Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Let'S Talk Lets, an original podcast from the Lettings Hub. Hello and welcome to the latest episode of our podcast, let's Talk Let. I'm Heidi Shackle, the CEO of the Lettings Hub, the tenant referencing business that got good at tech. Let's Talk Lets is our regular roundup of news and views on a whole range of subjects spanning the private rental sector. Amy I'm delighted to welcome Amy Shields, Compliance Director of Smart Compliance, who is joining us today to talk about the Women in Estate Agency Conference along with other things. I'm sure it is in many people's calendars that the Women in Estate Agency Conference takes place tomorrow on the 6th of March. It has become one of the must attend events in many of our diaries, so I'm really looking forward to discussing this year's events on today's podcast pod. Let's get started. Amy thank you so much for joining us today. If you can start by introducing yourself, let our listeners know a little bit more about you and how you got involved in the Women in Estate Agency movement.
[00:01:10] Speaker A: Thank you Heidi. Yeah, pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me on.
So yep, as you mentioned, I'm Commercial Director at Smart Compliance, which is a lot of people say we make AML fun. I'm not sure I agree with that, but you know, we give it our best try.
So that's my obviously core role Monday to Friday, nine till six and then somehow in between that I'm also on the Women in Estate Agency committee, which has been an amazing journey over the last couple of years that we're obviously going to dig a bit deeper into. And then I'm also a mentor with, well and mentee with agents together.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: Wow. So a completely busy life. And we're going to talk about the Women in Estate Agency and then we're going to come back to the day job as we get towards the end because there's some really big changes coming and it's important that everybody understands those. So as I mentioned in my intro, the Women in Estate Agency Conference takes place tomorrow on the 6th of March. We're recording this session in advance, but I'm sure many of our listeners are going to be coming along, so let's share the details if we can please. Amy of the event and what can attendees expect this year?
[00:02:20] Speaker A: So it's on Thursday 6th March, so it's always held well the last couple years we've held it the day before International Women's Day, which is obviously quite significant for us. It's also a nice Time to hold an event in the springtime, sort of before some of the bigger ones in the industry kick off as well. But it's very much a more intimate setting. I suppose we have a theatre style rather than tables and chairs and it's really. I mean the title this year is obviously the power of you and I think that sums it up quite nicely. It's all about resilience.
Not that I'm doing very well at the moment with this stinky cold, but it's all about empowering women and supporting. I mean the conference, you can throw every word at it. I mean if hopefully lots of your listeners have been. You'll feel every emotion on the day along with support, along with learning, along with takeaways, along with adding value to your business, but also to yourself personally, your personal growth and development in your career. It's like a jam packed day of everything you could ever want out of a conference.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: Yeah, well, from my point of view, when I went, we went for the last year and we're back again this year and I completely agree. I had it in my diary. I wasn't.
I was looking forward to it but I didn't think much more than that, you know, as you were and then you left the day I felt being completely inspired by listening to so many people and the one overwhelming thought I had is I have three daughters and I was like, I wish they were there. Like it didn't actually have to be about the industry per se. Like there's actually way more than that that you can take away. Yes, there was some relevance to our industry but actually you didn't have to work in lettings or estate agency or the property sector to benefit so much. My children are a bit young, they're only 8, 10 and 12, but I was like if they were a few years older, taking them to that event and getting them to hear it so early on in whatever career they may take, I just absolutely wanted to do. It was such a kind of moving day, I suppose in terms of how people might describe it.
[00:04:38] Speaker A: Yeah, it is every emotion and I think what we really try and sort of nail with the agenda is that every aspect. I know it sounds awful, we don't want people to cry, but we want to kind of evoke that emotion.
And sometimes some of the speakers we have are quite triggering. You know, last year we had an incredible lady at the end which was a surprise. We didn't. We always keep our last speaker as a complete secret because they've usually got something incredible to tell and we don't want people to go off and Google that person because they're going to know the story before they come. And we like it to be a surprise so that you have that element of, oh, my goodness, you know, how, what, how, when, what, why, and then you want to go off and Google and learn more about this person and their journey and what they went through. So, same again this year. We've got the most incredible speaker at the end that. Yeah, I just. Personally, for me, I'm just. I'm so excited. I've actually stopped myself from Googling even more about her because I'm just like, I really want to hear it from her.
So that's really cool. And I think the most important thing that we have to remember about this year's conference is Sarah Edmondson, who has done nothing but inspire so many, so many people in our industry. And devastatingly, we lost her last year, and she was a huge part of the committee. So this year, we wanted to make sure that, you know, we really did her justice.
