Doncaster - Simple Landlords Insurance

Transcription

News | Views | Expert Opinion
LANDLORDVOICE
Issue 4 - July 2015
The
potential
for equity
growth
stands out
Doncaster
Racing ahead against the odds - p10
Are Right-to-Rent checks
putting landlords at risk?
p4
National Landlords Survey
results.
p6
Doncasters property
market in numbers
p16
Photo: Doncaster Racecourse
Carl Agar, BigRedHouse Managing
Director on
Doncaster. p18
CONTENTS
tsm
an
10
18
on
de in D caster
Ma
2 | LandlordVoice | July 2015
Doncaster
• Doncaster’s logistics revival - a closer
look at the town’s developments.
Page 10.
• Doncaster’s property market in
numbers. Page 16
• Carl Agar - where to invest in
Doncaster. Page 18
• Derek Coles, RDG CEO on
investment in Doncaster. Page 20
• Doncaster through the years.
Page 22
• Helen Elworthy on Doncaster - a
town with everything going for it.
Page 24
• Trivia Time - test your Doncaster
knowledge. Page 27
co
D
Landlord Voice Editor
Flyi
ng
S
Yorkshire Wild
life
P
ark
-
Ben McVay
4
• Are right-to-rent checks putting Landlords at
risk? Page 4
• Buy-to-let boom could damage housing
market. Page 5
• National Landlords Survey 2015 results.
Page 6
caster
Don
O
ur mission here at Landlord Voice is to seek out useful and informative
content for our readers and each edition is framed around the local
economy and rental market of a different city or town.
And while some places do stand out when their economies are thriving,
it’s rare to stumble across a town with so much investment and development
in the pipeline that it is on the brink of a full-blown transformation.
Once one of the biggest coal-producing areas in the country, with a
rich rail and logistics heritage thanks to its geographical location, Doncaster has never really
achieved the popularity as an area it deserves.
But the fact is, this vast metropolitan borough with a population of more than 302,000 is
one of the most affordable places to live in the country and is quite spoilt when it comes to
transport links – whether to Sheffield, Leeds and York via its nearby motorway network or
London via the East Coast Mainline.
Doncaster is set for a rail and logistics revival and such is the scale and ambition of the plans
for its development that we have set aside six pages for their coverage in this edition.
Its vast rail infrastructure has secured it a stake in the servicing and development of two
of the industry’s biggest projects – the replacement of the aging InterCity 125 with Hitachi’s
electro-diesel Class 800 and the HS2 high-speed rail link between London and the north.
And alongside these exciting rail projects a new road linking Doncaster’s airport to the
motorway network has made it the location of choice for a £400m inland port providing freight
logistics via sea, air and rail.
And as if that was not enough there are plans for a new Enterprise Zone and a tournamentquality golf course which could play host to the PGA Tour.
In the opinion section we hear from several local estate agents keen to have their say on
Doncaster’s new developments and Derek Coles, CEO of Ryan Direct Group – a Doncasterbased insurance services company - gives his views on the town’s future.
Our tips section features an article about renting out properties as holiday homes, while we
take a closer look at Doncaster’s housing market in the In Numbers section and our regular
historical tour of the town in Through the Years.
And if you have time, why not take five minutes to try our Doncaster trivia quiz.
Lastly, at Landlord Voice we are always keen to hear from landlords or others interested in buyto-let for interviews, columns and general opinion, so please get in touch by emailing
[email protected].
Ch
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LANDLORDVOICE
Landlord News
St Ge
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Conisborough Castle - Doncaster
July 2015 | LandlordVoice | 3
Right to rent checks could
put landlords at risk
L
andlords run the risk of flouting
anti-discrimination laws and
being sued under the 2010 Equality
Act while conducting immigration
checks on tenants, known as ‘right
to rent’ checks.
The checks could technically
breach the Act because landlords
are not permitted to discriminate
by nationality or race when
choosing tenants.
Anne-Marie Balfour, from law
firm Charles Russell Speechlys,
quoted in The telegraph, said:
“Landlords need to tread a
fine line between immigration
compliance and avoiding race
discrimination.”
“An award for ‘injury to
feelings’, for example, would be in
the region of £6,600.
“This places yet more
They are due to be
rolled out in the rest
of the country in
September.
administrative burdens on
landlords and could lead to
criminal prosecution if landlords
don’t identify an illegal tenant.”
