Dacres - Yorkshire's Leading Estate Agent

Dacres take top spot in awards.

Yorkshire based Dacre Son & Hartley has won a top industry accolade after being named as The Best Medium Sized Estate Agent in the North of England at the prestigious Estate Agency of the Year Awards.

The sold out event, now in its sixth year, attracted agents representing over 4,000 branches nationwide. The winners were presented with their awards by GMTV's Penny Smith at a ceremony held at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge ground.

Patrick McCutcheon, head of residential sales at Dacre, Son & Hartley, says: “The award win is a huge achievement and it reinforces our position both at the forefront of our industry and across all the disciplines we operate in including sales, lettings, surveying and financial services.”

The firm also took the Bronze award for the Best Medium Estate Agency across the whole of the UK. Patrick continued: “We have been recognised for our ability to combine the outstanding personal service typically associated with smaller firms with the wide marketing reach that our 19 office network provides - something that is more synonymous with a nationwide organisation.”

The judge’s report said: “Dacre, Son & Hartley truly is an outstanding agency. The attention to detail, for both clients and staff, from the senior partner down was palpable. They refuse to compromise on the high client care standards and ensure their clients are kept fully informed about every aspect of their property sales including market conditions.

“Working hours change regularly to suit the needs of the clients with a strong focus on cross-selling services to improve the client experience and business profitability. A clear example of a business with clear guidelines and standards with nothing left to chance.”

Peter Knight, Chairman of the event organisers Estate Agency Events added: “I hope that our record number of entries this year and the very little time it took for the event to sell out is an indicator that we may have reached the bottom of the slump. There is no doubt that 2010 will still be a challenging year for our industry and the absolute commitment to excellence that all our winners have demonstrated will be vital for the industry to return to growth and thrive in the future. I cannot commend the examples set by Dacre, Son & Hartley and the other winners highly enough.”

All the entries were subjected to rigorous scrutiny by a panel of independent industry experts and the whole judging process was overseen by the Property Ombudsman, Christopher Hamer.

The event was held in association with The Sunday Times and other sponsors included My Home Move, Mortgage Talk, ARPM, Globrix, Rightmove, Moneypenny, Dove & Hawk, The Academy, Phoenix, Reapit and leading developer, Banner Homes.