1. Why did you get into the property industry?
I bought a house in my home town of Leeds with two friends when I was 21. It was supposed to be a three-year plan but they’d both moved on within a year or so and I bought both out and let out the rooms to friends. I liked the mini-business side of it and my interest has grown from there and I’ve bought a number of properties since and now also run a company managing a other people’s properties too with a collective portfolio value of circa £130m.
2. A lot of people think that there is very little difference between landlords and letting agents. What do you think?
There’s a huge difference between, and within both camps. There are some extremely good landlords who run their properties very well and in a business-like manner and are up to date with the latest regulations, pay their taxes, look after their tenants and are great ambassadors for the private rented sector. Equally there are some landlords operating under the legal radar, taking advantage of the vulnerable elements of the tenant market and are generally bad eggs. Then there’s a whole host of landlords at points in between the extremes. The same goes for letting agents too, but without too many at the low end of that spectrum. Most agents are good and are genuinely doing a good job for the clients – both landlords and tenants.
3. How does Cullen differ from its competitors?
We specialise in providing a high end personal level of service to our customers – landlords and tenants – and try and ensure that our clients feel very well looked after and know they can talk to any of the team on first name terms at any time and have their query answered efficiently. We have one of the highest ‘staff to property’ ratios of any agent in Edinburgh and this is so that we can provide the best level of service. For example, we carry out a check-in induction with each and every tenant when they first move in, lasting circa 1 – 2 hours, so that they know everything from where the rooms are to how to turn the boiler on.
We also have one of the highest levels of industry qualifications too with 80% of the office staff having passed or about to pass their ARLA (Association of Residential Letting Agents). This focus on having a highly trained and motivated team is also the reason why we have a very low staff turnover which provides continuity of contacts for both landlords and tenants alike over the longer term.
4. So, a Tory government then...is that good news?
I think so, yes. The general business community seems to have reacted well to the one party new government and the economy and housing market seems to be heading in the right direction at a manageable and sustainable pace. Labour had put a rent control policy in their manifesto and this was a 1970’s throwback idea to fix a problem that doesn’t exist anymore. It would actually have caused more damage than good to both tenants and landlords. Even the SNP, who don’t agree on many things with the Tories, thought it was a bad idea. However, both the Tory government and the Scottish Government must ensure that more new homes are built over the next five years.
So many of the issues we see in the rented sector result from a lack of supply and many of the regulations which come in to force are just further ‘rolls of red tape’ when what we really need are ‘rows of bricks’. If the supply is there then the demand can begin to pick and choose between properties, agents, landlords and rents, and subsequently the quality bar is raised for everybody to the point where the bad landlords and agents have to exit the market.
5. What do you love/hate about the property industry?
I love the variety of people and properties that it brings you into contact with. Edinburgh in particular is such a multi-cultural blend of people from all over the world; residents, tenants, landlords, students, tourists. We are also blessed with one of the prettiest cities in the world in terms of architecture, history and natural beauty of the surroundings. When dealing with property, and particularly residential property, it’s peoples’ homes and lives that you are impacting on and that has to be very carefully remembered and not taken lightly.
6. How do you see the market behaving for the rest of the year?
The buying/selling market I think will be very strong, particularly in the sub £500k market as the new Land & Building Transaction Tax has less of an impact at this level. The rental market will continue to grow though as demand continues to outstrip supply. The danger is a lack of homes being built which will ultimately lead to irrational and frenzied buying and renting and could potentially begin the process of the market becoming de-stabilized in another few years’ time again. I doubt anyone wishes to risk another credit crunch and recession partly due to irresponsible property related purchasing and lending.
