Claire Empson has won the prestigious National Landlord Association’s Property Women Awards Letting Agent 2010.
NLA Property Women Awards 2010
Claire, set up Daisylets in East Dulwich in 2007. With its distinctive branding and a purposeful approach to offer a different lettings service in and around SE22, the company has grown rapidly, mainly by word of mouth.
Daisylets set out to provide a service where the tenant feels like they are renting from a private landlord rather than getting lost in a large agency, where no one knows or cares who they are.
Claire Empson, Managing Director of Daisylets, says:
“Daisylets is a family business and we know all our landlords and tenants by name. It can be a daunting experience to put your property up for rent and give up your home to other people, especially if it has been your own family home.
“Quite rightly, most people are wary of large agencies and concerned about how their property will be treated and managed. That’s where we step in and offer guidance and reassurance. Our company ethos is “we will look after your property as if it were our own” and I think that as an agent, if you can keep that thought in your mind, you can’t go far wrong.”
Claire is dedicated to providing the best possible service to her clients; she knows what SE22 has to offer and she understands the responsibilities of the landlord and letting agent – Claire has recently passed the NFOPP Technical Award in Residential Property Management and Residential Lettings. Having lived in East Dulwich for seven years with her partner Eliot and their two young boys, she has experienced life in Dulwich as a young professional and as a mum and knows what the area has to offer her clients.
By working with her landlords to maintain good standards of repair, Claire attracts tenants who want to live in a nice place:
“Most of my landlords are ‘accidental landlords’ – people who have bought a home to live in but their job has taken them away from the area for a while.
“Daisylets tenants are often professionals wanting a base near central London or families who are looking for a larger space to live in. With the uncertainties of the property market and the real challenge that exists in having a large enough deposit and the right mortgage offer to buy a property, there is a lot of sense in opting to rent a home to live in.
“I can relate to my landlords and my tenants. We have a wide variety of flats and houses on our books, but all of them are looked after to the same high standard. We understand that our tenants want to feel as though they are living in their own home. We work hard to achieve this, because a happy tenant is more likely to come back and rent with us again as their needs change and because our landlords have the security of knowing that their property is in good hands.”
The NLA believe that despite the harsh conditions of the current property market, Claire has demonstrated a thorough knowledge of her profession and has gone above and beyond the call of duty to help her sizeable portfolio of landlords. Claire’s inspiring dedication to grow her own successful lettings business from the ground up, along with a series of glowing testimonials from her clients made her stand out from the crowd – “Claire is a breath of fresh air in the lettings industry and someone who genuinely cares about her clients.”
