base recognised as best Lettings Office in the UK!

April saw The Estate & Letting Agent Awards, or ESTAS as they are better known, take place at Grosvenor House on Park Lane.

 A spectacular affair that saw the event in a new venue- with around 1,000 agents from up and down the UK vying to see who had delighted customers and tenants alike to win the hearts of their region and, who knows, the nation! With over 30,000 customer reviews submitted, this was the largest and most competitive ESTAS to date in their 13 year history!

 The event, as always, was hosted by TV property guru Phil Spencer (of Location, Location, Location fame amongst other shows) and saw agents big and small from across the UK attend for this spectacular occasion.

 The ESTAS is a unique industry awards ceremony (one of 3 big awards ceremonies for the industry each year) as it is the ONLY awards decided EXCLUSIVELY by comprehensive reviews completed by paying Clients and placed Tenants ONLY . Gone is the hype and outlandish claims, gone are the opinions of established industry figures- instead, awards are allocated based solely on the feedback of those that matter the most- you, the people who use our services.

 The Awards got under way quickly, with many awards to get through, and Lettings was the first big category of the day. As Phil rattled through the regional categories it wasn't long before he arrived at the London regions.....

 We were up for two awards in the London-East region category as the Best Letting Agent in BOTH the Landlord & Tenant categories. To our delight and amazement- we won both categories in quick succession with GOLD & GOLD.

 As I hopped up to the stage for the Tenant Category Gold Award, Phil Spencer couldn't help but say to the room- 'Just goes to show- you don't need to wear a suit to win awards'.....a comment that went down well with the room and our table!

 This was, already, more than we had dared hope for and we set about celebrating this amazing achievement delighted to see that our hard work, day in day out, was appreciated by Landlords & Tenants alike. Not an easy fete to achieve!

 As the event continued and agents across the UK, both large and small, strolled up to the stage to collect their hard-earned trophies for delighting Landlords, Tenants and Sellers alike, attentions slowly turned to the final awards of the day- the coveted 'Whole of UK' awards.

 The UK Awards, announced at the very end of proceedings, recognised only the Top 3 Agents from the whole of the UK (regardless of size) in each category who had achieved the highest review scores in the nation.

 There were only 3 categories as follows:

 Best UK Estate Agent (sales)

Best UK Letting Agent- for Tenants

Best UK Letting Agent- for Landlords

 As Phil read out the winning agents we were amazed to hear......

 'And the Silver Award for Best Letting Agent in the UK for Tenants goes to....base property specialists'!

 A moment of stunned silence as An and I looked at each other in disbelief before all 5 of us leapt to our feet, cheering with joy and An and I made our way to the stage to claim this amazing prize. As we headed back to our table to celebrate, little were we to know we weren't going to get to sit down for long.

 It seemed as if only seconds had passed on returning to our table when, behind us, Phil Spencer announced....

 'And the GOLD Award for Best UK Letting Agent for Landlords goes to........base property specialists'. If we were surprised before, this almost knocked An and I off our feet! We looked at our team sat around us who work so hard each and every day for our clients and Tenants alike, and soon leapt to our feet yelping with joy. Best in the UK! Wow!

 So here we are, 5 days later, and the events of Friday still seem surreal- like a dream. We had done something we hadn't even dared to contemplate. We had beaten agents from across the UK- from the smallest agents in the most remote areas to the large agents and huge corporates including the likes of Countrywide, Belvoir, Carter Jonas and The Kings Group.

 As the dust settles, our minds turn to you, our clients, who have made all of this possible. Without your support and belief, we wouldn’t be where we are today- just 12 short years (on 24th May) from An and I starting this journey. Not only has your business made this possible but your feedback, support and (of course) votes have made all of this a reality!

 Read more at The ESTAS website here: http://www.theestas.com/winners-2016/

 But don't worry- we aren't going to rest on our laurels.....here are just a few things coming in the immediate future:

 myPropertyFile- a brand new app for our Managed Tenants. This will revolutionise how Tenants access key property data as well as report and track any maintenance issues during their Tenancies with us. We have worked for around 18 months with our software partner Jupix developing this product and are now making the final adjustments before we start to roll this out across our managed portfolio. As always, this is completely FREE and simply goes to further develop and improve what we offer and how we work- embracing ‘all things digital’. Find out more here: https://baseps.mypropertyfile.co.uk/

 BRAND NEW baseps.co.uk website- although our current website was only launched in 2012, staying on top of digital evolution is key for any business and an essential part of how we operate. As such, we have been working closely with Resource Techniques, one of THE leading property website developers in Europe, over the past 12 months to develop a brand new company website. This will ensure properties are shown to their best and the website attracts maximum traffic helping us Let your properties efficiently. We are now editing and ‘beta-testing’ the new site and hope to launch it within the next month.

Office Refurb- after nearly 12 years at Garden Walk (our anniversary is on 24th May) we felt an overhaul of 'base HQ' was long overdue. As these works now enter the final stages and the finishing touches are done, we now have a fresh, modern office that will welcome in the next decade of growth and development here at base. We will be posting photos of our new office interior in early May- however, if you are nearby, please pop in and say Hi next time you are in the neighbourhood for a coffee and a chat?

 If you are NOT yet a Landlord using our services- maybe it’s about time you did? We aren’t the cheapest agents, never will be, but we are the best and we do deliver the most comprehensive, service-driven offering in the UK that delivers genuine value above and beyond any of our London competitors. Why not request a free, no-obligation property review to see how we can transform your renting experience?

 We look forward to delighting and amazing clients, both established and new alike, as we continue to evolve and improve delivering an ever-better service for our clients across the capital.