A letting agent is incentivising its employees by building a portfolio of owned properties in which each member of staff will have a stake.

Umega Lettings will use its business profits to invest in a staff property fund.

The fund will buy flats, with each employee owning a share in every property bought and let.

The company aims to buy at least two properties each year.

Neil McInnes, director of the firm, said: “At Umega Lettings, we understand the value of home ownership and the investment value of property in Edinburgh at this particular time, so it was an easy decision  to develop a staff incentive scheme.

“This fund rewards our staff for their hard work – with no impact on their salaries or pensions – and they have an appreciating asset as their shares grow in value.

“It means the prospect of building a property portfolio for them is not simply a dream but a reality.

“We believe this will attract and keep the best lettings team out there.

“Likewise, it will get our team thinking like landlords as they will now be landlords themselves – and that can only be good for the level of service we give our customers.”

The fund will work by establishing a new company – with staff owning half of it – which will use 20% of the business’s profits to invest in property.

The first property is expected to be bought next March with a new property being bought every six to ten months.

Staff of the Edinburgh-based firm will be awarded shares each year in the property fund, as long as they have a minimum of 12 months’ employment and not be working a notice period.

They cannot sell these shares for five years after they are issued, and once they wish to sell, these will be worth a percentage of the value of the property portfolio, dependent on the share owned.

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