Bristol’s biggest letting agency franchise has announced it will stop the practice of asking potential tenants to bid more than the advertised monthly rent to secure a new home, Bristol Live can reveal.
CJ Hole’s lettings director told Bristol Live the company’s founder Chris Hill signed a pledge to end the controversial practice and ensure it would not happen in the future. The firm was the subject of direct action lobbying by tenants union ACORN Bristol on Monday, as part of the group’s ongoing ‘Ban The Bid’ campaign.
The practice sees prospective tenants asked by landlords or letting agencies to submit ‘bids’ saying how much rent they would be prepared to pay each month, over and above the originally advertised figure for that property, in much the same way estate agents selling property where there is more than one prospective buyer could ask them all to submit sealed bids over the ‘asking price’.
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Although not illegal, it is controversial, and has been in the sights of renting reform campaigners and politicians for a long time. ACORN Bristol set up its ‘Ban the Bids’ campaign in January and before Monday’s action said it had secured pledges from 30 different letting agencies in the city not to continue with the practice.
The campaigners have also succeeded in lobbying councillors at City Hall, who passed a motion condemning the practice earlier this year, and housing chief Cllr Tom Renhard has pledged to investigate if there is anything more Bristol City Council can do to discourage or stop landlords and lettings agencies from continuing making tenants outbid each other.
But the biggest letting agency firm in the city is CJ Hole, and campaign organisers said they had struggled to connect with the firm over the issue.
On Monday (June 12), a large group of campaigners set off on a tour of CJ Hole branches, with a list of ten in their sights, starting in Kingswood and Downend, before moving into the city at Church Road and then at the original CJ Hole branch and the firm’s headquarters in Bishopston.
At each one, the group chanted, carried placards and lobbied passers-by about their cause, while a delegation entered the offices and asked managers inside to sign the pledge to stop encouraging tenants to bid.
It’s a tactic Acorn have utilised before, targeting different lettings agencies in the same street. In January, a large group of direct action campaigners toured North Street, from Ashton Gate to Bedminster, visiting different agency offices along the way.
When the campaigners reached the head branch in Bishopston on Monday, the doors were initially locked with staff inside, so Acorn members plastered the front of the office with posters stuck on with blu-tac. After a time, senior managers agreed to meet with the campaign’s leaders at Acorn, and Emily Windsor, CJ Hole’s lettings director, said the firm’s CEO Chris Hill was more than happy to sign Acorn’s pledge. Acorn Bristol’s campaign had specifically targeted Mr Hill with ‘wanted’ posters and stickers asking for him to meet with them.
Ms Windsor told Bristol Live the management at the company did not know about Acorn’s campaign until the activists started visiting branches on Monday morning, and that it appeared Acorn had been using the wrong email address in trying to contact him.
She said: “I can confirm that CJ Hole do not encourage the practice of bidding on properties, and once we were aware of the campaign and were able to sit down with the people from Acorn and go through what the pledge was all about, we were happy to sign that day. It’s not something we do.”
The company’s founder Chris Hill runs eight of the CJ Hole branches in Bristol, but the firm is a franchise with a total of 12 branches in and around Bristol, three more in Somerset, five in Gloucestershire and one as far away as Worcester, who have different management.
Acorn treasurer Andy Watt said the task now was to make all the lettings agencies stick to their promises. “While technically legal for now, rental bidding wars are predatory, clearly unfair and demand urgent legislation,” he said.
“This isn't about consumer choice - everyone needs a roof over their head, even if they're forced to pay an eye-watering amount to get it. Landlords and lettings agents are profiteering thanks to a lack of regulation and renters that are desperate to find somewhere to live.
“Ultimately we need the government to step in, do its job, and protect tenants from this practice. Until they do, we'll be doing whatever we can to win a fairer deal for renters in Bristol.
“We've already taken direct action against several lettings agents in the city, including against CJ Hole. Because of yesterday's action, we've now had over 30 businesses overall sign our pledge to end rental bidding wars, with more signing as the campaign goes on. This is great progress, but there's a lot more to be done,” he added.
Acorn said its members would be ready to visit lettings agencies in Bristol to remind them of their pledges, and asked people in the process of trying to rent in Bristol’s unprecedented rental market this summer to keep them informed if any landlords or lettings agencies asked them to submit bids higher than the advertised rent, to secure the tenancy.
“Over the coming months, our members will be spot-checking lettings agents that have signed our pledge to make sure that they're keeping to it,” Mr Watt said.
“If a member comes to us having been encouraged to bid for a rental property, we will take direct action just like we did yesterday. Any business that we know about that takes part in bidding wars can no doubt expect a visit from ACORN in the near future,” he added.
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