Leading letting agent Martin & Co opens in Macclesfield

There’s great news in store for landlords and tenants in Macclesfield as the latest office of Martin & Co – the UK’s largest and fastest-growing network of specialist letting agents opens its doors on 4th June.

The new Martin & Co franchise – located at 21 Church Street in refurbished premises is owned and managed by husband and wife team – Michael and Margaret Clark.

No strangers to running their own business Michael and Margaret have worked together for the last 25 years. Michael a Building Engineer is a Director of a new build and property development company and Margaret has worked with him to grow this business.

No strangers to property, Michael originally looked at moving into estate agency but saw the changes in the housing market and researched lettings to discover this was bucking the current downward trend of the property sector as a whole.

“Selecting Martin & Co was the easy bit!” commented Michael. “We wanted to continue being in control of our futures and in charge of our own financial destinies. We have seen Martin & Co grow as a brand and felt that buying into a proven franchise model would give us the specialist support we needed to run our own lettings business,” he added. “We are both looking forward to the challenges this will bring.”

During the summer months the Clark’s will be joined by their son Alexander a Business Studies graduate – so it really will be a family affair.

As a team we aim to deliver the most professional lettings and property management service in the area and endorse the award winning customer service Martin & Co is known for.

A choice of service levels is available to suit individual landlord requirements – ranging from tenant-find, to a fully managed service, A range of additional specialist information and advice is also offered, including advice on buy-to-let, credit-referencing of prospective tenants, and insurance products.

Both Michael and Margaret are confident about the prospects for the lettings market in the area, as the trend continues to swing from property ownership towards lettings. “With all the difficulties being experienced in the housing market, demand is clearly on the increase.”

So, all in all, it looks like an open and shut case for getting down to Martin & Co right away!

Contact:
For further information about Martin & Co nationally please contact Marketing Manager Jayne Codling 01202 405543 or email jayne.codling@martinco.com

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New Owner for Award-Winning Letting Agency in Tunbridge Wells

The UK’s largest dedicated letting agency , Martin & Co, has just announced a new franchisee at the helm of its Tunbridge Wells office – with new offices opening in early July in Vale Road just off the High Street.

David Rogers has many years experience in running an effective lettings operations and property developments in the South East. As a landlord himself, David also highly aware of the issues landlords face. “The Martin & Co franchise is precisely the right vehicle for me to deliver the level of service I would expect to receive myself. Indeed, the exceptional training, systems and support the company provides gives me a flying head start, combined with a large portfolio of existing managed properties”, he said.

“Martin & Co has won numerous awards for customer service and success in lettings recently. This platform, combined with the fact that my wife Jackie will also be involved in the business, means that we expect to forge strong and enjoyable relationships with our valued clients, as we deliver a personal, accountable and effective way of letting and managing property investments for amateur and professional landlords alike.

“Landlords and tenants alike can be assured of our comprehensive transparency, integrity, fairness, reliability and professionalism – ideals which form the very core of our approach to business.

“Landlords seeking advice about anything from avoiding vacant periods, to tenancy deposit schemes, protected rents, insurance, Energy Performance Certificates, lease agreements, maximising returns, etc are most welcome to contact me personally on 012345678 and I promise you will receive straight-talking, good advice every time” continued David.

Contact:
For further information about Martin & Co nationally please contact Marketing Manager Jayne Codling 01202 405543 or email jayne.codling@martinco.com

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Meet the team of Chelmsford

Stephen Frost FARLA
Principal
Born in Chelmsford in 1971, Stephen is married with 3 Children and currently lives in Leigh on Sea.
Stephen has always been in finance services and Customer services. He has spent the last 12 years working for various different letting agencies across Essex with each move being an upwards career progression. He was an Area Sales Manager for a large corporate Letting Agent for 5 years and most recently was a Regional Operations Director for Martin & Co, a role which involved overseeing of 37 Martin & Co offices and the training and business development of each office. Stephen took over the franchise in October 2008.

In his spare time Stephen can be found running the local Cub Scout group and is an active member of his parish Church. Hobbies include football, walking his Labradoodle.



Graham Bell
Senior Lettings Negotiator

Graham Joined the team after spending the past 9 years in the industry most recently working for another well respected franchised letting agent.
Graham said “I am delighted to be part of the Martin & Co team. This is a great opportunity for me joining at a time of expansion. The company has established a superb name and reputation across Chelmsford and I am looking forward to contributing to the success of the branch.”