And obviously she hosted the conference. And we've decided to take on that. Wrongly or rightly, it's going to be an interesting one, but we've decided to take on that role between the committee. So there's a few of us all doing a little bit because we actually just felt we couldn't do Sarah justice and actually replace that role that she did because she was just so brilliant at it.
And so that's been really tough. And she's got a segment in the conference that's dedicated to her, and we. We're so grateful and lucky that Jeremy, who she did her podcast with last year, is joining us and also doing the segment to tell us about his time with Sarah and tell us all about that side that we didn't get to see while she was doing the podcast with him and their journey as friends together. So that's. That's super exciting. And I think that's. That to us, is probably going to be the.
The emotional but also probably the best part of the day because, you know, we've worked so hard to put things in place to make sure that we honor her legacy in every way with breast cancer now and the charity work that we're doing.
[00:07:20] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I think one of the words, you know, you said that lots of words could be kind of thrown out the day, but inspiring is, I guess, one of those words. And everyone felt inspired.
I don't think anybody was late to a start of a session. You know, it's like, that isn't it like, everyone comes, they take their seats, they're completely ready and waiting. And I hadn't met Sarah before last year's conference, but I thought she was completely inspiring. And, you know, I wish all of you the absolute best in taking her place this year because I imagine that that is difficult. But I'm absolutely sure she would probably be smiling at all of you in terms.
[00:08:01] Speaker A: I think she'll have a good laugh. Yes.
[00:08:06] Speaker B: But did I read as well that you're kind of planning to do a walk in the Lake District to raise money? We are.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: So Lucy's been. Lucy Noonan has been kind of leading this one. And we all kind of in the committee, we all have our kind of roles, I suppose that we do, because obviously we're all trying to juggle our day jobs and squeeze this in. So we kind of all do differently bits and pieces on the committee. But Lucy's been spearheading the walk after she had a meeting with breast cancer now about how we can. What we can do, what event can we do that would raise so much money, that would involve people in the industry and get everybody involved and also be a challenge because, you know, it's one thing, you know, fundraising at events, and it's great. I mean, the fact we raised it was over 35,000 at the Estes and EA Masters, which was phenomenal and big thank you to Simon Brown and Peter Knight for letting us do that out there eventually, events, it was. It was crazy, the amount of money we raised.
And then Lucy was speaking to breast cancer now, and how can we do something that's challenging, sort of at the early summer kind of time of the year that gets the industry involved, that raise, again, a load of money and the walk just fits. So they. They get involved with the ultra challenges and we're not going too crazy because they do 100 kilometer walk. Oh, wow. We're absolutely not doing.
But we are going for the 29 kilometer, although they do have a 10 if people want to do the 10k as well.
And that's a huge challenge. So it'll take most of the day on the Saturday for us to do that. It's in June and we've already had stacks of people sign up who want to do that and challenge themselves.
So that's amazing. And that's obviously in the Lake District, because that's where Sarah's from.
And. Yeah, I just think it's incredibly yet again that the industry just comes together and wants to do these things.
[00:10:01] Speaker B: Yeah, brilliant. And actually, it's really Nice, because the industry, if I think back, I've been in the industry now for well over 20 years, and actually I think all businesses worked in real silos back in the day. Like, there was not that kind of common ground. And I think that's definitely one thing that the women in estate agency movement kind of has brought together.
So if we kind of talk about that, the movement was set up to be really inspiring and supportive environment to ensure women had fair and equal representation in our sector. And, you know, although there has been massive change, it's still not enough. Women are very underrepresented based on how many women are in the sector, but it's not exclusive to women and it's about ensuring everybody works together to remove the male bias that has typically been a feature of the property sector.
So tell us a little bit more about that kind of from the inside, so to speak.
[00:10:58] Speaker A: So, yeah, so the Facebook group is how it kind of started. So Liana and Claire set up the Facebook group during the kind of pandemic era and it was really just set up to be supportive and they had no idea it would explode into kind of what it has.
We've now got well over 4,000 members. The aim by the end of this year is to have over 5,000, and that will always remain. Well, currently at the moment, for women only, it's that safe space that we have that, you know, you can post anonymously as well if you don't feel comfortable, because obviously you've got. You're bound to have colleagues as we get bigger in there. But it's to ask questions, to get support. If someone's having just a really rubbish day, they can put whatever's happened in there with no judgment and just be picked up a little bit by their peers. And, you know, and then on the flip side, there are some really serious questions that go in there about recruitment, staffing, things that are happening. Compliance is mentioned all the time and property management questions. And it's just a place where you can actually, you know, say, hey, I've got this question. Any advice, any ideas?
