Landlords - is it really worth using a letting agent?

hannahjsmith

We are thinking about buying a flat for letting out. It would be local to us. My question is - is it really worth using a letting agent?

From reading this forum, the only benefit I can really see is that they have access to a list of possible tenants. We are quite capable of doing a credit check, getting references and doing any court forms that might be required for eviction etc for the tenant and my husband is very handy and could do all the maintenance himself. Seeing as we would really only need the letting agent for finding a tenant, it seems a lot of money to pay them each month just for that.

Also, I was wondering, do some agents only charge say just a tenant finder fee (one off payment) rather than a monthly % of the rent?

Many thanks!

FATBALLZ

As a tenant every time I have an issue the LA just pass it on to the landlord. Don't see what they do to be honest. I'm not on any LAs list of possible tenants, I just looked on rightmove, you should just advertise there.

clutton_2

so you know nothing about being a landlord and you want to do it yourself ? have you read www.landlordzone.co.uk ? this should show you some of the many pitfalls...

I am a professional landlord of 11 years standing and last year it took me 10 months to get a professional tenant out .. and it cost me £5k - such folks see amateur landlords a mile off...

if i were you i would use an agent for 6 months and use that time to read LLZ and www.singingpig.co.uk and Tessa Sheppersons books on renting and join national landlords association and do some research into the over 100 Statutes and Regulatoins that govern lettings.... then see if you want to do it yourself...

Zombies

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jacqhale

I use a letting agent just to find the tenants and then manage the flats myself once they are in so I pay a one off fee which equates to just under the first month's rent rather than a (high!) percentage every month, plus they are more costly for things like gas safety certs and repairs etc. The LA has asked if I want them to do bits and pieces for me but they are so much more expensive than my husband or finding someone else myself it's not worth it.

I have tried finding tenants myself but to be honest the credit checking and referencing is the easy bit - it's the prospective tenants who make appointments and never show up that I find the problem so to save time and aggravation I let the LA deal with that.
I have found the agents to be very helpful, they have given me a lot of advice over the years and I have been very lucky with my tenants

hannahjsmith

clutton wrote: »

so you know nothing about being a landlord and you want to do it yourself ? have you read www.landlordzone.co.uk ? this should show you some of the many pitfalls...

I am a professional landlord of 11 years standing and last year it took me 10 months to get a professional tenant out .. and it cost me £5k - such folks see amateur landlords a mile off...

if i were you i would use an agent for 6 months and use that time to read LLZ and www.singingpig.co.uk and Tessa Sheppersons books on renting and join national landlords association and do some research into the over 100 Statutes and Regulatoins that govern lettings.... then see if you want to do it yourself...

Thanks dutton. We are not completely naive to the pitfalls and have very close friends who are landlords. I have read landlordzone and to me, it does seem like on there, the agents don't get a very good review either.

Westywoodpecker

jacqhale wrote: »

I use a letting agent just to find the tenants and then manage the flats myself once they are in so I pay a one off fee which equates to just under the first month's rent rather than a (high!) percentage every month, plus they are more costly for things like gas safety certs and repairs etc. The LA has asked if I want them to do bits and pieces for me but they are so much more expensive than my husband or finding someone else myself it's not worth it.

I have tried finding tenants myself but to be honest the credit checking and referencing is the easy bit - it's the prospective tenants who make appointments and never show up that I find the problem so to save time and aggravation I let the LA deal with that.
I have found the agents to be very helpful, they have given me a lot of advice over the years and I have been very lucky with my tenants

I'm in the process of doing just what you have. It's my first time & they move in on Friday. It took the LA 24 hrs to find the tenants & I've struck lucky as it's through an insurance company so 6 mths rent upfront. They have been helpful & I was cheeky enough to haggled with the price they charged as it has all happened so quickly & they knocked £300 off :j

bap98189

I'm on the other side of the fence as a tennant. I've always looked for houses via letting/estate agents. The reason is simply that it is much easier contacting 3 or 4 agents than it is scouring papers and contacting a large number of landlords. We did it the other way around the first time and it was a nightmare, not least because half the landlords we rang up came across on the phone as the sort of individuals you wouldn't want to meet on a dark night. Going via an agent does cost a little more in terms of fees etc. but it has always made the process much easier. On the other hand, we live in a fairly rural area, so there are very few agents and they seem to be very professional. I get the impression it can be a very different story in more urban areas of the country.

ET1976

If you are local to the property and are happy to take calls from tenants when the boiler breaks down at random times of day/night/weekend, I don't see the point of using an agent to manage the property. It might be worth using a reputable agent's tenant-finding service only, if you haven't got the time to do viewings and/or don't feel confident about your screening abilities.

I don't understand the views of some of the professional landlords on here when it comes to agents - are they recommending them or not? On some posts they will say 'you absolutely must use an agent if you have no experience' and 'make sure you go through an ARLA-registered agency', then on other posts when LLs have probs with their agents/tenants, they say 'you can't delegate responsibility to agents, you must know all the legislation yourself', and 'ARLA work for the agents themselves, you'll get no joy out of complaining to them'.

You can't have it both ways - if you have to take full responsibility for the tenancy anyway, why have an agent?

Obviously if you are not close to the property you would need one to manage the day-to-day maintenance issues etc, but I can't see the benefit otherwise.

That's not to say its easy to self-manage, you really do need to do plenty of research before starting out.

scribe

Hi, I rented out and knew stuff all about any of it.....God I wish I had used an agent, so far the T has redone the back and front garden without asking me, (it looks very messy) has tried to take out the fitted wardrobe and broken it, refused to pay a months rent as there was a leak and the insurance company did not move fast enough for T although I was on to them everyday! also send me abusive emails even though I reduced the rent by 100 pounds to help them and now has decided to leave and wants to use the deposit as the final months rent and on top of that wants us to give them a credit reference! I have just emailed them and told them that the outstanding rent is overdue and once it is paid I can then give the credit reference......God help the next Landlord who they rent off as they complained every 2 months about everything (the guttering splashes water on the windows after they have been cleaned!!) I will NEVER rent out again, this lot has made me very ill with all the worry, so my advice is GET AN AGENT be worth it in the end.....good luck

adg1

hannahjsmith wrote: »

I have read landlordzone and to me, it does seem like on there, the agents don't get a very good review either.

Unfortunately no one hears when the letting agent does a good job. Only when they don't do something or make a hash of your tenancy application.