Rettie & Co

We are absolutely delighted with the excellent advice and superb service received from the staff at Rettie & Co, Bell Street, St Andrew and in particular, George Lorrimer, Director, and Caitlin Clark, Sales Negotiator. From our first meeting to offers being received, the entire process has been seamless. Thank you to everyone involved in securing a buyer for our charming holiday property - what a well oiled and efficient machine! Dr & Mrs K Winton, Edinburgh

Superb customer service. And very professional to boot. A very well run estate agency that I would highly recommend.

This was turning into one of the most stressful flat hunts I've ever had, and I was really lucky to meet Kirsty for a flat viewing. She was immediately so kind, so honest about the property, and so clear about how I should register my interest and give myself the best chance of progressing. As my application progressed to referencing stage Kirsty and her colleague Marina remained really helpful, on the ball and supportive and helped make it a straight-forward process. I really appreciate their help and am very grateful to Marina, Rettie and Kirsty especially for helping me find a great flat.

Unresponsive and incompetent. We had tons of issues immediately after moving into our rented flat, including 3 leaks. They had those fixed quick enough, but everything else got delayed for weeks and even months. Kirsty, the property manager, simply stopped answering the phone. Emails were ignored. Even upon leaving, the flat still had issues that remained unfixed, even though we were promised they'd be sorted.

After the checkout process, Kirsty sent us an old checkout report, the one drawn up when we moved in. Didn't even bother to check the date or the notes on the PDF, else she would've noticed the report was from 2020. She vaguely mentioned that there were going to be charges for "further cleaning" - how much and what for? Who knows. We left the place spotless, which it certainly wasn't when we moved in.

Now they're delaying the deposit refund process too. Still can't reach the property manager on the phone. Still haven't received the correct check-out report, a reply to the deposit refund request, or an explanation. I wouldn't recommend renting a flat through this agency. There are much better ones out there.

We have just sold a 2 bedroom flat in the West End through Retties. It was a very good service, well priced and efficient. The negotiator, Maria Ponte was very helpful throughout. She provided a friendly, effective service, making sure all parties were always properly advised during the course of the sale. The brochure they produced was very professional and the photos were excellent. Thanks Maria, we will definitely be using Retties again in the future.

Moving to a new city is hard, and I don't know what my partner and I would have done without Kirsty from Rettie and Co. We had planned on moving down to Edinburgh in August, probably the worst time of year to move to a city filled with Fringe Festival goers and students soon starting university. Combined with living outside of the city and having to travel from Aberdeen (roughly three hours including bathroom stops) to view properties, finding a flat that was suitable and in a decent condition was starting to feel impossible.

We were on our third trip down and starting to feel downhearted. We previously had viewings with most of the larger lending companies in Edinburgh (SouthSide, Umega, Belvoir) and none of them seemed to care about viewers living situations, about the properties or know even basic information about them (double glazing/heating/council band). It was a nightmare.

This is where Kirsty and Rettie and Co. made all the difference. I had met Kirsty a few weeks before our last visit after rushing from a job interview. She was honest about the property I was seeing and explained pro's and con's of the area and property (great nightlife, maybe not for light sleepers) and, after I mentioned we were having trouble finding a property, she explained that Rettie would be happy to help us through the process and to email the office with our requirements so that they could help.

I stupidly didn't listen and it took two more trips to Edinburgh for my partner and me to see the light. On the last trip down we went to view a Rettie and Co. listed building and was pleasantly surprised to see Kirsty open the door and welcome us in. She recognised me and even asked how the interview had gone. From there we got talking and she made the same offer again.

This time, we jumped on it! Within a day and a half we ended up seeing 5 more properties, with three of those being with Rettie. The difference between the other companies agents and Rettie was astounding. Kirsty knew the quirks of most of the properties and the surrounding areas, where as some of the other agents hardly seemed to know what day it was.

By the weeks end we had a deposit sent through and the reference process underway. The best take away from the experience, in a city where the property market is so fast moving, is that Rettie and Co. treat you like an individual and will do their best to find a place that's right for you. You're THEIR client, not just another number. Thank you Kirsty and Rettie.

Had two scheduled back to back viewings today in the same apartment block. First one set for 12:45. We arrived at 12:20. Got a call from the office to say that the property manager was running late due to traffic and wouldn't be there until about 1pm. That's fine, these things happen. What we weren't told during the entire scheduling process was that this was a group viewing and because he was late, he went straight to the second viewing due to start at 1pm with several other people already there.

I had to ring the office and ask what was going on, as I was waiting outside the door of the 12:45 viewing so she got the property manager to call me back. He said he'd meet me at the front door, even though I was across the street waiting for the 12:45 viewing which was scheduled first. He offered no apologies for being late and seemed uninterested when I pointed out that he had ignored the 12:45 appointment to do the 1pm one first.

We went in to see couples were already asking for paper work from him the moment we got in the door. We turned and walked out, didn't bother to stick around to see if the 12:45 viewing was happening or not. Very poorly organised and lack of communication frustrating. A complete waste of an hour of my time. If I can stick to instructions and liase in a clear and efficient manner, then there's no reason why the estate agent cannot.

Rettie are a new low for letting agents. On my original phone call they took ten minutes to find the property they had listed. They quoted two prices higher the advertised price and told me I would be called to arrange a viewing. After two further calls this didn't happen. I then learnt they had let the property to another party. Their attitude, phone manner and professionalism were extremely poor and reminded me of the dark ages were tenants were treated like rats. (i am a landlord myself and would sell before using their services) Highly recommend avoiding like the plaque.

Absolutely disgraceful company. They gave our keys out to contractors who never returned them to the office. We had workmen turning up at the flat whenever they wanted/without warning, once when my sister was in bed! Rettie and co could not tell us who the people where or why they were there. but could confirm the keys were never returned to the office making us feel completely unsafe in our own flat.

On top of this we have just moved out and they are now trying to charge us 100 odd for cleaning alone (although my sister and I are professional cleaners) because of cleaning residue left over and also trying to charge us for having to paint some wear and tear marks on the walls which will be of further expense to us. We had lived in the property for 4 years! This company cannot be trusted, please save yourself the stress that we have insured and go with another letting agents.

We bought our first home through Rettie and had a very positive experience from start to finish. The agents were friendly and accommodating when we asked for additional viewings. Phone calls were quickly returned and we felt very secure in our decision to purchase our current home.

Contact with Georgina Sneller and found her to be patient, understanding and not pushy. As I have mentioned to her, as soon as all is wrapped in the courts, I will be arriving in Scotland. The efforts she has shown so far has certainly been noticed. See you all soon I hope. Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year to you all. Gordon Kidd.

Rettie were fairly quick in the beginning of my process of looking for a flat and they got back to me and my partner sooner than any other application so that was great and their viewing process was also quick and efficient. However after that point, everything has been incredibly slow and difficult to get a reply from them. First we waited almost 2 months to hear if our credit report had come back accepted and as we were waiting on that to find out if we had really got the flat, it was very inconvenient, it turned out the agent had just forgotten to send it and when we reminded her again it came back just 2 days later.

Then when we moved in to the flat, majority of things were fine, there were some socks and underwear under the bed and in strange locations in the flat, but that was easy enough to deal with. Yet when we had repairs to report, we heard nothing back and are still waiting and it is coming up for 1 and a half months, repairs which are causing issue every day.

They are a professional service and always friendly but they take far too long to reply and we feel like we are almost being ignored at this point after calls, emails etc. what else can we do. Honestly, sometimes we are not sure what the landlord is paying them for as we aren't getting any service from them at this point.