We get lots of questions about marketing, social media, ideas for content.
And I think it's just lovely that actually even competitors will. Will say, hey, have you tried this?
Yeah, there's just. And it's that wonderful blend of agents, sales agents, lettings agents, suppliers, you know, and, and everybody in the industry. There's no, it's not just estate agents, you know, it's. It's everyone in the industry, which I.
[00:12:41] Speaker B: Was just going to. I was just Trying to look at my phone then, but it's gone on loud. But one of the things that I think when I look at some of the posts is actually sometimes people just want to share their day, like their experiences of what's happened that day. And you know, God, I've had an absolute shocker today because this happened, that happened. And just then, seeing the supportive comments, I guess from that community, that's different to your friendship group because, you know, your friends don't necessarily understand like what it's like in the industry, do they? So there's so much support, I think, given.
[00:13:11] Speaker A: No, absolutely. They don't get it at all. I mean, I, I look back at, you know, I was an agent for 16 odd years and my friends didn't get it at all. They don't understand the stress and the pressures and the being shouted at 8 o'clock at night because down the phone by somebody because your house has an exchange contract yet.
And I think agents are, they're unbelievable that to me that they're superheroes, you know, lettings and estate agents I have nothing but the utmost admiration for because I know what they go through and that's why I love being a supplier, because I still get to work with estate and lettings agents. I adore our world and I think that actually the support within the world, if you look at everything else that say, you know, agents giving agents together, Ben Madden's got the boys club now and you just look at, you know, all the charity stuff that goes on, do it for Dom. You know, everything that we do is insane. And I know probably every, what you'd like to think every kind of industry has this sort of camaraderie, but I think ever since COVID that the property world has just come into its own. And actually it's a real shame that the general public don't see behind the scenes.
[00:14:26] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:14:28] Speaker A: Maybe if they did, they'd like us a bit more.
[00:14:31] Speaker B: Yeah. Yes. It's quite a tough industry and so I think you have to be a certain type of person to kind of persevere within it. So how does somebody become a member? How would somebody become a member of Women in Estate Agency?
[00:14:47] Speaker A: Literally jump on Facebook and type in the search bar women in Estate Agency and we will be first on the list and then you just literally join the group. Obviously there's a couple of questions. You do have to be female. Simon Whale has attempted to change his name and enjoy a few times, but yeah, it is women only. But then I think the, the great thing about everything else we're doing is. It is totally inclusive, the conference. We want men there and it's just amazing. You know, often their feedback is more overwhelming than. You listen to the male feedback we get. It's like next level overwhelming with some of the things they say, which, yeah, it. To us, it just means everything. It's that whole inclusivity part. It's. That's what's most important to us. You know, Corona, at the end of last year's conference, kind of said everything and that you know, one day our aim is that we don't need women in the state agency anymore. That's what we want. We don't want to have, you know, this is. This is something that shouldn't have to exist, but it does right now because it's needed.
[00:15:51] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. And it started with a Facebook group. So how did it kind of progress to a conference then? Because that was, I've guessed, such a big milestone for you guys.
[00:15:59] Speaker A: Yeah, so, I mean, I wasn't on the committee for the first conference, but I'm good friends with Liana, who, outside of work, who obviously set everything up.
And I just offered sort of help at the first conference because it was kind of all hands to the deck for the first conference. I sort of just got involved in help setting up and things. And then we went out and they were looking obviously at growing the conference. I've got a lot of contacts in the supplier world, so kind of sorting out the sponsorship and managing the sort of the supplier and the sort of getting the money in to cover the cost of the conference was really kind of what I came on to do.
[00:16:37] Speaker B: So for this year's conference, can you tell us anything about any of the speakers or is the format really similar to last year? Is there anything that's particularly different this time?
[00:16:46] Speaker A: So it's very similar in regards to format, as in we've got obviously a full packed agenda that's super exciting. So we've got everything from learnings from three fantastic people in our industry who will add key takeaways, add value with that, alongside their personal stories. So personal stories is something that's always been the core of kind of what we love about what we do is that our speakers, you might take away learnings and add value to your personal growth or your career growth from it, but it's actually related back to someone's story. So we've got some amazing speakers in the morning, we've got a communication expert.
