Insider view: Jonathan Gordon of Leith-based Clan Gordon Letting Agents

How did you get started? I’m a chartered surveyor, but I was working in corporate sales while Andrew worked for Scottish Widows for 25 years.

Originally, we were just looking for suitable properties which we could buy and renovate together to sell. Because we were doing that and spending time together, and chatting about wanting a new challenge, starting our own rental company seemed to fit both our interests and skills.

From the very beginning we tended to only win the properties where the landlord really wanted to look after the property and present a good-quality flat, because having rented out flats ourselves we felt that tenants deserved the best in terms of safety and finish.

Leith, where the company is seeing strong demand for good flats

What would you say was your company ethos? It is a meticulous service and a good quality of product to tenants. If you start with a good flat, and owners understand that work may well be needed, if you stick to that you will automatically end up with tenants who look after the property better.

We can’t affect the market, but we can look after properties and look after tenants and that is the only way to success in the lettings industry.

Quite a lot of agents have given up over the last few years, with all the legislation that has come in to govern the industry, but we were already carrying out all the work that is now a legal requirement.

There are still stories of landlords not doing the right thing, trying to avoid having to have a private residential tenancy – Airbnb companies trying to do medium-term lets, for instance, to avoid the paperwork.

But as a chartered surveyor I worked with the RICS [Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors], giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament on how to improve standards.

What started out as a code of practice was tightened to include training for owners and managers of letting agencies, protection for clients’ money and indemnity insurance.

I advised on various areas of the legislation, such as smoke alarm guidance and electrical checks, to increase safety for tenants.

What is your average day like? Post-Covid, my work-life balance is better. It was a fairly simple transition to move the staff to working from home and I’ve never really returned.

Before, when Andrew and I were working in the office, our roles were less defined and it was easy to accidentally get involved in the day-to-day managing of properties, but now our roles are more about overseeing the work that the staff do.

We have a new level of management so it has become a very well-structured team working from home and the office. It seems to have improved people’s happiness – avoiding busy commutes and working a lot more flexibly.

What are the factors that affect the success of the industry? We haven’t really experienced any times when it has been difficult to rent out a property in the city. Those who are moving out of the city now tend to be buying, and rental is a younger clientele.

The real hike in rents at the moment is caused by a backlog in those young people who would have moved out of their parental homes in the last couple of years, but delayed because they didn’t know what was going to happen.

And there is a continual shortage of student accommodation too, despite all the new student blocks.

All sorts of properties are attracting 20 or 30 viewers. A bungalow in Corstorphine, which is not a typical rental, recently had seven or eight people who wanted to rent it. For any decent flat in Leith, for example, we struggle to accommodate the numbers who want to see it.

Where do you live? In North Berwick, in a new-build detached house which we bought four years ago.

Does your job affect your social life? Working from home has lots of benefits – I can walk on the beach or have a game of golf on a Friday afternoon. I spend a lot of time with the children and my wife, so my social life is around the kids and the neighbours.

Where do you find your staff? We have used recruitment agencies in the past but it is such a small group of people in Edinburgh with experience that it is a struggle to find them, so we have had more success training our own people.

We try to recruit staff before we need them – you can start in an administration role and move to being a property manager after completing ARLA training.

They don’t have to be graduates – we are looking for excellent administration skills and experience in customer service.

You can learn on the job – we are probably the only letting agents who put all our staff through ARLA Propertymark registration.

And existing staff will pass on their expertise in each part of the business through weekly training sessions with their newer colleagues.

What is the future for the company? We hope to keep growing organically – we lose very few landlords once they have let through us, and the ones who do leave tend to be selling or moving back into their properties themselves, rather than switching to another agent.

The aim is to grow by 70 or so properties a year so that we can provide promotion opportunities for our current staff and bring in new employees.

Life file

Born and raised In Edinburgh.

Education Currie High School then Aberdeen University for agricultural economics, and a land economy course to become a chartered surveyor.

Family Married to Jenny with two boys aged seven and nine.

First job I worked in a pub at uni and on a farm during the holidays.

CV My first post after university was for the Scottish Agricultural College in auditing, then a post carrying out potato and nematode inspections for the Scottish Government.

First home A one-bedroom flat in Perth which I rented out when I then went to Australia for a year’s working holiday.

Plans for retirement We aim to keep building up Clan Gordon Lettings to a point where we can retire, but I can’t imagine my brother and I would want to sell out as we feel such a big responsibility for the staff.

Personal motto Be professional, don’t cut corners and uphold high standards.