Sewell & Gardner’s Rickmansworth Lettings Team have won 6 awards at the prestigious Lettings Agency of the Year Awards in conjunction with The Times & Sunday Times newspapers

As part of the Lettings Live conference, the awards were announced by Karren Brady, currently appearing on the TV show “The Apprentice” and, of course, former Birmingham City FC Managing Director and current Vice-Chairwoman of West Ham United FC. The glittering awards ceremony was held in the opulent Nine Kings Suite at The Lancaster London Hotel where the very best agents from throughout the UK gathered to find out who had been judged to be the best of the best.

Sewell & Gardner attended the event in great anticipation with 4 members of staff shortlisted for Individual Awards and the hope of retaining the Gold Regional Award for Best Small Lettings Agency, held for the past 2 years. Nerves were running wild because the judging process is fierce and extreme scrutiny is applied to all areas of the business plus the competition is harsh with most of the big names in property vying for the trophy.

At just after 4pm the first Gold for Sewell & Gardner was announced, Best Property Management in the UK, closely followed by Gold for Best Small Lettings Agency (East of England). Then for the Individual Awards, Jon Jackson-Bass was shortlisted for Best Lettings Manager, Ben Smith for Best Lettings Negotiator, but the 2 Gold Winners: Reagan Bradley, Best Property Manager UK and Rochelle Latham, Best Lettings Negotiator UK. 4 awards so far for the Rickmansworth team and the tears were flowing…! Next up was Best Small Lettings Agency UK, and Gold again for Sewell & Gardner, what an afternoon this was turning out to be. An hour later, just before 5pm, the Overall Winner of the competition was announced to a standing ovation ‘Sewell & Gardner, Overall Winners of the Lettings Agency of the Year 2013’ an amazing feat for the Rickmansworth team, headed up by Jane Gardner, Lettings Director. The judges said that they could use a million catchphrases to sum up Sewell & Gardner – ticking all the right boxes, at the top of their game, full of blue-sky thinking – but the overriding sentiment was ‘simply the best’.

Jane Gardner, said “I was so nervous for my staff who had been shortlisted for the individual categories that I had almost forgotten about the company category awards. My heart was pounding with overwhelming excitement because I knew how much these awards would mean to the team. I was blown away for Reagan and Rochelle when they won the UK’s Best Property Manager and the UK’s Best Lettings Negotiator awards (respectively) they thoroughly deserve these titles. I constantly receive praise for their work from our customers so I really had no doubt that they would fly through the judging process. However, the team is about every one of the individuals who work at Sewell & Gardner, full & part time, putting their heart and soul into bringing my vision to life and providing outstanding customer service at every opportunity! The overall title of Lettings Agency of the Year 2013 goes to the entire Sewell & Gardner family which includes our sales & new homes teams, my business partner Alex and, of course, our brilliant customers who make this the most rewarding job I can imagine.”

The judging process was overseen by Christopher J Hamer, The Property Ombudsman, who stated, “All the agents impressed the judges and one thing became obvious, that although technology and organisation all assist in improving an agent’s approach to business, at the end of the day lettings is a people business and for a firm to prove itself better than the rest, a focus on customer service and precise, transparent and supportive treatment of tenants and landlords is what marks out a great agent.”

For further information please click here