Letting without agent - Discount Letting Service Direct Ltd

travel_freak

Hi there,

I'd be very grateful to receive any advice or people's personal experiences re letting without a lettings agent. I bought a buy to let in October last year and luckily it came with a tenant in place but he will be leaving soon.

To save money I am thinking about trying to let myself.

A website called "Discount Letting Service Direct Ltd" was recommended to me. I had a look at it and it seems you pay £60 for two months' membership and for this they place your property on quite a few of the standard websites such as Rightmove, findaproperty, fish4, Evening Standard etc., etc (the list is quite long). I'm not yet sure how this works and I guess I would need to obtain photographs and email them. They say that the property will automatically be sent to everyone who is registered with Rightmove looking for property to let. This seems fantastic to me as the main difficulty I would have would be with advertising.

Anyway I'm just wondering if anyone has used this service before and found it useful or if anyone can recommend any similar/better alternatives?

I think/hope (!) my flat should rent quite easily and, apart from the inconvenience of having to show tenants around myself it would seem to be well worth only paying £60 as opposed to the 8-10% tenant finding fee I am quoted by agents. Can anyone comment/advise?

I know I will have to arrange my own credit checks on the tenant and draw up the agreement. I have also just registered for the government tenancy deposit protection scheme thingy so that shouldn't be a worry/difficult to deal with.

Also any tips on vetting propective tenants gratefully received.

Many thanks in advance.

Regards,

travel_freak

Hi

Just bumping this - has anyone any experience of using this company at all or any other suggestions? I saw Houseladder too which looks like a similar service but doesn't seem to offer advertising on Rightmove which makes the other company look even better.

Many thanks.
Regards

outofmoney

Sorry not used the service so can't comment on that but as a tenant I would say use local papers and local notice boards instead.
We were registered with Rightmove and only ever got one email. I phoned immediately and the property had already gone so not sure how long it takes them to send out.
The house we rent was only advertised once in the local freebie paper but as we were scouring all papers at the time we spotted it, as would anyone in your area.
I guess it also depends on whether you are after a family or a proffesional couple or maybe a student. Just advertise where you think they are more likely to look.
Hope that helps a bit.

dnwilliams

In my experience, most tenants look through the local papers each week & the private ads are usually more popular as no fees attached for the tenant. Make sure you reference them thoroughly and it is essential to do yourself a comprehensive inventory, ideally with photographs.

pocket8s

what area in the property in?