News from Dunpark – Issue 1 – Winter 08/09

Welcome to Dunpark's inaugural e-newsletter; the first of quarterly instalments dedicated to keeping you informed of our news and wider happenings in the rental and property industry.

If a silver lining is to be found amongst the current property market woe, it is this: the rental market in our area is buoyant and is experiencing steady tenant demand. Strong demand for rental premises saw some rents increase up to 15% in 2008. However as the wider recession begins to bite tenants seek increasingly high standards of accommodation so landlords with quality accommodation are likely to experience high levels of demand and occupancy despite the economic downturn. The average length of tenancy is lengthening as buying property is not an option for many tenants which bodes well for established landlords. Dunpark's results show our current performance. ftert

If you have any concerns about the impact of the credit crunch on your property, I urge you to get in touch with us because property is our passion and we put your best interests at the heart of our business.

A home for Dunpark

It is more than a year since Dunpark moved to our prestigious on-street premises at 1 Abercromby Place, and with this milestone move has come continuing growth.

Dunpark now manages more than £90 million worth of residential rental property and advises hundreds of landlords, and buy-to-let investors locally and worldwide.

With eight large windows at street level on the corner of busy thoroughfares Dublin Street and Abercromby Place, the new Dunpark HQ is ideally placed to showcase and market your properties to maximum effect.

Historically, window display was impossible as the window area did not have a floor between the ground and the basement which hindered inside access without the use of the ladders. However, I am delighted to report this has been ingeniously rectified by engineering a glass floor supported by steel beams, which allows natural light into the building and provides access for window advertising. Our new A3 window displays, which provide excellent on-street prominence to available properties, are now fully operational and are backlit at night, for added marketing value and effect.

Photograph: 'Glass floor at final stage of installation'

Trees for Life

During 2008 you may recall I approached all landlords with an idea to 'get greener' and forgo paper mail in the future in favour of email correspondence in which case Dunpark would donate £1 per landlord to charity.

I am delighted to report most landlords enthusiastically agreed to this new policy and as a result Dunpark will donate £450 to charity 'Trees For Life' www.treesforlife.org.uk which is dedicated to regenerating and restoring The Caledonian Forest in the Scottish Highlands. This money will equate to 88 trees and our grove will be planted at Corrimony, near Inverness in spring 2009. Many thanks to all of you for your participation.

As a further step toward reducing waste from now on we will be emailing inspection notifications to tenants.

 

 

Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)

To comply with European Union legislation property let from 4th January 2009 will require an EPC. Properties already occupied by tenants will not need an EPC until tenants are replaced. As part of our service we will organise and manage this certificate for your property. We anticipate that the cost will be under £100 per property. Please contact John Fursman if you have any queries.

Getting to know us

You can find out more about Dunpark and our latest news at Dunpark.co.uk. As Dunpark continues to grow, so does Dunpark's staff which now numbers eight permanent employees. It's always useful to know which staff member deals with which part of our business so a team introduction and run down of responsibilities, phone numbers and email addresses might be useful:

Managing Director: Emma Fursman DD 0131 524 7910 emma.fursman@dunpark .co.uk Runs and develops business including dealing with new landlord enquires

Property Director: John Fursman DD 01315247911 john.fursman@dunpark.co.uk Project manages renovation of properties

Property Manager: Laura Smith - DD01315247912 laura.smith@dunpark.co.uk Oversees letting team until February 2009 when she hands over management while on maternity leave to Lhasa Doyle

Property Manager: Lhasa Doyle-DD01315247914 lhasa.doyle@dunpark.co.uk Manages the letting team from February 2009

Property Executive: Lisa Pandolfi -DD01315247913 lisa.pandolfi@dunpark.co.uk Manages tenancy applications and new landlord enquiries.

Trainee Property Executive: Alastair Watt-DD01315247918 alastair.watt@dunpark.co.uk Manages tenancy applications, tenancy renewals and safety certification

Maintenance and Property Co-ordinator: Jenna Botterill-DD01315247916 jenna.botterill@dunpark.co.uk Co-ordinates maintenance of properties and viewings

Accounts Administrator: Faith Wallace-DD 01315247915 faith.wallace@dunpark.co.uk Handles bill payments and generates client account statements

Thanks for reading our first e-newsletter; if you have any topics that you would like covered by our next instalment or on a regular basis, please let us know.