Should A Landlord Opt For A Letting Only Service?
Sep 25, 2009 Real Estate
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In the UK, landlords can either try and rent out property by themselves, or hire a letting agent to do the job. Doing it on their own can mean doing a lot of work. Firstly they will have to place advertisements in the local newspapers to let people know about the property. Then they will have to do everything next to the phone because potential clients can call anytime and would require information over the phone. Now if these clients like what they hear, they would want to see the property and the landlord will have to show them around. If everything goes smoothly, the landlord would then have to get the tenancy agreement made, and in case there is any repair work to be done, he/she would be required to take care of that as well.
Most of the people looking to rent a property prefer to deal with the letting agent. They are not comfortable directly negotiating with the landlord. Therefore, if you don?t hire a letting agent, you might save some cash but it will take a lot longer to find the right tenant.
Letting agencies inspect the property, and estimate the expected rent. If they are satisfied with the condition of the property and its rental value, they enter your property as ?to be rented out? in their records. After that, they advertise the property, handle all enquiries by the property seekers and show it to the prospective tenants. Once suitable tenants are called, the letting agency inform you about it. They draw up the tenancy agreement and do all the paperwork.
Letting agencies may even provide you with their maintenance crew, so that the property is properly taken care off once the tenancy start. They will also try and get you an extension on the tenancy contract before it expires or even get you new tenants. This suits busy landlords or those with more than one property as it saves them a lot of hassle.
Prospective tenants nowadays visit the websites of letting agencies. They search the properties for rent through search features available on the websites. Once they find a suitable place, they call the letting agency. This is a media that private landlords cannot use. Secondly, letting agents know how to deal with the landlords and the tenants. In the case of any dispute, they try to have it resolved amicably. So, there are several plus points for using a letting agency.
This frees the landlord from all the work of finding tenants. He/she will also not have to worry about the dealing with tenants during the contract period and the property will also get proper maintenance. Then there will be no vacant period because the agency will find new tenants before the tenancy expires.
Letting services may be hired from big companies, or small agencies looking after property in one district. Letting services have to be reputable, or else they can lose their license and their clients. They know all the tenancy laws and also know about the ones that need to be applied. So, instead of hiring a solicitor, the letting agents provide these services.
You would be better off using an agency if you are a landlord. They know what is required and would find a better tenant. As a landlord, you will be looking for someone who pays all the dues on time and does not do any damage to the property. A letting agency will always keep this in mind and whatever you pay them will be covered as a cost for the services and you will not have to go through any hassle on your own.
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