Home comforts in rental world

As demand for places to rent continues to rise, Sarah Devine finds out how an Edinburgh property firm keeps tenants and landlords happy

Edinburgh’s lettings sector has thrived in recent years and that trend looks set to continue during the months ahead. Braemore Sales & Lettings is being approached by a record number of tenants and with more than 25 years’ experience, as well as a 360-degree approach to property management, it comes as no surprise to the Braemore team.

“In the last four years, maybe even five years, it’s really been a landlords’ market which effectively means that rents are good and the standard of tenants is also very high,” says Callum Macgregor, Braemore’s director of new business.

“I can’t see any reason why it is not going to continue like that in the next year. We are absolutely inundated with tenancy requests so we are needing to take on more landlords to meet that demand.

“For every property we put on the market we’ve got maybe ten applicants looking for that property, so it means you can really home in on the best tenants that the clients want.”

With an 85-strong team, Braemore manages 2,700 properties across Edinburgh and the Lothians.

Every week the lettings agency is receiving between 800 and 1,000 tenancy requests on average.

“There are a lot of investors coming into Edinburgh and certainly over the last year or so, we have had quite a few inquiries and have helped a lot of investors to source the right property,” says Macgregor.

The reason so many investors are looking at the Capital is, according to Macgregor, all down to the city’s town-like feel and its great value properties.

“You can go to somewhere like Gorgie or Dalry where you’ll pick up slightly cheaper properties, so you’ll get quite a good yield on them meaning a high return on rent.

“If it’s a long-term investment where you are looking to make a capital growth on the property then places like Morningside, the West End and Stockbridge have historically been really, really strong.

“For tenants, Edinburgh is so small that it feels less like a city and more like a town, so at places like Gorgie, we get a lot of young professionals looking there because they can walk to the West End in 10 to 15 minutes, which is great for their work.”

Similarly, many locations across the region are also close to shopping or nights out thanks to Edinburgh’s first-rate transport links.

Wherever the property, landlords can be sure that Braemore will carry out an all-round and comprehensive property management service.

The team can help with a landlord’s finance, source the right property, carry out any refurbishments that the property may require and can then find Callum Macgregor is director of new business at Braemore which has offices in Morningside and the West End of Edinburgh. the best-suited tenants for that property.

“We deal with the property management whether that’s a full management service where landlord gives us the keys and says ‘deal with it, I don’t want to know’ or a let only service, which is basically a tenant-find only service where we still do all the same reference checks.”

Braemore works to the ARLA Propertymark standards which protect and guide consumers, helping tenants and landlords to find and manage their homes.

“Being an ARLA Propertymark firm means we are meeting higher standards than the law demands and further shows our dedication to ensure that all our properties are managed in the most professional way possible,” says Macgregor.

Braemore offers a personal service and landlords are therefore designated their own property manager.

“The property managers are key in the relationship so they do the initial inventory before the tenant moves in, they carry out the inspections during the tenancy and they do the final inspection once they vacate,” says Macgregor.

“They are also the point of contact for the tenant as well.”

The vast majority of Braemore’s tenants are young professionals, but the company also caters for 18-yearold students right through to those who are retired, which Macgregor believes is a reflection of Braemore’s varied portfolio.

“We manage everything from studio apartments to fivebedroomed executive lets and absolutely everything in between.

“However, what makes us different is our time to let, so securing tenants quickly is what we specialise in.

“We receive statistics on how quickly the property rents out, and we are ahead of the average.”

A strict rent-affordability calculator and full credit checks mean that securing a tenancy for a property at a quick pace does not reduce the quality of the tenant.

As well as providing services for a large number of first-time landlords, Macgregor says it has never been easier for existing landlords to switch from their current agency.

“All they need to do is email their agency to confirm their intentions to move management of the property over to Braemore, and we will do the rest.

“There’s no change to the tenancy so the tenant doesn’t see a change other than the bank account they pay into.”

Having incorporated 11 smaller agencies over the years, Braemore has retained the best aspects of each one, which has added to the standard of service it provides.

It’s that high-quality personal service offered by Macgregor and his team that remains at the heart of Braemore’s success.

“Although we are one of Edinburgh’s biggest agencies, we are very keen to offer the personal oneto-one contact with our landlords.

“They can pick up the phone and get through to their single point of contact at any stage.

“At Braemore, you’ve got that one person who gets to know everything about that landlord’s property and the tenancy.” n