NEW AWARD, NEW CITY

We are experiencing our share of good times at the moment as we enjoy the pleasure and pride which comes from winning an award as well as celebrating our expansion into a new city. All in all, it’s been a good few months for us here at Orchard and Shipman. 

To begin with, we were thrilled to win ‘The Sunday Times Lettings Agency of the Year Award’ for Innovation in recognition of our fantastic Letfirst model. This is our second Innovation award in a year, having received an innovation award from the Chartered Institute of Housing last year.  We are so pleased that Letfirst is receiving so much positive recognition.

The Letfirst model allows us to offer a service which guarantees rent to landlords whilst also making private lets available for tenants without the need for a deposit or rent in advance. This is a huge step forward in the world of letting, as conventional models require a deposit and rent in advance.

Letfirst has been in business for just over three years now and so far we have managed to provide homes for over 1,000 tenants in Edinburgh alone and are continuing to attract new landlords every day so we are confident that this number will keep on growing.

We have had a great response from both landlords and tenants to Letfirst. We believe, it is important to cater to both landlords and tenants and the  ability to guarantee a landlords rent on top of a professional property management service, whilst also giving a tenant relief from having to find a large sum of cash to secure a let in the first place  has created a real buzz in Edinburgh.

Such has been the success in Edinburgh that we are now excited to have opened our second branch in Glasgow.   Glasgow’s private rented market is growing at a pace so we expect Letfirst to be a welcome addition to the lettings market for both landlords and tenants. Hopefully this time next year, there will be a third award with Glasgow’s name on it!