Accreditations

Pickard Properties is a proud member of multiple local and national rental property accreditation schemes. This helps us offer peace of mind to potential tenants, reassuring them that they are dealing with a quality and reliable estate and letting agency.

We understand that choosing which agency to rent a room or property from can be a nerve-wracking time, and we wish to make it a positive experience for every single one of our tenants.

All of the schemes below promote harmony between tenants, landlords, and letting agents, and offer various levels of support and protection on all sides where required — whether that be looking after payments as an independent third party, or conflict resolution.

West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce

The West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce is a business network that aims to connect, support and represent businesses — helping to better all member businesses by connecting them.

The PRS: The Property Redress Scheme

The Property Redress Scheme is authorised by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute under the ADR Regulations 2015. As Pickard Properties is a member of this scheme, this means that any complaints from tenants can be resolved by an independent third party who are experts in consumer complaint resolutions.

Our PRS membership number is: PRS0001408. 

NRLA: Residential Landlords Association

The NRLA offers training courses, support and advice for landlords, both via one-to-one telephone calls and a library documents and guides. Alongside this, members are provided with on-going up to date information surrounding the industry and any relevant legislative changes.  

LPA: Leeds Property Association

The LPA has built great relationships with the Leeds universities, Unipol, Leeds City Council, and West Yorkshire Police — relationships which members get the benefit of. The aim of the LPA is to promote good practice from its members, while also protecting the rights of landlords — keeping everyone happy in the rental process. 

The Leeds Rental Standard from Leeds City Council

The Leeds Rental Standard provides a guarantee to tenants of a minimum standard for privately rented accommodation. Accreditation through this scheme recognises that we offer a quality service and demonstrate good skills in tenancy and property management. As a member of this scheme, we also receive support, advice, and financial discounts which we can then pass on to our tenants.

The Unipol Code

Set up specifically for student accommodation, Unipol offer a Code system to rate student landlords based on property management, condition of the property, and the relationship between landlord and tenant. The Code provides reassurance to tenants that a property is properly managed, will be repaired within acceptable timescales, there is a robust complaints process in place, and deposits are protected and will be returned in full unless there are any deductions made (which will then be explained).

Pickard Properties is a Golden Unipol Code member.

Arla PropertyMark

The Association of Residential Lettings Agents (ARLA) was formed in 1981 as the professional and regulatory body for letting agents in the UK. It was recognised that the requirements of the residential lettings market were so detailed and specific that a separate organisation was required to promote standards in this important and growing sector of the property market. Propertymark members demonstrate dedication to professionalism, development, and to the property industry itself.

As professional landlords we are also legally obliged to be members of:

TDS: Tenancy Deposit Scheme 

As you might expect, this scheme protects tenancy deposits for both landlords and tenants.

HMO licence

All landlords who let out multiple occupation properties must hold an HMO licence. 

GDPR Compliance

We are registered with the ICO in line with the Data Protection Regulations of 2018. Our ICO number is: 00011610508 

PropertyMark CMP (Client Money Protection)

Pickards (Leeds) Ltd trading as Pickard Properties is a member of ARLA Propertymark. ARLA members must publish their client money handling procedures on their website, as well as making copies available to customers upon request.

Propertymark Conduct and Membership rules oblige Pickard Properties to provide the following link to its conduct rules which can be read in full here; Propertymark rules and standards

Pickard Properties adheres to the Client Money Rules of Conduct, using the following Handling of Client Money procedures

We are obliged to display our certificates : Our Propertymark CMP certificate and CMP security certificate