When Toby Carrington made the decision to move from Brighton to Cuckfield with his wife Alison there were no rural specific letting agents available.
This thought stayed with him for many years and resulted in him starting Village Letts, a new letting agency specialising purely in the letting of residential and commercial property in villages, hamlets and market towns. Village Letts allows those looking to rent a property in one of the many villages, hamlets or market towns in Sussex see what they have to offer in terms of the schools, bus and train links, local pubs, dog walks and so on via a comprehensive website.
“The information we wanted when we moved was down to ourselves to find out,” Toby explained. “We were lucky as my wife Alison grew up in the neighbouring village of Balcombe, but for those who don’t know the areas, finding out more about the villages they are interested in can take up a lot of precious time. We hope to reduce that by supplying as much information on the villages as we can.” Toby has been in the sales and letting industry for 30 years and lectures in Housing Law and Regulations to both landlords and agents all over England and Wales. Toby’s expertise has led to some high profile appointments. He was interviewed by Kate Falkner, one of the country’s leading independent property experts, on repairing obligations in letting. And he trained the two deputy mayors under Boris Johnson, the course that all landlords and agents have to take if they want to work with the London local authorities. He is currently part of a team training landlords and agents in Wales for the National Assembly under the Rent Smart Wales Scheme, so he certainly knows the business of letting inside and out. “I understand what it is like to be a landlord,” Toby continued. “I am one myself. I also know the importance of getting it right, which is why we not only credit check every tenant but we insure all of our rents throughout the term of the tenancy for free.”
Toby has had the idea of starting a rural specific letting agency for some time, but since he launched the company in May he tells us they have gone from strength to strength adding new villages as they go.
“It’s been really amazing how the business has taken of, as well as being very interesting and good fun doing the research for the website. You find ourself driving through a village or hamlet and suddenly you’re saying to yourself ‘I could live here’, and I think that’s how it starts for a lot of people when they realise they want that village lifestyle.”
Village Letts is obviously into the village scene and looks to promote activities and businesses on their site. Toby explained: “We love the idea of villages telling us about what’s on, the history and encourage their involvement. We will happily publish their photos and write ups. We have listed a number of villages so far, including Cuckfield, and are expanding on it on a daily basis. We also want businesses to send in information about themselves and they’ll get listed for free, but obviously we are also looking for landlords. I hope that any landlords reading this will understand what we are trying to achieve, like what we are doing and want to use us.”
If you are looking to rent out your property or are looking for a property to rent, then you can contact Toby on 01444 677776 or by email info@villageletts.com
If you are just interested in looking at the different villages listed so far and what they have to offer, then check out the website www.villageletts.com. You can also follow Village Letts on Twitter @Village_Letts and on Facebook too.