- Tech partnership between leading geospatial technology company Kamma and UK’s leading independent real estate consultancy Knight Frank supports compliance efforts in the Private Rented Sector (PRS).
- Market leaders are partnering to find new innovative solutions to market challenges around licensing compliance.
- Kamma to support Knight Frank with compliance analysis services, analysing its entire portfolio, full integration between the partners is planned to go live in 2023.
January 9 2023 – Geospatial technology firm Kamma is proud to announce another partnership, this time with the UK’s leading independent real estate consultancy Knight Frank. Kamma will be working closely with Knight Frank to helping the firm stay on top of its compliance amidst changing regulations.
The growth of discretionary licensing schemes across the 408 local authorities in the UK has created a complex web of rules and regulations that landlords and agents have to follow. Earlier this year Kamma reported that as a result of the increased enforcement, the total fines for letting agents and landlords in the Greater London area have increased by more than £1 million since December last year.
As well as increased enforcement, agents are also being fined larger amounts. Last year in November the average fine for letting agents was £4,490, a year later Kamma has reported an increase of around 5%, taking the average agent fine to £4,695. Complying with licensing regulations is an ongoing burden that agents must deal with to avoid fines. This partnership marks a landmark step forward in Kamma’s ambition to solve property licensing for all letting agents, removing complexity, and freeing up time to focus on core business.
In 2023 Knights Frank agents will benefit from access to Kamma’s services including instant property licensing check. In addition to receiving email alerts on new and ever-changing legislation related to residential lettings, residential sales, COVID-19 and insurance, users in England and Wales will also be able to receive live updates about any changes to licensing regulations affecting their property portfolio. Before the integration goes live, Kamma will support Knight Frank with more high level overviews and compliance sweeps.
This innovative partnership has come about to remove complexity from letting agents’ and property professionals’ daily lives and to provide their business with new ways to stand out from the competition. The partnership between Kamma and Knight Frank will allow Knight Frank to continue to build out its internal compliance system with the support of Kamma’s data and expertise. As Kamma’s CEO Orla Shields says: “We are excited to announce this fantastic partnership with Knight Frank which will enable their users to stay compliant with changing licensing regulations much more easily and free themselves up to focus on their core business practices.”
Peter Panayi, Commercial Director at Kamma continues, “It has been a pleasure working together with the team at Knight Frank, in particular with Beverley Kennard, Head of Lettings Operations, who has played a core role in getting this partnership off the ground. We are very grateful to be working with such market leaders like Knight Frank and be able to work together to find innovative solutions to the problems agents and property managers face in their day to day lives.”
Beverley Kennard, Head of Lettings Operations at Knight Frank said: “We are delighted to have formed a partnership with Kamma who we believe has the leading licensing compliance platform. We look forward to working with Kamma to help our clients navigate the complex licensing schemes currently in place, alongside exploring further efficiencies and time savings for our teams.
About Knight Frank
Knight Frank LLP is the leading independent global property consultancy. Headquartered in London, Knight Frank has more than 16,000 people operating from 384 offices across 51 territories. The Group advises clients ranging from individual owners and buyers to major developers, investors and corporate tenants. For further information about the firm, please visit knightfrank.com.