The checks, which were
introduced as a trial in the West
Midlands, mean landlords are now
legally obligated to check the right
of prospective tenants to be in the
country if they want to avoid a fine
of up to £3,000.
They are due to be rolled
out in the rest of the country in
September.
Landlords will need to see
evidence of a person’s identity
and citizenship, for example a
passport or biometric residence
permit, when considering a tenant
application.
A landlord’s responsibility for
citizens of a European Economic
Area country or Swiss nationals
ends once they have confirmed the
tenant’s identification.
The same applies with foreign
nationals who have the right of
abode in the UK, or who have been
granted indefinite leave to remain
or have no time limit on their stay
in the UK.
But for those who are not British
citizens, EEA or Swiss nationals
and have a time-limited right to
rent, follow-up checks will often be
necessary in order to avoid a fine.
T
Buy-to-let boom could
damage housing market
he Bank of England has warned that an
interest rate rise could trigger a rush to offload
properties among landlords with mini property
portfolios, causing house prices to fall.
It warned that landlords with just two or three
properties in their portfolios could be more
vulnerable to an interest rate hike and be forced
to sell if their rental income is insufficient to cover
mortgage repayments.
Bank of England chiefs say the risk is further
aggravated because smaller deposits are more
common as a result of more lax affordability checks
and buy-to-let borrowers with interest-only loans
were more vulnerable to rising interest rates.
UK landlord hotspots - 5 year change
The National Landlords Survey 2015
Survey shows private rental sector is buoyant
T
he General Election campaign of 2015 saw
political parties across the spectrum vying
for their say over the future of the UK’s undersupplied housing market.
And while Labour’s plans for rental caps and
three-year tenancies may have spooked a few, the
Tories’ plans to build 200,000 new homes during
the course of this parliament seem to have done
little to deter buy-to-let investors.
But this is hardly surprising when you consider
the findings of a report published last year by the
Home Builders Federation.
The National Landlords Survey found the UK
was a million homes short of what was needed to
plug the UK housing gap.
Simple Landlords Insurance surveyed more than
1,400 landlords about their experience of the buyto-let market – and the results paint a picture of a
buoyant private-rented sector.
The survey found that 48 percent of respondents
owned more than two rental properties while 11
per cent had more than five.
Furthermore, the data showed 56 percent
of respondents had made a conscious decision
to invest in a buy-to-let property reflecting the
demand for housing in their areas.
Seventy-eight percent of landlord respondents
said they were confident they could find a new
tenant for their property within four weeks if it
were to become unoccupied.
And with figures released by Homelet showing
rents shot up by 12.5 per cent across the country
during the second quarter of the year, it is telling
that 69 percent of Simple Landlords Insurance
survey respondents said they had evicted tenants
due to rent arrears.
Twenty-four percent said they planned to increase
rent in the next 12 months and with rents at such a
premium it is perhaps also unsurprising that 55 per
cent of the National Landlords Survey respondents
held rental yield as their motivation for investing.
The survey also threw up some interesting
regional variants.
It showed the best performing areas for buy-to-
let were the midlands and south central England.
In the midlands:
• Thirty-six percent of landlords in the region
said they were looking to increase the number
of rental properties they owned in the next year
compared with 33 per cent nationally
• Forty-nine percent of midlands landlords
said if they had to find a tenant in the next 12
months they could do so within four weeks,
compared to 44 percent nationally
In South Central England:
• Thirty-six percent of landlords in the region
said they were looking to increase the number
of rental properties they own in the next year
compared with 33 percent nationally
• Forty-seven percent of south central landlords
said if they had to find a tenant in the next 12
months they could do so within four weeks,
compared to 44 percent nationally
To read more about the Home Builders Federation
report visit http://www.hbf.co.uk/media-centre/
news/view/housing-shortage-hits-one-million/
The survey results were matched against Simple
Landlords Insurances data which showed some
UK cities had seen remarkable changes in terms of
popularity as buy-to-let destinations during the last
five years.
