Newton Property Management has become the only private residential, Scottish-owned property factor to receive the quality mark introduced by the UK Government.

Newton, which has an office in Fairways Business Park in Inverness, secured the nationally recognised Customer Service Excellence (CSE) standard following an independent assessment of its customer service approach, systems and performance.

The CSE standard is designed to independently validate organisations that put customers at the heart of service delivery.

Newton will now be audited annually to ensure it continues to meet the standard and demonstrate ongoing improvement.

Leading on the assessment process was Lewis Littlejohn, head of property management at Newton, who said: “Good customer service in factoring isn’t just about being responsive, it’s about being straight with homeowners and helping them understand that most decisions in a shared building sit with them, not us.

“Our job is to guide, support and communicate clearly, making sure things get done and owners are kept in the loop.

“This accreditation is no mean feat, it reflects the culture and systems we’ve built to support continuous improvement across the business, but ultimately, it’s our people who deliver that service every day.

“We’ve built a genuinely solid team here at Newton, and I’m really proud of the people we have and the culture that’s grown around them.

“Accreditations like this only mean something because of the staff behind them, their skills, their consistency, their personalities and the care they put into every interaction with homeowners.

“Our processes and systems are industry leading, and this accreditation proves that. But we’re not stopping here, there’s so much more to come.”

The company has set internal service targets, including responding to 95 per cent of emails within five working days, with an average response time of three working days. Newton receives around 200,000 emails a year.

Vincent Goldie, chief executive officer at Newton Property Management, added: “Achieving the Customer Service Excellence standard is a major milestone for Newton and a proud moment for the whole team.

“Property factoring is a sector that is often heavily scrutinised, and we know that trust and communication are critical for homeowners.

“This recognition gives independent validation of the work we have been doing to strengthen the customer experience across every part of the business and highlights our commitment to raising the standards across the property factoring sector.

“To become the only private residential, Scottish-owned property factor to receive this accreditation is something we are extremely proud of, but we also see it as a responsibility. This is not a one-off badge. It is a standard we must continue to build on every year.”