Dispatch

Letting agencies that plan only for good seasons get fragile, and the slow months tempt them toward a trust account that was never theirs.

Refusing a mandate from a seller who wants a known defect hidden protects an agent’s name and filters out the troublesome sellers who follow.

A body corporate that keeps its own records and reads its own budget is hard to capture, while one that hands everything over is easy prey.

A seller who prepares certificates and paperwork early controls the pace of a sale, while a seller under a deadline lets buyers and banks set it.

A letting agency that cannot refuse a pushy landlord ends up placing tenants without proper checks, so its standards become mere suggestions.

Pricing advice is only as independent as the agent’s finances allow, because whoever an agent depends on ends up shaping the advice.

Minutes that record a decision without its reasons force the next set of trustees to argue it again and often to decide it differently.

A property firm that records every sale learns patterns no one person can see, such as which conditions fail and which valuations come in low.

A written checklist lets a new property agent ask the questions a veteran asks by instinct, such as whether a converted garage was ever approved.