The data showed:
• Cardiff was now the fifth most popular UK
buy-to-let destination – having jumped nine
places from 14th
• Hull had jumped 14 places – from 28th to 14th
• Edinburgh and Scotland had fallen by seven
and five places respectively – from 12th to 5th
and from 8th to 13th
The following pages show the key findings from the
survey.
www.simplelandlordsinsurance.com
Rank
City / Town
2008 / 2009
1st
London
1st
2nd
Manchester
3rd
3rd
Birmingham
2nd
4th
Nottingham
6th
5th
Cardiff
14th
6th
Liverpool
7th
7th
Leicester
10th
8th
Leeds
4th
9th
Sheffield
11th
10th
Bristol
9th
11th
Bradford
12th
12th
Edinburgh
5th
13th
Glasgow
8th
14th
Hull
28th
15th
Reading
15th
16th
Coventry
17th
17th
Newcastle-upon-tyne
13th
18th
Stoke-on-trent
18th
19th
Southampton
16th
20th
Doncaster
19th
-
-
-
National Landlords Survey 2015
What is your business
goal as a landlord?
How many rental properties do you have?
52%
One
37%
Two - five
11%
55%
33%
More than five
12%
How did you become a landlord?
Accidental landlord
(unable to sell property or inherited)
Purchased property for a
family member to use
56%
10%
13%
Other
For what reason have you had to evict a tenant?
69%
Damage to the property
Personal harassment by tenant
2%
3%
6%
Long term capital
growth
24%
No
Yes
Less than a
month
27%
One to two
months
12%
Two to three
months
10%
More than 3
months
Tenant disturbing others
Other
Short term / waiting
for property prices to
increase to sell
51%
Rent arrears
20%
76%
To maximise
rental yield
income
What is the longest time your rental property has
remained unoccupied?
21%
Conscious decision to invest in buy-to-let
Likely to increase rent
in the next 12 months?
DONCASTER
Back to the future – Doncaster’s logistics revival
M
any great towns in the UK
have seen their ups and
downs over the course of
the last century and Doncaster is no
exception.
But what set it apart from other
big mining towns when the industry
collapsed in the 1980s was its location
- roughly half way between London
and Edinburgh on the Great Northern
Railway Line.
Since the coal industry’s decline,
Doncaster’s proximity to other
major cities and motorway and rail
infrastructure has given it a vital
lifeline in the form of distribution and
logistics - the town became home to
a rail terminal for Channel Tunnel
freight in 1995 and was handling
12,500 containers per year by the late
1990s.
Since then it has seen the likes of
Next, Tesco and Amazon building
distribution centres in and around its
borders.
The town’s reputation for rail
engineering and its location on the
East Coast Mainline – combined with
massive support from business and
public sector partners such as local
authorities, colleges and chambers of
commerce up and down the country
– has helped it secure the winning bid
to host the National High Speed Rail
College.
The college, which will be built on
a five-acre site on Carolina Way, will
train thousands of young engineers
who will deliver billions of pounds of
rail contracts over the coming decades,
including the new high-speed rail link
between London and the north (HS2).
Doncaster’s rail and engineering
industry now employs more than
10,000 people and there is strong
interest from companies looking to
locate here. Ros Jones, Mayor of Doncaster,
said: “The College will enable our rail
and engineering companies to build
on their success, up-skill our existing
workforce and help attract new
companies to the area who will benefit
from being located amongst their
supply chain.
>
Doncasters New £22m Performance Theatre - Cast
“The rail sector in Doncaster no
doubt has an imposing reputation,
which has helped secure two
massive new developments”
> “I want to keep this momentum up
and will now be looking to complement
the college with other new developments.
Having earlier this year secured a new
Enterprise Zone at Doncaster Sheffield
Robin Hood Airport, which itself has
the capacity for 2,000 engineering and
manufacturing jobs, Doncaster is well on
the way to regaining its reputation as an
important centre of industry.
“I want to see a new generation of
engineering and manufacturing in
Doncaster, and this major success is a
significant piece of the jigsaw in achieving
our plan.”
Pat Meadows, assistant principal at
Doncaster College, said demand for
industry recruits in the rail sector had
been steadily growing.
She added: “A lot of businesses in
Doncaster are related either directly or
indirectly to the rail industry and we
have been preparing our students very
successfully to go on to work for local rail
infrastructure and maintenance companies
such as Wabtech and Volker.
“It looks like there will be increasing
demand during the next two years in
preparation for HS2 College – it will
stimulate a real growth within the sector
and Doncaster College will help meet that
need.”
As well as HS2 College work has already
begun on the transformation of the old
Doncaster Carr railway depot into a £70m
Hitachi Rail Europe maintenance depot
for its Class 800 series passenger trains,
which are set to go into service on the East
Coast Mainline in 2018.
