How to Find and Manage Your Letting Agent
How good is the agent at marketing properties?
One of the main responsibilities of a letting agent is to find a suitable tenant for your property. However, it is important to be cautious of agents who prioritise speed over quality.
Does their property listing include high-quality photos and a floorplan, or are the images dark and cluttered with personal items?
While having a tenant is crucial, it is equally important to select a tenant who will treat the property with respect and care, rather than treat your property as a commodity. Taking extra time and care in choosing a good tenant is crucial, as making a hasty decision can be just as costly as taking a little extra time to find a tenant who will treat the property like a home.
So it is of key importance to get this right. It is so common, though, for agents to get the marketing of properties horribly wrong. Quite often the person to whom the job of uploading the properties has been delegated is a junior or has not been long in the role and doesn't devote enough care and attention to this important task, or simply has not been trained to do so.
How good or bad the photos and description of the property are will affect the click-through rate of an online advert, in turn affecting the number of enquiries and, therefore, viewings.
Thankfully for landlords, it is very easy to check up on an agent
before you use them. Check to see how many photos the agent has for each property. I would like to see two for each large room along with a good front
view and a garden view.
Also look at the descriptions; are they clear and do they 'sell' the property, focusing on its best features and local facilities? They should not be too basic and must also
not be misleading.
You will need great photos, preferably taken on a good light day. Ensure the property is tidy, the garden is as good as it can be, bins are tidy or out of view, and all curtains are pulled back tidily.
Ideally there should be no cars parked in front. If there is snow on the ground, take photos, but go back and take more very soon after the snow has gone.
Descriptions should be detailed and list ALL the benefits of a property; even if that is only the close proximity of the bus route, it should all be there.
So when looking to take on an agent, look through the properties they have listed on their chosen property portal. See if ALL their properties have good-quality photos, both external and internal, and check the descriptions. When you have instructed
an agent, it's also good to keep an eye on the portal and ensure that your property is uploaded in satisfactory time, not weeks after.
Does the agent deal with properties similar to yours?
Agents come in all types, and have various specialities. The type of property they advertise and work with will dictate the type of tenant they have on their lists and the type of management system they have in the background.
Managing a portfolio of student lets is very different from managing a portfolio of professional tenants, SO it does make sense to go to an agent that has similar properties on the books already.
Does the agent take down the details of tenants who call or have a robust registration system
Tenants are the lifeblood of any letting agency. Let's face it: without any tenants,
they are not going to do very well. If a busy agent records the details of all the tenants that they get calling, they should be registering well over 250 tenants a month onto their system.
This means that when a property comes onto their books, they
should already have someone on their books to take it! However, so many agents do not even take down tenant enquiries.
I find this amazing; all that advertising to get the lead, just to
throw it away but it happens. Some are just plain rude to tenants! So give them a call, posing as a tenant. How do they sound? Are they helpful and professional? Would you want to deal with them? Do they call you back? It's all a great test to see
if the agent you are using or considering is doing a great job for you.
Is your agent qualified to do the job?
Is the agent a member of ARLA/NAEA/ RICS?
The lettings industry is still unregulated, and, for this reason, anyone can set up as a letting agent with no training. Lettings and property management, however, are extremely complex areas , and a lot of expectation is on the agent to know what to
do in a myriad of scenarios. Without training, an agent can fail to comply with regulations, and this can lead to fines for the landlord (even if responsibility has been delegated to the agent).
For this reason I feel it is extremely important to be sure that your agent has the backing of ARLA, NAEA or RICS. This way you can know that they have been trained and checked to make sure they do everything properly.
If your agent is a member of the above, you know that these regulatory bodies are checking their company set-up, indemnity insurance and client account bond, looking at their bank account balances to ensure the money is correctly apportioned, and ensuring the agent has at least one qualified person in the business at any time. The agent will have to abide by the bodies' strict codes of conduct throughout. They will also have to have Client Money Protection in place to protect any clients
that may suffer a loss due to the closure of a branch etc.
There are other Client Money Protection covering bodies around, but this is not all that is required to protect you. Account auditing, qualifications and codes of conduct go way beyond merely checking that an insurance policy, which could easily be cancelled at any time, is in place.
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How many members of staff does the agent have and what do they all do?
Understaffing is a key indicator of underservice. If an agent tells you that they have 500 properties under management and only one property manager, then you know that there will be problems. In the industry, the average staff-to-property ratio is
around 75 properties per staff member, so count the staff and
find out how many properties they are actually managing.
When a company is understaffed, it means that a lot of the services you might have come to expect just won't be done. Calls may not be returned, maintenance not checked and arrears not jumped on, and this will lead to disgruntled clients all round
Make sure the company see lettings as a priority, not just a tag on to their 'main' business. Letting properties is hard work, and requires dedication from above to get it right. If the idea is that lettings will make a bit of revenue whilst sales in another area are low, then the systems and training needed to do the job properly will never be invested in and the clients will suffer through lack of professional service.
Does the agent specialise in lettings?
The appraisal: the clues are all there!
How much information does the agent give?
The appraisal is a key meeting. At the appraisal or valuation, you should expect to get some real key advice from the agent.
They should be looking to explain to you the current market and where your property sits within that, any works required at the property and why, any health and safety risks to attend to, and how to optimise your returns on that property by maybe
looking at alternative tenancy types or doing works to the property to raise the rent level.
However, unfortunately, many agents merely give you a valuation and walk away, not feeling they can give a landlord honest' advice for fear that this will scare them away. If you feel an agent is in a hurry, or just telling you what you want to hear,
then maybe look a bit further.
What's the agent's knowledge of the area and market? Do you know more than them?
You are going to an agent because you want their expertise. The valuation is an opportunity for them to demonstrate this expertise in the local market to you. How do you feel about them?
Do they know more than you? Do you feel safe with them? Could they answer your questions? Do you know more for having met them? Be honest with yourself; you may like them, but can you trust them to know what to do when you have the tenant from hell in your house?
What's their back office support?
The business of lettings is complex and 24-hour; any letting agent needs a back office support of some type. Do they have an online computer system for back-up, do they have a management department or team, have they got out-of-hours calls, or do they really answer the phone at all hours of the day and night?
Do they have a team of contractors, colleagues, experienced directors, head office support? What would happen if they left or went on holiday?
The real test: paperwork!
'It's OK; my agent deals with all that!'
Many people take on an agent and then feel, 'I don't have to worry about that now; the agent will take care of it! If it is a good agent they are right, but unfortunately in law, you as the landlord are still responsible if the agent gets it wrong. In
the early days of using an agent, keep an eye on things.
Check your tenancy files to ensure that all the documents (the inventory, the tenancy agreement etc.) are signed, that the gas certificate is present and that the references have been done satisfactorily. Keep track of when your gas certificate is due and
ensure you get copies. Keep an eye on when your rent is paid and pay close attention if it becomes overdue, to ensure your agent is dealing with any arrears.
Since the Localism Act 2011, it is now crucially important to make sure that your deposit is registered within 30 days of receiving it. If you have delegated this to the agent, you need to be checking in the early days to make sure that they have registered the deposit and sent you and the tenants a copy of the
paperwork.