Graham’s hobbies include football, live music and travel.



Rea French
Lettings Negotiator

Rea joined the team in February as Negotiator and has been busy letting lots of property. Since leaving school Rea has worked in various Customer Service positions and always strives to succeed to the best of her ability.

Rea said she was attracted to the position as it gave ideal opportunity to develop her selling skills. Rea has a twin sister also working in lettings so there is a good sibling rivalry in Duke Street.

Hobbies include her family and dog Bella, exercise and chocolate!




Nina Kaszina
Lettings Coordinator/Property Management Asst

Nina joined the team at the beginning of June as part of the continued growth of the business. Whilst studying for her degree for the past 3 years she worked for an award winning Hertfordshire ARLA licensed letting agency and brings to the Team a wealth of knowledge and a depth of excellent customer service skills.

Nina said that she was attracted to the role because of the passion and belief there is for the brand and the excellent training offered from the Martin & Co Training Academy.

Hobbies include gym, drama, Theatre and cocktails!

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No change to gas safety duties for landlords when gas safe register takes over

Gas Safe Register, the new gas safety body replacing the CORGI gas register in Great Britain on 1 April. Only Gas Safe registered engineers will be authorised to carry out this work from the beginning of April.

If you let a property, you must make sure that pipe work, appliances and flues provided for tenants and customers are maintained in a safe condition and you need to have an annual gas safety check.

Franchise owner Stephen Frost from Martin & Co Chelmsford commented “Landlords have a legal duty to keep tenants and customers safe by making sure the gas appliances in properties are suitably maintained. As part of the fully managed service we offer, we can arrange for this to be carried out by one of our approved Gas Safe registered engineers on behalf of the landlord.

Franchise owner Stephen added, “Landlords and tenants should never attempt to install or repair a gas appliance themselves. This is breaking the law and puts lives at risk.”

“Our tenants and customers safety is a top priority for us at Martin & Co Chelmsford.

We will ensure that any gas safety record provided to our clients from 1st April 2009 will only be produced by engineers approved and listed on the Gas Safe Register.

For more information please visit http://martinco.com

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Martin & Co Aldershot Celebrate Start

“Ahead of target” are three words that any business likes to hear, but to be comfortably ahead of your targets less than a year on from signing your franchise agreement, as with Martin & Co’s Aldershot office, is an impressive achievement. In their first six months of trading the business was comfortably ahead of targets by £8,000, had employed their first member of staff and had helped 60 tenants move in!

The opening year has been hard work but worth it according to franchise owner Richard Oldaker, “James and I have both worked flat out this year to make sure that our business is successfully established and are looking forward to reaping the rewards in the future. We aim to stick to the business plan we built with Martin & Co, we will always keep a very close rein on costs (always easier when it’s your own money), year 2 should see us earning closer to the sort of money we were used to and year three should take us into unchartered territory.”

Fellow franchise owner and colleague James Wiggins admits that despite both he and Richard having a background in sales they have still learnt a lot in their first year. “The big learning curve for us has been the running of the business side of things as this has been completely new to us. Fortunately, the support we have received from Martin & Co (particularly in the build up towards launch) has been great and they have pointed us in the right direction when it has come to getting finance in place and making sure we launched on time. The other thing that has been really exciting for us has been being able to start a fresh and be building a solid reputation within our area.”

On owning their own business, both felt that they had made the right decision with Martin & Co. “Coming in to work every day you get the feeling that you are creating something which is great, best of all it belongs to you.” James comments. For Richard it is the independence that he enjoys most “For me being in control of my own destiny is great, not having to bow down to corporate regional managers or a managing director’s decisions is nice. Especially as I always felt I could have done a better job than some of my old bosses anyway!” So far the friends and colleagues have enjoyed their working relationship adds Richard “We always make sure our decisions are made jointly and we haven’t had a falling out yet, so let’s hope it stays that way!”

Richard strongly recommends the franchise route to anyone looking to own their own business. “James and I were confident about getting the business off the ground having turned around flagging estate agencies in the past; however we weren’t confident with all the things involved with getting to the point of opening the doors. The funding, shop fit, business plans, legalities of lettings , software systems, accounts, joining the Ombudsman and NALS, the list is never ending. We were guided through the process and have had continued support since launching from our operations director, who always pushes us to do more and more business!”


Contact:
James Wiggins & Richard Oldaker – 01252 311974, richard.oldaker@martinco.com & james.wiggins@martinco.com

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