Under the plans a minimum of 10
five-car trains would be kept there every
night. The Class 800 trains will offer 19 per
cent more seats on each train, cut journey
times between London, Doncaster and
Edinburgh by up to 15 minutes and be
more reliable.
The maintenance depot is expected to
create 160 jobs.
FARRRS – the road to a
thriving economy
The rail sector in Doncaster no doubt has
an imposing reputation, which has helped
secure two massive new developments in
the form of the new HS2 College for the
training of engineers and the Hitachi Rail
Europe Maintenance depot.
But infrastructure of a different kind is
now stimulating investment projects on an
unprecedented scale in the region.
Within the next five years Doncaster will
be home to an inland port which is
rail-linked to the southern
and Humber
seaports.
Robin
Hood
Doncaster-iPort Development
Phase 1 – Rossington,
Harworth Estates and
the inland port
Connecting Rossington
Doncaster
Sheffield
Robin Hood
Airport looks set
to be transformed into a
major carrier for long-haul flights
and air freight thanks to planning consent
for expansion to improve capacity and
Government backing for a 10ha business
park with Enterprsie Zone status.
Long awaited-plans for a PGA Tour golf
course at Rossington Hall are a step closer
to fruition and 1,200 new homes are being
built at the site of the former Rossington
Colliery.
What
is driving all
this big investment
into the town is the new
link road - known as the Finningley and
Rossington Regeneration Route Scheme
(FARRRS).
The road, which is being pushed
forward through a collaboration between
Doncaster Council and three major private
sector developers, will open up two key
areas to the south and east of the borough
vital to the town’s development.
This former mining community to the
south of Doncaster was left devastated
by the closure of its colliery and is now
ranked as one of the most deprived wards
in Doncaster.
The village has no access to the nearby
junction 3 of the M18 which serves it and
residents face a long and circuitous route
through slow, urban roads to the junction
made worse by a level crossing at the East
Coast Mainline which cuts the village in
half and is often closed for long periods.
This has long been a major barrier to
the town’s economic growth, as travel to
job opportunities in the town centre and
other parts of the borough is frustratingly
difficult.
Harworth Estates
Improved access to Rossington has also
helped facilitate the reclamation and
redevelopment of the former Rossington
Colliery, where 1,200 new homes will be
created.
The collaboration between Doncaster
Council, Peel Airports (the owner of
Doncaster Sheffield Robin Hood Airport),
iPort developer Verdion and land owner
Harworth Estates to develop and promote
FARRRS has helped free up enough land
to make the mixed-use site possible.
As well as 1,200 new homes, it will
offer commercial buildings food retail, a
school and a health centre.
iPort
With building work set to start next year,
the iPort logistics site will provide jobs for
up to 5,500 people upon completion.
Access will come via the corridor from
junction 3 of the M18 which FARRRS
opens up.
The iPort has planning consent for up
to 6m sq ft of warehouse space and will
incorporate a 35-acre strategic freight rail
terminal which will be linked to the UK’s
major ports.
Access to the east coast ports of
Immingham and Grimsby will come via
the M180 and M18 motorways, while the
M62 provides a connection to the port of
Liverpool.
And when Phase 2 of FARRRS is
completed the iPort will be linked to
Doncaster Sheffield Robin Hood Airport
which currently handles approximately
40,000 tonnes of air freight per year but is
looking to increase this.
The iPort will offer a range of job
roles when completed – from warehouse
operatives and forklift truck drivers to
transport managers.
>
from other businesses, and would have a
big impact on the growth of those which
service it and all its new employees.
He added: “Since we were awarded
HS2 College we have already had
masses of enquiries from restaurant and
leisure businesses which would not have
considered Doncaster in the past – and
the site contains 11 acres of adjacent land
which they could locate on.
“Robin Hood Doncaster Sheffield
Airport is now the UK’s newest enterprise
zone, offering enhanced capital allowances
to businesses looking to locate there
and contains 880 acres of land up for
development.
“And when you consider the potential
of the PGA Tour golf course – that is
a fantastic opportunity for the town in
terms of a tourism offer and in terms of
the knock-on effect such an attraction will
have on property prices in neighbouring
Rossington and Bawtry.”
