An agency built the way we’d want one run

What we think is wrong with the industry

Three things, mostly, and they run through sales and lettings alike. Fees that are impossible to compare because nobody publishes them. Contractor mark-ups quietly added to repair invoices. And the habit of over-valuing at pitch stage to win the instruction, then spending six weeks reducing the price while the property sits.

The last one is worse in Scotland than most sellers realise, because the Home Report puts a surveyor’s valuation in front of every buyer before they view. An agent who wins the instruction on a flattering number has simply moved the disappointment three weeks down the line, into a document they do not control.

None of those are hard problems. They persist because they are profitable and because clients rarely find out. So we publish our fees, all of them, including the ones for work outside the monthly service. We pass contractor invoices through exactly as issued. And we value on what comparable property sold or let for, including the comparables that argue against us.

How we’re regulated

Letting agency work in Scotland is a regulated activity. Since 31 January 2018 it has been a criminal offence to carry out letting agency work without being on the Scottish Letting Agent Register, punishable by a fine of up to £50,000, six months’ imprisonment, or both.

Estate agency work sits under a different regime. The Estate Agents (Redress Scheme) Order 2008 requires anyone doing it to belong to an approved redress scheme and to say which one, so a complaint we cannot resolve has somewhere independent to go. Ours is The Property Ombudsman, membership T14765-0. It covers sale, letting and management, so it is a route for a tenant as much as a seller.

Anti-money-laundering law applies to the sales side too. Estate agency work is a supervised sector under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, and we are registered for supervision with HM Revenue & Customs, registration number XFML00000223710. Registration has to be in place before the work starts, not after, and it is publicly checkable.

In practice that means we verify who we act for before we market a property, and a buyer will be asked to evidence where their funds came from before a sale concludes. An agency that skips that is not doing you a favour.

You can verify any Scottish letting agent’s registration on the Scottish Government’s register.

How we work

• Published pricing, identical for every client, whether you are selling, letting or buying to invest. We don't negotiate secret rates.
• Valuations based on comparable sales and lets, including the ones that argue against us.
• Sale prices set against what the Home Report is likely to say, because that is the number a buyer's lender will lend against.
• Contractor invoices passed through at cost, with the invoice attached.
• Compliance checked before marketing, not after a tenant complains.
• A named person on every property who knows it.
• Every fee published before you instruct. The rate you sign is the rate you pay, and no charge appears later that was not on the page.