Letting agents and landlords

A good letting agent will find you a suitable property, negotiate the tenancy, and only charge you when you pick up the keys. It can be well worth the money for the saved hassle, time and foot slog.

A dodgy letting agent might find you decent accommodation, but they’ll charge (and overcharge) for minor administrative tasks and get you to sign agreements with small print that commits you to pay them for doing almost anything except blowing your nose. You don’t have to use a letting agent to find property, but your choice may be restricted if you do not.

The property letting market is unregulated and it is growing fast, creating conditions where there are many opportunities for unscrupulous agents to make a quick buck. They can do this because people looking for accommodation are often in a hurry and are understandably keener to discuss the size of the kitchen and how many bedrooms a property has than whether they’ll be expected to pay for repairing rotten windows or to be charged £30 for letters telling them the rent is going up.

There are about 1 3,000 letting agents in the UK. About 3,000 are members of trade bodies and if at all possible you should stick with them because then you’ll have some comeback if there’s a dispute, as they will have a code of conduct that they have to stick to. It is wise to check if a firm is a member of one of these bodies (it’s easy to do this through their websites) rather than just take their word for it.

There are different types of letting agency:

• Some find tenants for properties and are also known as accommodation agencies,
• Others manage the property as well so the tenant deals with them, rather than the landlord insurance customer.
• Many estate agents offer a lettings service as well as selling property, so they may belong to several of the trade bodies.

Legally, agents represent landlords but they can charge fees to both landlords and tenants. Some don’t charge tenants at all, but others have fees for drawing up tenancy agreements, providing inventories and administrative costs, such as phone calls and postage.

Letting agents advertise in local papers and there is also often a list in housing advice offices and branches of the Citizen’s Advice Bureau (www.adviceguide.org.uk). Because registration is free, it makes sense to sign up with any that you feel you can trust. They’ll ask you about your needs and how much you want to pay. If they supply details of suitable properties, follow it up straightaway as good accommodation gets snapped up quickly. They may invite you to contact the landlord insurance policyholders or, if they are offering a fuller service, show you round it themselves.

Once you decide to rent a property, the agency may ask for a holding deposit to remove the property from the market while they take up your references – this is another reason to take copies of references with you when viewing. This is not the same as a deposit on the tenancy, and you could lose it if you don’t move in.

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Related posts:

1. Using Letting Agents | Landlord Insurance
2. Read Letting Agents Contract
3. Using Property Letting Agents
4. Choosing a letting agent
5. Property Letting Business
6. Finding Great Locations for Let Property Landlords
7. Preparing a rental property for Letting
8. Estate Agents Insurance
9. Landlords Rental Income versus Property Value
10. Landlords buying property already let