Doncaster-Sheffield Robin Hood Airport
“Last year we were shortlisted as one of the top ten European
cities of the future for foreign investment by a top investment
industry magazine”
FARRRS Phase 2
Doncaster Sheffield
Airport
Doncaster Sheffield Robin Hood Airport
is now a decade old. The Finningley-based
site already caters for up to 40 destinations
across Europe and boasts a 3,000m,
60m-wide runway, which makes it capable
of hosting long-haul and freight plane
services.
But it has so far been denied its full
potential due to access problems caused by
the long, circuitous routes from the M18
through Doncaster Town Centre along
congested, single-track roads.
Crucially, this adds miles and minutes
to journey times – a key metric which
flight operators look at when deciding
where to base airport routes. FARRRS
would reduce travel time from nearby
Sheffield from 50 minutes to 25 minutes.
FARRRS Phase 2 will directly connect
the airport not only to the M18 but also
to the iPort, providing a vital connection
between air and rail freight.
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough
Council is currently working with its
developer partners to fund building work
on the road, which would continue on
from Rossington to the airport site.
become home to the tour.
With backing from Doncaster Council
and tourism organisation Welcome to
Yorkshire, an outline planning application
for the project is set to be submitted this
year.
Perspectives...
PGA Tour golf course
Just a mile from the airport sits stately
home Rossington Hall. Speculation about
a plan to site a PGA European Tour golf
course at the beauty spot dates back to the
early 1990s but the attraction is now a step
closer.
A partnership between golf course
management business Troon Golf and
Rossington Hall Golf Developments - a
company formed specifically to develop
the hall– could see the 250-acre site
Tony Corby
Tony Corby is marketing manager for
Business Doncaster, an initiative by
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council
to support companies looking to relocate
to the town.
And he believes no other town in the
north of England is seeing the kind of
development which Doncaster is at the
moment.
“We are experiencing a domino effect
now where everything is going to spin
forward,” said Tony.
“The town is genuinely on the cusp
of being a really good place. In five years’
time with the amount of money coming in
it will be a much better version of itself.
“Last year we were shortlisted as one of
the top ten European cities of the future
for foreign investment by a top investment
industry magazine.”
Tony, like many others involved
with attracting inward investment, sees
Doncaster’s location and connection to rail
as its biggest strength.
He said: “If you take the example of the
iPort, or the Victoria Plum and Amazon
distribution centres in the town, these
businesses are interested in geographical
spread and ways of reaching the maximum
people in the shortest time.
“The iPort’s developer, Verdion, looked
at the town in terms of its geographical
connectivity by rail throughout north east
England.”
But all the new development, said Tony,
could not exist in isolation to support
Daniel Fell
Daniel Fell is chief executive of
Doncaster Chamber of Commerce, having
worked there for more than ten years in
various guises, including head of policy.
He believes the confidence which
FARRRS and other projects are inspiring
is well warranted but should be tempered
with an awareness of local issues.
“The flipside of all this opportunity,”
said Daniel, “is being realistic about the
fact that none of it is a panacea for some
of the challenges we have locally, like
education and aspiration, but there is a
different narrative of Doncaster which
rings just as true as the ‘glass is half empty
stuff.’
“The challenge is to bring that down
to local people and small-medium
enterprises in a way which feels real for
them – so for each new project which
FARRRS and rail is creating there are
three-four interventions which need
putting in place.
“So if we take the example of the airport
- it has been established for ten years
but has been nowhere near realising its
potential.”
Daniel said it was important to
ensure support was in place for business
destinations and businesses were
engaged in conversations about export
opportunities and destinations.
He added: “Then there are half-a-dozen
interventions that have to take place
locally but we do have a detailed economic
plan and that is why our local partnerships
are very good. With any big, new project
we try and ask, ‘so what? What will it do
for local jobs?’”
Meeting the new
housing need
The unprecedented levels of development
Doncaster will see over the next few years
will undoubtedly have a big impact on
the local job market – and projects such
as the HS2 College are sure to bring new
residents to the town.
New housing projects such as that of
Harworth Estates are underway, while
others such as a luxury development
bordering Rossington Hall are in the
pipeline, but Tony and Daniel see property
as a real investment in Doncaster at the
moment.
“Within two years there will be a
residential demand in Doncaster,” said
Tony. “The fact is HS2 College will be built
by 2017 and that is an opportunity for
residential investors.”
And with Doncaster’s economy set to
grow significantly, Daniel believes house
prices in the area are on the brink of an
upsurge.
