A North Staffordshire estate and lettings agency has doubled the number of rental homes it manages to 300 – bucking the national trend.
Under the guidance of property expert and entrepreneur Ramona Hirschi, Belvoir Stoke-on-Trent, Biddulph and Leek is increasing its portfolio across the area.
Nationally, the housing market has been hit by landlords leaving the market due to increased regulation and economic pressures.
But expertise and ongoing staff training has helped Belvoir increase it properties and, subsequently, expand its workforce.
When Ramona took on the Belvoir franchise for Stoke-on-Trent, Biddulph and Leek in 2017 it had 150 fully managed properties on their books and has consistently increased that number year on year.
Based in Albion Street, Hanley, the franchise now has a staff of nine – an increase of six, in seven years.
Ramona said: “We now have 300 homes under full management, and I believe that’s largely down to our strong reputation amongst landlords.
“Our lettings team are experts, and we continually add to our knowledge with all staff undergoing training.”
The most recent training success saw Charlie Bowron, pictured above, gain her PropertyMark Level 3 qualification in lettings and property management.
PropertyMark states that letting agents and property managers have to navigate more than 160 separate laws in safely managing tenancies and contracts, so knowledge is vital to our work.
Ramona added: “We invest in our team. In property management there are no compulsory qualifications, but I am a firm believer in lifelong learning and everyone in our team is encouraged to go through training as we continually look to improve performance.
“In turn, this pays off as we have loyal customers and these become advocates, recommending us to other landlords. Our customer retention rate is extremely high.”
A fully managed lettings service is one where the agent is responsible for all aspects of the tenancy on behalf of the landlord.
This includes advertising the property, finding suitable tenants, carrying out credit and reference checks, preparing tenancy agreements, collecting rent and security deposits, handling all tenant communications, dealing with any maintenance needs and ensuring the landlords’ safety and compliance obligations are all up to date.