We've then got obviously the Sarah Edmondson tribute.
And it's a full on packed day.
Another speaker with regards to culture. Lots and lots we've also got. I think one of the ones I'm. I'm very excited about is the, the Boys Club Sir Ben Madden. We've got him hosting a panel in the afternoon which will be super exciting because it's all about actually being a man in today's world. And I think that as much as we are all about empowering women, men need that support too. And I think the men in the industry that we have, I adore so many of the in our world, but the men need that outlet, need someone to talk to. And what Ben set up I just think is fantastic. And it's going to be amazing to hear from Ben and the panel that he's lined up on what it's like being a man in today's world.
And different age is in that panel as well. So we've got a young lad up to older generation. So actually it's gonna be quite interesting to get the different views on that.
[00:18:32] Speaker B: We had Ben as a guest on the pod before where he was just kind of launching the Boys Club and he kind of told us all about it and we've shared it across all of our staff members and it's actually lovely but surprising that, you know, there was more than I thought wrote back and said thanks for this, you know, and actually people that you wouldn't necessarily think would do anything about that, I'm sure have gone on to maybe join or listen or, you know, become involved in some way, which was really good. And I did say that last year. You know, I'm a massive advocate for women. You know, we have a completely 50, 50 exec team in TLH of male and female, which I think actually I didn't realize until last year when we started talking about all of this. That was actually completely unusual. That really surprised me because that's just the way it's always been. In fact, actually in the beginning and early days of the lettings hub, we were an all female executive.
So that surprised me that that was so different to what the norm was.
But at the same time we did then talk about, we went back after the conference, myself and Colleen last time and told all of our exec team about it. We sat down and we talked about it and I said, look, I wish you were there, like I wish you could have felt it. But we then did speak about the men as well because, you know, they had really different challenges actually to us and it was really interesting to hear things from their perspectives, that's going to be a good one, I'm absolutely sure. So. Well, we're all going to look forward to it. It's going to be a fantastic day. There is, the tickets are now sold out and there is only 450 tickets because it is, I mean that's still a lot of people in a room supporting obviously the movement, but it also is quite an intimate and engaging type of event. So if you haven't had a ticket this year, absolutely make sure you, you get one next year. But just going back to the very beginning, that isn't the day job. That's kind of, I guess, a passion, Amy, but you also have a passion, as you said in AML compliance, which is an interesting passion compared to how some other people's passions might be. But you are the commercial director of Smart Compliance, which is one of the only providers to provide end to end anti money laundering compliance. Now, in our industry we know that AML checks have been a long standing requirement. But coming on the horizon, I think it's in May, there are some significant changes that agents all need to be aware of. So enlighten us, tell us all about what's coming.
[00:21:08] Speaker A: So it's really interesting because I never did, I never did lettings as an estate agent, we used to refer as the dark side.
So it's been an interesting journey for me having to pick apart some of the lettings legislation over the last few weeks.
And it's something we knew was coming but we just didn't know when. And of course they just land it on us. And November last year, the ofsi, so the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, which is a bit of a tongue twister, decided that, yeah, now's time. So as of 14 May, lettings agents will have to do financial sanctions checks on their landlords and tenants. And in unworth unearthed a little can of worms. The majority of lettings agents kind of do best practice at the moment with regards to obviously checking out their clients. So they'll get photographic id, make sure the landlord is or the tenant is who they say they are, they'll get proof of address, make sure they live where they say they live, and with a landlord, of course, download title deeds to make sure that actually the landlord does own the property that they're going to let out. But as we started to speak to more and more agents who fascinatingly weren't aware of the new legislation because it's been kept a big secret and in fact we were the first people to put a press release in the industry press a couple of weeks ago because we wanted to start making people aware that these changes were coming because we were getting a bit concerned that actually agents weren't aware that this was coming into play.
And we've been inundated with questions since then because it's of course not as straightforward as you think in exactly the same way as the sales HMRC guidelines. They're clear as mud.
So I will read out the line that is probably the most important. So, as I mentioned, it's managed by the will be governed by the OFSI and it simply says under the reporting obligations, a relevant firm is required to report to the OFSI as soon as practical if it knows or has reasonable cause to suspect that a person is a designated person or B has committed a breach of financial sanctions regulations.
So basically what they're saying is you need to figure out if, you know, if your clients have breached a financial sanction, you've got to report it, then you have to report it. But if you don't check, how do you know? And I'd love to understand how a lettings agent would explain to the OFSI that they didn't believe that their client had a financial sanction, but it turned out they actually did. So I'm using the word trappy because it does feel like that.