“We have an economy which is only
going in one direction,” he said.
“You could see potential for a good
return in terms of housing stock and house
prices - and are we a town which is open
to investment in any shape or form? Yes,
we are.
“We want people who can create
opportunities and who can invest in the
area.”
R
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T
S
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DON
s
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e
b
m
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n
i
t
e
k
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P ro p e r t y m a
Doncaster Housing Tenure
All households
126,487
Owner-occupied
82,760
65.4%
418
0.3%
Social rented
22,403
17.8%
Private rented
18,774
14.8%
Living rent free
2,132
1.7%
Part-owned, part-rented
Average Property Prices by Property Type
Flat
£102,384
Terraced
£87,807
Semi-detached
£126,948
Detached
£284,500
Average Property Prices by Number of Bedrooms
One bedroom
£82,512
Two bedrooms
£93,371
Three bedrooms
£127,257
Four bedrooms
£240,636
Five bedrooms
£321,535
Average Monthly Rents by Number of Bedrooms
£761 pcm
£548 pcm
£491 pcm
£386 pcm
Sources: Office for National Statistics & Home.co.uk
r
a
g
A
Carl
Carl Agar, managing director of online estate agency Big Red House, believes
Doncaster is on the cusp of real change. Here is what he has to say.
Doncaster - A Changing Town
T
he current
and upcoming
developments in
Doncaster make the town
look like a good place to
invest, but the big question
is where?
On a basic level I have always
encouraged the investors I work with
to develop an investment strategy
and then carry out plenty of research
to determine where to deploy that
strategy. If we take a look at Doncaster
specifically it has a private rented
sector of about 18,000 properties
and just over 22,000 social housing
properties with a population of
around 120,000 residents.
If you do the maths based on that
information I am sure you would
agree the numbers demonstrate a
reasonably strong rental market.
The case for this is strengthened if
you consider that, like many areas in
the country, the provision of social
housing is decreasing and population
is increasing.
Aside from the general consensus
that low property values coupled with
a strong rental demand and good
yields make Doncaster an attractive
area, let us consider other influential
factors.
‘Slowly but surely
investors are
beginning to realise
the strength of
opportunity in the
town’
A major consideration has to be
Doncaster’s potential for job growth in
the next few years. The development
of the new rail freight terminal in
Rossington, the airport road, the PGA
golf course and other initiatives mean
we could expect the creation up to
10,000 jobs.
Whether this manifests itself as local
people moving from unemployed to
employed or an influx of new residents,
it will mean an even greater demand in
the local private-rented sector.
With new employers entering the
town and existing employers expanding
their businesses, we are seeing an
emergence of professional grade multilets which can generate anywhere
between £75-£100 per week depending
upon location and quality.
At present you can pick up a
three-bedroomed terraced property
in Rossington for around £50,000£60,000 - which will generate around
£475 per calendar month.
There are also plenty of semi-detached
properties available for between
£60,000-£90,000 which could generate
£500-£550 worth of rent per calendar
month.
And when you factor in the
added attraction which jobs growth
stimulated by the new airport road
and its ancillary developments will
bring to the area, the potential for
equity growth stands out.
And when HS2 College opens the
Doncaster housing market will be
bolstered by an influx of students.
House prices in Doncaster have
been fairly low for the last decade
and pretty stagnant since the credit
crunch, but this is about to change
and the signs are already visible in
certain areas of the borough.
Slowly but surely investors are
beginning to realise the strength
of opportunity in the town and the
demand this creates is bound to push
prices up.
If you are a landlord and would
like to know more then get in touch
by emailing carlagar@mybigredhouse.
co.uk .
To find out more about Carl and Big Red House visit
www.mybigredhouse.co.uk
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@businessinDN
/businessinDN
EUROPEAN UNION
Investing in Your Future
European Regional
Development Fund 2007-13
“THE PLACE TO INVEST IN BUSINESS”
Derek Coles (pictured) is CEO of Ryan Direct Group, a Doncaster based insurance company, having
joined in 2006. A conscientious and approachable employer, Derek headed up the management buyout
of Ryan Direct Group from Barclays Private Equity in 2007.
D
oncaster has seen a lot of
changes since Ryan Direct
Group settled at Lakeside in 1998.
In the space of the last 17 years
the town centre has been revamped
with the state-of-the-art £22m CAST
theatre and the multi-million pound
refurbishment of the Frenchgate
Shopping Centre, complete with
transport interchange.
