A LETTINGS agency started by two entrepreneurs who were sharing an office has expanded so quickly it has been forced to find new premises itself.

Lets Manage was the brainchild of builder Andy King and Susan Edwards, who runs the Virtual PA business, who realised their complementary skills would work well together in a new business.

The business, now based in the Arch Enterprise Centre in Ashington, has a portfolio of more than 100 properties it manages in Newcastle and Northumberland.

Mr King said: “Our unique selling point is that we combine in-house building management, debt collection services and property letting management to offer our clients total peace of mind. The new offices mean we are able to reduce our overheads so we can give even better value for money.”

With his experience as a builder, he carries out monthly external and quarterly internal inspections of all his properties and can act on faults immediately because of his own building maintenance skills.

“That’s the real advantage that we have over some agencies which have to outsource building maintenance. When something goes wrong we can act straight away,” he said.

“Last year during the heavy snow, none of our tenants had to suffer from broken gutters as our team sorted it out before the weight of the snow became a problem. This meant that our landlords had no hassle with insurance companies or angry tenants.”

The business also offers a tenant finding and management service, including debt collection.