[00:24:04] Speaker B: Does the legislation go on to say anything that if you find somebody that has one, what you're meant to do about it? Or it's just a case of report it?
[00:24:13] Speaker A: Yeah, report it.
So again, the guidelines are just really. Yeah, you report it. And I think then in the same way, on the sales side of things, when you raise, with an AML breach, you raise a sar, a Suspicious Activity Report to the National Crime Agency.
And I've had different instances with sales agents where they've continued to do business with that client, Razor sar.
So they've done the right thing. But I've also had instances recently where the agents actually gone, no, look, not comfortable actually doing business with this. This person we're just going to terminate. They don't tip off, they just literally say they're not comfortable doing business with that client.
So, yeah, again, it's this whole gray area and I think what's interesting with the lettings legislation is some of the, the agents we've been speaking with, they've gone away and looked at their branches because this does sort of open up a bit of a can of worms. So, for example, a lot of lettings properties are in a company name, so a landlord has put the Property into a company name. You know, it could just be Joe Bloggs Limited.
[00:25:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:29] Speaker A: Because you know, for tax reasons or, you know, whatever else.
And then so the lettings agent will download the title deeds.
Mr. Smith is the landlord. But the title deeds say that the owner is actually Joe Bloggs Limited and it's a company.
So the lettings agent is then responsible and needs to go jump onto Companies House, look up Joblogs Limited and check that Mr. Smith is a director for Joe Blogs Limited and that's great. If they are brilliant, you obviously print, screen it, save it into your CRM. There's your evidence. Right. Just need to do my sanctions check on Mr. Smith. But what if there's other people that are named directors and what if the company is then owned by another company?
Yeah. So you have to then continue your enhanced due diligence, as we call it and get to the bottom of actually who is the actual owner or owner's of the property or the company that owns the property and then carry out those financial sanctions checks on the correct people.
So it does, you know, add another layer to the compliance for the lettings agents that they haven't had before.
There are properties that are let out, that are in trusts that are going through probate, that are let out because the owner's in a care home to pay for care home costs. So there's a lot of scenarios and situations where lettings agents will now be responsible for doing very similar, if not pretty much exactly the same levels of enhanced due diligence as a sales agent would. So it's an interesting one and that's.
[00:27:09] Speaker B: Where you can help.
[00:27:10] Speaker A: Absolutely. And so can the referencing companies for tenants. So yeah, it's, you know, speaking with, you know, referencing companies like yourselves, we know that you guys already have the ability to do sanctions checks for tenants very quickly and easily because it's, you're gathering all that information. So it's a really big an easy add on to the tenant's journey and that's fantastic. So yeah, it's great that yourselves and other referencing companies are already geared up for this. So hopefully it's just going to be the landlords that the agents will have to sort of carry out that, that extra bit of bit of due diligence.
[00:27:47] Speaker B: And yeah, I think there's rrb. So the Renters Rights bill is dominating, isn't it? Everywhere at the moment in terms of legislation. But there is other legislation coming, this being absolute, you know, a good example. And it's going to come first probably. So we actually need to be kind of 20, 25 ready, as it were, rather than renters rights ready in terms of everything that's going to kind of hit us this year.
[00:28:13] Speaker A: Great way of putting it.
[00:28:14] Speaker B: Brilliant. If anybody kind of has any questions and stuff, I guess they find you on LinkedIn, Amy, or go to your website and then you would be able to talk to them about how you could help them.
[00:28:25] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. LinkedIn or the website, Facebook. I've got a whole partnership management team who are there to help and just answer questions. So one of the things that we're very proud of at Smart Compliance is the support we give to all agents. Whether you're a client of ours or not, it's irrelevant. We want to help agents and now lettings agents be compliant and help and advise and kind of be known as that supportive people that you can ring if you've got a situation or a case that you, you're not sure about. What do you need to do? Just please drop us an email message, pick up phone to us. We are absolutely here to help.
[00:29:03] Speaker B: I'm sure people will appreciate that because it is a bit of a minefield just trying to understand it. Once you can obviously get your head around it, then you can obviously look to implement the solutions. But understanding it is sometimes the hardest part in the beginning.
Yes. Back to the conference just before we finish. Like we've said, we're out of. There is no tickets left. The tickets are sold out. But are there any last minute hints and tips you have for anybody attending tomorrow?
[00:29:28] Speaker A: Oh, that's a great question.