Doncaster Rovers FC moved
to the brand new, 15,000-capacity,
all-seated Keepmoat Stadium from
Belle Vue Stadium, the racecourse
was upgraded with an impressive
grandstand and the town became
home to a 260-acre wildlife park –
the only UK zoo which boasts polar
bears among its exhibits.
The town even opened an
international airport with a runway
long enough to have made it a
designated space shuttle emergency
landing site.
And Ryan Direct Group has
changed a lot with it.
The company has expanded from
one which employed just 50 people
to one which employs more than 500
across four different sites.
RDG has expanded its offering
from primarily providing insurance
and financial services to the motor
industry to providing end-to-end
insurance claims handling and
insurance distribution services
for some of the UK’s best-known
insurance and retail brands,
including Aviva, Lloyds, RBS and
Tesco.
We are proud that we have been
able to offer employment to so many
at our Doncaster headquarters and
cannot wait to see what happens over
the coming years now that a new and
exciting era of development is on the
horizon for Doncaster.
With government funding worth
£350m having been set aside for
infrastructure and regeneration
projects across the region, schemes
such as the FARRRS and iPort and
are set to create thousands of new
jobs, which will send out a clear
message to investors and developers
that Doncaster is the place to be.
We plan to make the most of this
great new logistical era and grow
alongside it, proving employment
and supporting the local economy
for many years to come and helping
to make Doncaster one of the best
places in the country not only to
invest in and do business from but
also to live in, work in and visit.
Photo: Derek Coles
CEO of Doncaster based
Ryan Direct Group.
Doncaster
THROUGH THE YEARS
The track to a thriving town
1st Century
Doncaster starts out as a
settlement at the site of a
Roman fort built at a
crossing of the River Don
and later becomes an
important staging post for
Romans using an alternate
route between Lincoln and
York in order to avoid
crossing the Humber in
boats.
Doncaster Mansion House
First Millennium
13th-14th Centuries
15th-16th Centuries
18th-19th Centuries
20th-21st Centuries
In the latter part of the
first millennium Doncaster
becomes an Anglo-Saxon
burh, or fortified settlement,
and it is during this time it
receives its present name
– a blend of the river Don
and the Old English
adaption of caster from
the Latin ‘castra’ which
means military camp.
Despite a disastrous fire in
1204 which halts progress,
Doncaster begins to grow
and is the wealthiest town
in South Yorkshire by the
middle of the 14th century.
The town continues to
expand but its population
is diminished by several
outbreaks of plague.
Doncaster becomes a
busy industrial centre
thanks to its waterways
and geographical
location between London
and Edinburgh on the
Great North Road or A1.
By the early 20th century
it is one of the largest
coalmining areas in the
country and this becomes
the main source of
employment for its
residents.
Despite the collapse of
coalmining, several of its
tertiary industries, such as
glass and wire rope
manufacture, still survive to
this day.
St Georges Minster Doncaster
An important milestone in
its development is the
granting of a charter
allowing Doncaster Market
to be held around the
Church of St Mary
Magdalene – a thriving
event which still operates
three full days per week to
this day.
Doncaster Train Station
In 1664 it is awarded the
title of Free Borough by
King Charles 1 after
townsmen rally to meet him
when he marches from
Bridgnorth during the
English Civil War.
During the Industrial
Revolution the Doncaster
Locomotive and Carriage
Building Works is
established by the Great
Northern Railway.
This will go on to become
the birthplace of the
world-famous Flying
Scotsman and continues
building rolling stock of
various types until late into
the 20th century, assisting
with the war effort and
later producing
diesel-electric locomotives.
Much of Doncaster’s
industry is now based
around logistics and is
indebted to the town’s
great rail past.
Cusworth Hall Doncaster
Helen Elworthy
OVER 70 OFFICES - LOCALLY AND NATIONALLY
Helen Elworthy is director at Northwood Estate Agents.
Having started out as an employee at the Doncaster branch in
2010, Helen now owns the franchise.
Doncaster - A town with everything
going for it at an affordable price
D
oncaster has always
been a great place to
buy a property to rent
out and the lettings market
remains buoyant regardless of
the economic climate.
The area has a real buzz
about it and the amount of
new interest in living here is a
reflection of that.
The number of major
developers building new homes
in and around the Doncaster
area is also boosting the
economy.
