The Complete Guide to Property Strategies by Angela Bryant

Author:Angela Bryant
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Panoma Press Ltd

Letting Agents, a Landlord’s Perspective

Many readers of this book will be landlords and investors who may be more likely to use the services of letting and estate agents than to be one, and therefore this section takes a look at letting agents from the landlord/client’s perspective.

Agents vary from small, local independents to national chains and anything in between. They can be online, offline or a hybrid. The services they offer can vary from acting as little more than gateways, to advertising your property on portals such as Rightmove and others to full property management, and they can also act as estate agents or have that covered within the same business.

Some agents like to get into heated debates, fiercely defending their service options compared to others, but it’s good for consumers to have choices. Personally, I’ve used every type of service from none (ie complete self-management) to full management by agents and can see advantages in all.

Obviously, cost is a factor and generally the less input from agents, the lower the cost, but remember there can be hidden costs in making mistakes if you try to do things yourself: see my example later of the agent who got me £20,000 more for the sale of my property than I might have accepted in an unfamiliar area. Mistakes can be not only costly but get you into trouble too, such as not drawing up a tenancy agreement correctly or following proper health and safety procedures.

I have used www.upad.co.uk which is one of the lowest cost ways to get your property listed on Rightmove and other portals. Prices start from £120 and include tenant referencing for which the tenant pays. (They also offer more premium service levels.) Upad take initial calls and enquiries which they pass on to the landlord and then it’s up to you to get back to enquirers. You must organise your own viewings. I found it best to arrange for all viewers to come to the property on one day, especially for non-local properties. You do have to be a bit brave to do this, I found!

Locally, we now use the Tenant Find Only service of an online estate agent www.zoom995.co.uk and we also use them when selling. For sales, they charge just £595 inc VAT if paid upfront or £995 at completion (hence the name zoom995). Their fee for tenant find only is just £295 and they will do viewings and arrange an inventory (for an extra cost) and an EPC if required. We find them very helpful and they have good contacts with local tradesmen too. They also offer a fully managed service for £49.50 inc VAT per month. They are ‘an online agent’ but can – depending on location – arrange to do viewings. They are prepared to travel to any part of the UK and have links with other agents too.

Years ago, we used to simply place a classified ad in the local paper when we had a property available to let. That was cheap!

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