I would say just completely come with an open mind. So be prepared for a day of being quite full on. Be ready for some learning. Be ready to have some takeaways that you can implement tomorrow, not only in your business world and your business career, but also your personal goals and your personal growth.
And be ready to be inspired, motivated.
Learn how to be more resilient and to embrace resilience.
I think that's super important to us this year and as we said, it's all about the power of you. What we want to do is have more women in leadership roles. That's the big aim. There are lots of women in the industry, there's no denying that. But what we want to see is more women in management and leadership roles and putting their hands up and having the courage to say, yeah, I can do that. Pick me.
[00:30:32] Speaker B: Absolutely love it. And we want the balance. I think that's. Then we want it to be fair, which is, which is great. And I think just some Real basics. For anybody that's going on their own, they will make friends on the day, won't they? They don't need to be worried about going on their own. There's always people to talk to. And the day is pretty full on. Anyway, dress code, anything goes.
Lunch is all provided. Yeah, it's a very relaxed affair like that, isn't it? It's like very inclusive for everybody.
[00:31:01] Speaker A: Yeah, 100%, you know. Yet some people come in businesswear, that's absolutely fine. Some people come in jeans and jumpers. Look, be comfortable, be you. Because we want people to be comfortable in that surrounding. If you're on your own and you're coming on your own to the day, come and talk to what people? The lettings hub stand in the foyer giving out fantastic water bottles for everybody to use throughout the day. So cutting down on that single use plastic.
But also you've got agents giving in the foyer, you've got breast cancer. Now we've got a fantastic huge area that rightmove have taken, which is almost like a networking area. So we've got all the regional champions walking around. Come and find us, Come and find the committee. Don't be scared to come up and say, hey, I'm on my own. Can you introduce me to some people? That's what we want, you know, that's what it's all about.
[00:31:52] Speaker B: Lovely, Brilliant. Thank you, Amy, for today. I think we've covered so much. And the absolute best of luck to you and all your wonderful colleagues for the conference tomorrow.
But before you go, our regular listeners of let's Talk, let's will know that we always ask every podcast for a funny story or anecdote.
[00:32:11] Speaker A: There's so many to choose from, but there is always one that sticks out in my head. Evaluation that I did in Reading, and we had all sorts of properties in Reading, you know, lots and lots of drugs, houses and all the rest of it. All the usual stuff in a city.
But I rocked up to a house. The lady who booked in the appointment was outside crying, somewhat distressed, and she told me that she was too embarrassed to go back into the house and could I just very quickly run in. And then I would meet her back at the office to go through the valuation. So, okay, yeah, no worries. At this point, I'm a little bit concerned for my safety. I'm thinking, okay, what the hell's in this house? So I was, okay, you go back to the office. I was like, my team will make you a cup of tea. All good. I'll meet you back there in like 10, 15 minutes, went into the house and it was being used to film pornography. Films. Movies.
Wow. So in the living room, there was every piece of apparatus you could possibly imagine. I was slightly, yeah, just intrigued.
You know, I was kind of, I think mid-20s at this point. So it was a bit of an eye opener, eye opening in some ways.
I think the one thing that always stands out in the dining room was a black rubber paddling pool with a commode in the middle of it, which is interesting.
And then, yeah, there was a, there was a full on edit suite in one of the. The bedrooms upstairs.
So, yeah, fascinating. There was, you know, big cross with the handcuffs on the wall.
I mean, everything you could ever imagine was in there. It was a bit like 50 Shades of Grey in a house. And then at the garden, there were two people sort of hovering at the back of the garden. I was like, I'm not, I'm not going to go say hi. I just, the, the tenants, this is, this is fine. Anyway, so I quickly ran round, went back to the office, still a little bit shell shocked and kind of like, okay, how, how do I approach this? You know, this is this poor woman's house. She clearly didn't know that this was happening in her property.
And so I get back to the office and she's there, she's having a nice cup of tea with my colleagues and turns out it was her daughter that was renting the house off of her.
[00:34:26] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:34:27] Speaker A: And she had no idea that her daughter was using the property for filming pornography. So I think that's probably the. Yeah, the one that always stands out.
[00:34:39] Speaker B: No wonder the shock. That explains that. Wow, that's a good one. Thank you, Amy. And to all of our listeners, to ensure you never miss an episode of let's Talk, let's please follow us on Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcast. Please leave us a review if you like what you hear. And thank you all very much for listening. Let's Talk. Let's an original podcast from the Lettings Hub.
