We are Umega
A bit more about us
We’re Neil and Andy, the guys behind Umega Lettings. We’ve been best buds since we were wee. We grew up in Edinburgh, left home and became tenants.
Like many other tenants at that time, we were ripped off, suffered poor service and were deliberately kept in the dark by our letting agents. We discovered landlords were receiving the same treatment. 12 years ago we started Umega Lettings.
Why? Landlords and tenants want transparency, responsiveness and security. We provide this and we don’t take ourselves too seriously. Umega is smashing negative stereotypes of stuffy and exploitative letting agents and we’re extremely proud of that.
Our service will always improve through innovating and not accepting ‘good enough’. We will create an outstanding place to work and we will always strive to be not just the best letting agency in the country but the best small business and employer. Our commitment to culture and service has helped us grow from humble beginnings to serve thousands of landlords and tenants and to be crowned Residential Letting Team of the Year at the 2018 Scottish Home Awards AND the Herald Property Awards for Scotland...... and we're just getting started.
Our Values
Our values are central to everything we are and everything we do at Umega. We live and breath these every day.
Open
Our philosophy at Umega Lettings is one of openness. Our landlords and tenants deserve to be treated fairly and openly; it’s just the right thing to do. We try to make the whole renting process as clear and straightforward as possible, determined to do the right thing and treat everyone fairly, just as we’d want to be treated in their shoes. We’re here to make your life easier, not complicate things so we speak in plain English, avoiding all the hot air and puffery that gets blasted about our industry. We put a huge emphasis on good, honest communication and we do everything we can to make sure our team are contactable and responsive. We always communicate openly and honestly helping all parties to understand their rights and responsibilities from the start. We go above and beyond to ensure relationships between landlords and tenants remain happy and hassle free. Our pricing structure is simple and completely transparent. In the spirit of openness we actively encourage all our landlords and tenants to give us regular feedback and to share this feedback publicly. This not only gives new landlords and tenants a complete, impartial testimony of our service, but it also keeps us on our toes and lets us see where we can improve our service as we strive to set new standards in our industry.
Positive
Renting a home shouldn’t be anywhere near as full and flat as our competitors make it seem. It’s supposed to be the start of something great – a new chapter in people’s lives filled with possibility and hope for the future. We don’t lose sight of that and we genuinely want to help! We have an incredibly talented team at Umega Lettings and we’re lucky to cross paths with hundreds of landlords and tenants each year, with the opportunity to make a positive impact on their lives; so the least we can do is be helpful and make your experience as rewarding as possible. We’re here to make our landlords and tenants lives easier so do everything we can to make sure we leave a positive impact on their lives.
Playful
We do it our way. We take a fresh approach to letting and this shines through in everything we do. We’re not quirky for the sake of it; it’s about being unashamedly open and proud of the fact we see things differently to our competitors. We encourage our team to be themselves and to deal with customers in the same way as they would want to be treated and to really get to know our customers and what they really want from us. We do the right thing when nobody is watching.
Progress
We don’t accept the preconceptions in our industry and we look for opportunities to innovate and improve our service and our sector, leading the way by example. We have a very positive attitude to change and innovation and we’re always looking for ways to make our landlords and tenants lives easier by installing the right types of improvements into our service. We reflect, learn and innovate; If it’s going to make your life easier we’ll do what we can do make it happen!
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Our Story So Far
We started from humble beginnings in 2006 in a small office in Corstorphine and have grown steadily over the past 12 years to earn a reputation as one of Edinburgh’s leading letting agents, recently recognised as Scotland's Residential Team of the Year at our industry's two major award ceremonies. We work hard to constantly improve our service, never settling for what’s gone before and always investing heavily in our greatest asset, our outstanding team. Take a look at our story so far;
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September 2018
Recognised as Residential Lettings Team of the Year at The Herald Property Awards for Scotland
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June 2018
Crowned Residential Letting Team of the Year at the Scottish Home Awards
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January 2018
Letting Agent Registration is launched by Scottish Government
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December 2017
Scottish Government introduces Private Rented Tenancies to replace Short Assured Tenancies
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November 2017
Became Investors in People Silver Accredited
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January 2017
Umega Quartermile opens for business
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August 2016
Launch Staff Property Fund - a world first!
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May 2016
Become recommended letting agent for Quartermile
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December 2015
Acquire Edinburgh letting agent Edinburgh City Pads
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November 2015
Become a B Corp Accredited business using business as a force for good - the first accredited private company in Scotland
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June 2015
Umega Maintenance completes its first job
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November 2014
Joined ARLA (Association of Residential Lettings) Regulated, Safe Agent accredited and members of The Property Ombudsman
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February 2014
Acquire Edinburgh letting agent Help4Lettings
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October 2014
Earned Investors in People and Investors in Young People accreditations
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March 2011
Scottish Government introduces compulsory Tenancy Deposit Scheme
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May 2009
Move in to our Marchmont HQ
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May 2008
The start of a year spent in our old Bruntsfield office
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September 2007
Rebrand as Umega Lettings
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April 2006
Compulsory Landlord Registration comes into force in Scotland
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January 2006
Links Property Management is born in Corstorphine
So there you have it; that’s how we got to where we are today thanks to our amazing team, managing a growing portfolio, a thriving property investment service and a fantastic property maintenance and refurbishment team. Who knows what’s ahead for the Umega family. We know we can still get better with more improvements to make, more relationships to foster, more ground to break and much, much more to be proud of.
We truly believe we can set standards within lettings and property management for other agents to follow. Our industry has a huge image problem and it’s our mission to set it right, one tenancy at a time. We believe everyone deserves to be treated fairly and openly and we want our landlords and tenants to feel safe and valued; it’s just the right thing to do. We’ll continue to lead by example and set the standards for others to follow and we believe that the ripple effects of what we do will be felt throughout the Scottish Private Rented Sector so that it’s a safer, fairer place for everyone involved.