We’re Neil and Andy, the guys who started Umega.
We’ve been best buds since we were little. We grew up in Edinburgh, left home and became tenants. Like so many others we were ripped off, suffered poor service and were kept in the dark by our letting agents. We discovered landlords were receiving the same treatment so in 2007 we started Umega.
Umega abandons the historic behaviours common in our sector where customers are exploited. Our service will always improve through innovating and not accepting ‘good enough’. We’re creating an outstanding place to work and our commitment to culture and service has helped us grow from humble beginnings to now serving thousands of customers and being crowned Residential Lettings Team of the Year in 2018, 2019 & 2020 at the Scottish Home Awards.
We’re proud of our business, our team and where we've got to. As our employee and customer base has grown, so has our appetite and ability to do more. We have an opportunity and a responsibility to continue to progress and increase our impact as a sector-leading company and world-class employer and we are grabbing this opportunity with both hands.
We constantly strive to understand and deliver a better service and experience for our customers. We are disciplined in the way we work, giving us the freedom space and courage to experiment and push the boundaries.
There is no secret sauce as to why our customers trust us. It comes from being open in the way we work, communicate and show our vulnerabilities. We do not work in fear or worry about what might happen when we give over our true selves in bucket loads.
Even when we are at the top of our game, we look at how we can improve our service and our approach. We want our team to be brave, play, experiment and ultimately find better ways of doing things for our customers. We can always do more.
Our customers and employees will not be with us forever so we place a high value on the time we have with them.
For our tenants, this means working to ensure their home is their sanctuary.
For our landlords and sales clients, this means absolute confidence their property is in the best possible hands.
For our team, this means every employee will leave Umega, not just a better professional, but with a better understanding of what they want from life.
Free instant, online Rental & Sales Valuations
get a free valuationWe started from humble beginnings in an office smaller than a garage in Corstorphine what seems like several lifetimes ago. We’ve steadily grown Umega since then earning a reputation as one of Scotland’s leading property agencies.
Here are some of the key points in the Umega story so far:
We started work on the Best Companies framework to measure ourselves against the top companies in the UK.
We launched Umega’s Property Sales estate agency service.
We were awarded Letting Team of the Year for the 3rd year running at the Scottish Home Awards
We switched to remote working and adapted our services in response to the COVID pandemic.
Became the highest rated letting agent in the UK on Google
Crowned Residential Letting Team of the Year at the Scottish Home Awards for 2nd year running
Opened our new Quartermile Headquarters
Reach 1,000 properties under management milestone
Won Letting team of the year at the Herald Property Awards
We were awarded Residential Letting Team of the Year for the first time at the Scottish Home Awards.
Letting Agent Registration Commences in Scotland
PRT (Private Rented Tenancy) launched in Scotland
Became Investors in People Silver Accredited
Umega Quartermile opens for business
Launch Staff Property Fund - a world first!
Become a B Corp Accredited business using business as a force for good - the first accredited private company in Scotland
We improved our service offering by hiring our first in-house maintenance technician.
We joined ARLA Propertymark and became voluntarily regulated. This helped support higher standards and cleaning up of the letting sector. We also joined the Safe Agent campaign and The Property Ombudsman in the same year.
Earned Investors in People and Investors in Young People accreditations
Scottish Government introduces compulsory Tenancy Deposit Scheme
After a year in Bruntsfield, we moved to a new head office on Marchmont Road that we called home for the next 10 years!
We moved to a new Bruntsfield office on the corner of Viewforth and Gilmore Place and we hired our first employee.
We changed name from Links Property Management to Umega Lettings. Umega was born!
Landlord Register introduced in Scotland
Links Property Management is born in Corstorphine. We shared a desk phone that was also a fax machine! The old office is now a hairdresser.
So there you have it. That’s how we got here with a lot of help from our friends, customers and team mates.
Excitingly, it feels like we and Umega are at the start of our journey. Umega can be so much better and so much more than it is today and there is a clear need for what we do.
We’ll continue to improve and meet new people, growing the Umega family as we go.
There’s nothing else we’d rather do.