neighbourhood Watch benefits, home improvement conflict, and Home Counties Prime rents

A new telecoms company specialising in the rented accommodation market will launch next month.

TenTel will offer tenants in rented accommodation telephone and broadband services the day they move into a new property, without the need for long-term contracts.

Letting agents who partner with the company will be offered an advance payment for the data they provide to TenTel and additional payments for each of their tenants who sign-up.

Robert McKechnie, the company’s managing director, said: "This approach has worked successfully in the energy market where the onus is on customers to opt-out, whereas ours is an opt-in model which assumes nothing and gives customers the choice to switch."

Neighbourhood Watch benefits

New research suggests that more than a quarter of homehunters are more likely to buy a house in a Neighbourhood Watch area.

The trend is particularly noticeable in the South West, where a third of people in the poll by by comparethemarket.com said that they would prefer a property that was part of the movement.

Jim Maddan Chairman of the Neighbourhood and Home Watch Network (England & Wales) said: "Our number one objective is to bring communities together, to reduce crime and improve our neighbourhoods. We welcome the news that Brits would prefer to buy a property in a Neighbourhood Watch scheme and getting involved is very easy to do.

Women choose home improvements over holidays

A survey of approaches to money management by Standard Life reveals that women (21 per cent of those polled) are more likely than men (15 per cent) to make 'home improvements' a priority. Men are also more likely than women to put a family holiday on their to-do list than doing up their home.

Prime rents in the Home Counties

Figures from Knight Frank show that prime rents in the Home Counties rose again in the last three months, up by 2.6 per cent between April and June, with 50 per cent higher number of tenancies agreed compared to the same time last year.

However, in the year to June 2014, rents have fallen by 3.8 per cent.

Jemma Scott, Head of Knight Frank Residential Corporate Services said the rise was due partly to more corporate executives arriving in the UK.

"The Home Counties lettings market is very much driven by these corporate families looking to be located close to the International Schools," she said. "Added to this we’ve seen the London sales market growing rapidly with areas such as Wandsworth and Clapham recording annual growth of 17.2 per cent, so it’s no surprise we are seeing more of these international executives willing to looking further afield to trial the obvious lifestyle benefits of space, greenery that a Home Counties rental offers."