Off Plan Property Abroad scoop Best Small Agent award at the 2008 AIPP Awards in London.

At a glitzy gala evening held on board a luxury cruise liner on the River Thames, Off Plan Property Abroad, Staffordshire based property consultancy were delighted to receive the prestigious award for BEST SMALL AGENT at the 2008 AIPP Awards.

‘There are only nine winners of an AIPP Award 2008,’ explained Paul Owen, AIPP’s Chief Executive. ‘Consider, for a moment, the value of being one of only nine winners of an independent awards process run by the industry body’.

The Association of International property Professionals (AIPP) is the industry body for the overseas property industry. The AIPP launched its own awards programme in February this year with a focus purely on customer service. The Association put itself in the position of the international property buyer and thought, ‘What do I want to see in an agent or in a developer to reassure me that they will deliver?’

Questions covered the due diligence processes in advance of selling, the transparency of the marketing and the successful delivery of promised service to clients. Off Plan Property Abroad had to supply client references and these were called by the Association in advance of judging.

The judging took place in two stages; all entries were first judged by five people from within the industry who were charged with whittling down the entries to two or three for a shortlist in each category. The shortlisted entries were then judged by a second panel (with no information from the first) and those judges were predominantly independent people, ie. not working in the international property market.

Christopher Hamer, the Ombudsman for Estate Agents, was Chair of the independent panel. ‘In my view awards like this contribute to higher standards of business operation and most importantly, customer service,’ said Hamer. ‘They give firms a target to aim for as being second, third or placed elsewhere one year will encourage a focus on being higher the next year.’

The other independent judges with Hamer on the final judging panel were Ashley Underwood QC, Iain Travers (Partner at Nabarro’s and head of their Real Estate Dispute Resolution team) and John Coles (Founder of the Evenbrook Group which owns and manages 1200 residential investment properties across the UK).

‘Having been involved in the property professions for in excess of 30 years, I encourage and support the onward development and improvement in professional skills,’ said Coles. ‘The AIPP are to be congratulated on their efforts and I welcomed the opportunity of being able to judge the finalists.’

Greg Walters, Director, offplanpropertyabroad.com comments: “I am delighted for us to win this award and to be regarded as best of class by a panel of judges in the industry body awards. I feel it is a fantastic achievement and one I am very proud of particularly as this was a totally independent award. Since our inception in 2005 I set out to provide great customer service, fantastic investment opportunities, high standards and an honest approach - winning this award demonstrates our success”