10/06/2011 by WA Ellis

The Lettings Team from independent prime Central London Estate Agency, W A Ellis, celebrated winning six awards at the prestigious Lettings Agency of the Year Awards, which were held at The Lancaster Hotel in London on 7th June.

W A Ellis swept the board at the awards ceremony, winning three Gold and two Silver Awards, whilst Lucy Morton, senior partner and head of lettings for the company, was personally honoured with the award for Outstanding Contribution to the Lettings Industry.

Despite being a single office agency, W A Ellis beat stiff competition from larger national agencies to win the coveted national Gold Award for Best Luxury Lettings. It also won a Gold Award for Best Single Office London Lettings Agency, as well as taking the National Gold for Best UK Single Office Lettings Agency. W A Ellis also received Silver Awards for Best Customer Service and Best Property Management.

Lucy Morton comments: “We are thrilled and very proud to have won all of these awards, as they show that a professional niche agent can really ‘punch above its weight’. I was particularly pleased that the judges felt we set a benchmark for high standards within the industry; I really do believe our procedures are second to none, and this is proven twice a year when we are audited by The British Standards Institution (BSI) – many agents are not BSI registered and therefore are not as disciplined. We are also particularly proud of our Management team, who won Silver amongst some really tough competition, particularly from the national firms.”

Lucy was recognised for her outstanding contribution to the lettings industry because of her many achievements over her 28 year career. The judges said: “We are thrilled to honour Lucy publically, not only for her personal achievements, but also for the dedication, loyalty and diligence she has shown to the Lettings industry.”

Lucy has made a number of personal achievements throughout her career. After setting up the Lettings department for W A Ellis in 1990, she became a Partner of the firm in 1994 and was promoted to Managing Partner in 2007 and Senior Partner this year. She is committed to taking the firm from strength to strength in all areas with her loyal and dedicated team.

Lucy said: “I was overwhelmed to achieve the Outstanding Contribution to the Lettings Industry Award. I am very fortunate to enjoy and thrive from my career, which began in 1983. By 1990, I made the decision to put something back into the industry and started contributing some of my time to ARLA and other industry bodies in order to promote professionalism and excellence.” Lucy joined the ARLA Council (the Association of Residential Letting Agents) in 1990 and is the immediate past president of the Association. She made some key changes during her tenure; such as establishing the ARLA licensing scheme which now has over 6,000 members and she consistently calls for regulation and higher standards within the Lettings industry.

Lucy became a Director of NFOPP (the National Federation of Property Professionals) when it was formed in 2007, as the governing body for the NAEA (National Association of Estate Agents), ARLA, the ICBA (Institution of Commercial and Business Agents), and NAVA (the National Association of Valuers and Auctioneers) and has remained on the Board as an ARLA representative ever since. She was a founder member of the Property Standards Board and the Register of Property Agents. She is a Director of CLEA (the Central London Estate Agents representative body) as the Lettings representative and Lonres, a statistics service for London estate agencies. In 2010, she became a trustee of the EAF (Estate Agents Foundation), an industry charity which aims to combat homelessness.

W A Ellis is an independent Estate Agent located in the heart of Knightsbridge and covering all aspects of residential property in prime Central London. For further information, visit www.waellis.co.uk

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