04/09/2007
Rental property agencies act on behalf of landlords, getting the best deal for them, which often means the worst deal for tenants.
When Robert Leigh spotted this obvious but usually overlooked fact he had the idea of setting up a property agency which would work on behalf of the tenant.
He began his property career in the mid-1990s, working in the residential sector where he learnt about the industry. He then moved into the commercial side and became a partner in a small agency.
I noticed there was a huge gap in the market because tenants were not being given the same treatment as landlords. I saw the opportunity for a company to provide the same service for tenants as landlords had traditionally received.
Finding office space is one of the biggest decisions that a company will make, says Mr Leigh. So it's important there is a high level of professionalism and peace of mind.
He raised £40,000 through the Government-backed Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme, to set up Devono, and repaid the borrowing in six months. The first clients came through contacts in the industry and a good website.
Our website was key to the company's early success. The commercial property industry is fairly old-fashioned, so our unique selling point was a very detailed website which clearly explained our services and how we worked. It was important that prospective clients could understand what we were offering and see that we were operating entirely on their behalf.
Clients need to know upfront about rent, rates and service charges and what the dilapidations liabilities are, and be confident that the measurement of floor areas is accurate.
It's far better for tenants to use experienced professionals who have done it all before, and have their interests in mind, than try and do it themselves.
For companies tempted to try property DIY, Mr Leigh claims it's more cost effective to engage his services. "We only need to save a client, through negotiating, £1 a square foot over the whole of the lease, or save them an additional one months rent-free period, to more than cover the costs of our fees."
Within six months Mr Leigh knew that he had a formula which worked, and three months later had moved into bigger premises in Berkeley Street, Mayfair.
A large part of Devono's marketing budget is spent on research into identifying letting opportunities before they come to the market.
The job of landlords agents is to make them pay the maximum amount of money for the space, while our job is to do just the opposite.
But if landlords know that Devono is going to be a tough negotiator, surely they avoid an agent that is representing tenants? Not so, says Mr Leigh.
Landlords agents like dealing with us because they know that we have a large number of tenants looking for property and that we will put together fair deals.
Devono's clients include large and small companies such as Toshiba, Heritable Bank, Faceparty.com and Climate Change Capital. It has doubled its turnover each year since starting out, and last year says it completed more office property acquisition deals in central London than any other commercial property agent.
Clearly, commercial tenants have found a champion in Robert Leigh, whose future goal is to be an industry leader in tenant representation of office property nationally.
And, he says, "We're well on target to achieve this."