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BRETT Butcher was a land-lord himself but found thelettings agencies he dealtwith were not up to scratch.

“They didn’t hand overrents on time; they were slowchasing people in arrears anddealing with maintenanceproblems. I just thought‘There has got to be a betterway’.”

So last year, the Rolls-Roycetrained engineer teamed upwith Pat Gibas, an estab-lished and experienced let-tings agent in Derby tolaunch my-let Derby, a revolu-tionary, quick response com-pany.

my-let uses the best of bothworlds – agents on the groundto liaise with landlords andtenants directly while simul-taneously operating a hi-tech,fast response, bespoke onlineservice, created by Brett him-self.

Brett’s computer expertisegoes back to the early 80swhen he was a founder ofDatapath, producing low-costcolour graphics systems forcomputers.

He went on to become Vice-President of Technology atElectronic Arts, which pro-duces computer games.

The program he has de-veloped with his team is afully automated, super-effi-cient system. He explained:“It starts with the local agent,of course, a real person look-ing after the landlord’s prop-erty and liaising with him orher directly.

“All landlords have ouragents’ direct mobile number

and are in regular contact.“But it goes deeper than

that because our system al-lows both landlords and ten-ants to log on themselves andget an instant update on whatis happening with their prop-erty.

“Rents are automaticallypaid on the day they arrive.There’s no waiting till the endof the month.

“Clients can leave and pickup messages, if they wish.They can check on mainten-ance issues, whether a repairhas been sent out to a con-tractor, when it is due, if hehas been paid, etc.

“All the contractor in-voicing and payment is doneautomatically, too. If the land-lord’s agent is happy with arepair, he simply approves itand the payment is made.

“Landlords can sit at thecomputer at midnight if theywant and get a statement,showing the status of theiraccounts, what payments

have come in and gone out.All the information they needis at their fingertips. Theydon’t have to wait forsomeone in the office to getback to them when they feellike it.

“Of course, you don’t haveto use the internet to workwith my-let. But the system’spresence allows the agents to

be much more efficient andgives them more time to workclosely with client landlordsand tenants.

“Another example of howwe use technology to improveefficiency is our To-Letboards. All our boards out-side properties have a uniquenumber on them. People cantext the board number intoour system and instantly getbasic details about the prop-erty – how big it is, how manybedrooms, how much the rentis.

“Prospective tenants canmake enquiries by phone,text or e-mail. Their messagesare picked up and followed upimmediately by the my-letagent dealing with the prop-erty they are interested in.

“They will then get a call toarrange a viewing.

my-let was conceived from

the start as a franchise modeland, a year on from launchingthe company, Brett hasteamed up with Tom Wysockiin West Hallam to open asecond branch office cateringfor Derbyshire East clientsand is in discussion with an-

other partner to open a third,covering Derbyshire Northup to Sheffield.

“Tom has just completedhis lettings exams and is rar-

ing to go. He’s a great guy,very practical and know-ledgeable about the area. He’salready building up a goodclient base,” , said Brett.

Brett is determined that allthe my-let agents should befully trained, passing theARLA Technical Award inResidential Letting and Prop-erty Management. He, him-self, was named Student ofthe Year after passing the ex-am last year.

He said: “ All our agentshave to have the qualifica-tions which meet Associationof Residential LettingsAgency (ARLA) standards.

“I also believe it is essentialthat there is an end to thesharp practices of certain let-tings agents, such as smallprint termination tie-inclauses, maximising clientaccount interest by payingrents only weekly or monthlyand other such examples.”

He added: “We also protectall our clients’ moneythrough the ARLA ClientMoney Protection Scheme.

“And we cut out the hiddencommissions that a lot ofagencies charge for contractwork – for instance, the an-nual gas certificate checks.

The average price is £60-£70but many agents tag on £10 forcommission.”

“The efficiency and cost-effectiveness of my-let’s sys-tems enables the company tokeep its charges down.” Brettsays.

my-let provides a fully man-aged service for just £30 amonth plus VAT. For findingand checking the credentialsof a tenant, the companycharges £199.

“Most agencies need to em-ploy at least one agent per 60properties. That is the norm.Because our online systemhandles so much of the work,we are able to manage over100 properties each. It meanswe can pass that saving on tothe client,” said Brett.

Someone sold on the suc-cess of My-Let’s hi-tech ap-proach is millionaire prop-erty developer Don Prime,who is an enthusiastic client.We contacted him and hesaid: “I have used many let-ting agents in Derbyshireover the last 35 years and,without doubt, my-let hasbeen the best of these in thefour most important areas offinding the tenants, man-aging them, controlling andchasing the income and or-ganising repairs.”

Said Brett: “Don is prob-ably our most high profilecustomer.

“Our system does tend to beuseful for bigger landlords,people with more than fiveproperties, who are hackedoff with the inefficiency of alot of agencies. But we do havea lot of individuals too.”

For more informationabout my-let, go to: my-let.com or call 0333 456 0070.

Quick responselettings agencyoffers tenantsand landlords abetter way...

BRETT BUTCHER

Brett Butcher, right, receiving the Association of Residental Lettings Agencies Student of the Year award last year afterstudying for the technical award in Residential and Property Management.

12 PROPERTY TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2011 DERBY TELEGRAPH DET-E01-S3 DET

“I have used many lettingagents in Derbyshire over thelast 35 years and my-let hasbeen the best...”DON PRIME

Pat Gibas, who helped launched my-let last year. Tom Wysocki who has taken on the West Hallam franchise.

“I was a landlord myself andfound the lettings agencies Idealt with were just not up toscratch.”

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Derby property developerDon Prime.