And though the return
on investment for new-build
development properties will not
be quite so high as with more
traditional ones, investing in
them can make good business
sense – as they are usually very
desirable, in excellent locations
and very low maintenance.
If you opt for the traditional
private-rented property costing
£50,000-£60,000, you could
still expect a healthy yield of
more than 10 per cent if you did
things right - even with an initial
outlay in terms of renovation.
‘The area has a
real buzz about it
and the amount
of new interest
in living here is a
reflection of that.’
Doncaster is ideally situated
within a triangle of major
motorways including the M18,
M62 and A1, which makes it
appealing for commuters who
cannot afford the city prices of
Leeds, Sheffield and York.
The average rent in Doncaster
town centre is £456pcm compared
to £640pcm in Sheffield and a
whopping £987pcm in Leeds.
Rentals are still affordable and
as long as landlords provide good
quality properties in popular areas
and act in a conscientious way
there will always be a ready supply
of tenants.
In my opinion the key to
successfully letting a property
is providing good quality
accommodation and doing all the
necessary checks to ensure you
have a good tenant.
I would always advise using
an agent to make sure the legal
requirements of lettings is covered
and you have peace of mind
knowing that your property is
being looked after.
For those landlords who are
new to buy-to-let or who are
looking for a low risk way of
letting then Northwood and its
Guaranteed Rent Scheme can
provide just that.
Northwood’s Guaranteed Rent
Scheme is NOT an insurance
policy and provides a fixed income
plan of monthly rent regardless
of what is happening with the
property, even when the property
is empty or the tenant is in arrears.
Legal costs are paid for and
the homeowner has complete
anonymity.
To find out more about
Northwood and the Guaranteed
Rent Scheme, go to http://www.
northwooduk.com/estate-agents/
doncaster
LANDLORDS...
Guaranteed rent 52 weeks
a year even when the
property is vacant!
NO SET-UP FEE
NO COMMISSION
GUARANTEED CONTRACT
START DATE
FOR A FREE VALUATION,
PLEASE CALL US TODAY
T:
01302 767000
E : [email protected]
A : 25 Hallgate, Doncaster, DN1 3NH
lettings
estate agency
mortgages
us save you
£££s on your
landlords
insurance.
Simple.
Plus a further 10% off for Landlord Voice readers*
Use promo
code: VOICE4
Call FREE on 0808 172 5608 or
0330 100 7178 from mobiles.
Trivia Time
Doncaster is rich with interesting facts, so test your knowledge by taking a
few moments to answer these trivia questions... Answers are shown below.
Q1 - Which outspoken motoring journalist was
born and raised in Doncaster?
Q2 - Name the world-famous steam
locomotive built in Doncaster which was
the first on record to reach 100mph.
Q3 - In what year did Doncaster Rovers FC
move to their current home at the Keepmoat
Stadium?
Q4 - Which member
of boyband One
Direction attended
Doncaster’s
Hall Cross
Comprehensive?
Q5 - Which Doncaster
attraction has recently
entered the TripAdvisors
Hall of Fame?
simplelandlordsinsurance.com
>
*New customer quotes only - excludes renewal quotes. Calls may be recorded and monitored for training and quality purposes. Simple Landlords Insurance is a business name of Millennium
Insurance Brokers Limited who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales Company No. 2103848. Registered Office: Quay Point, Lakeside
Boulevard, Doncaster, DN4 5PL. Calls to 0808 are normally free of charge from landlines but charges may apply from mobile phones. Calls to 0330 numbers will cost no more than national rate
calls to geographic 01 or 02 numbers and are included in any inclusive minutes or free call packages.
Answers - 1. Jeremy Clarkson 2. Flying Scotsman 3.
2007 4. Louis Tomlinson 5. Yorkshire Wildlife Park
Get a quote
St Georges Church Doncaster
About Landlord Voice
Landlord Voice is brought to you by Simple Landlords Insurance. Simple Landlords Insurance is a business name of
Millennium Insurance Brokers Limited who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered
in England and Wales. Company No. 2103848. Registered office: Quay Point, Lakeside Boulevard, Doncaster, South
Yorkshire, DN4 5PL.
Contact the Editor
Email: [email protected] or telephone 0844 8549914
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this publication are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. The
information provided is for information purposes only and is not intended as legal or financial advice

Doncaster - Simple Landlords Insurance

Transcription

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