Any letting agents reading this?

hellokitty08

:rotfl:I have worked for several Letting Agencies (dont shoot)

I am also a tenant with a letting agent who have been nothing short of amazing to me.

I believe its all a bit of swings and round abouts. I have experienced a lot of bad tenants in my time, so perhaps maybe I would consider myself a little more understanding.

Please feel free to ask about my expereinces as a tenant using a good letting agency and working at a letting agency, what I have expereinced.

I have had free Grit Salt from my landlord / letting agent for the past two winters! Good on them and lucky me.

budgetdiyer

I'm a letting agent! Luckily i have broad shoulders and ignore the vast majority of comments i read on here.

I'm satisfied that i provide a thorough, fair and ethical service to both my clients (landlords) and tenants.

theartfullodger

budgetdiyer wrote: »

I'm a letting agent! Luckily i have broad shoulders and ignore the vast majority of comments i read on here.

I'm satisfied that i provide a through, fair and ethical service to both my clients (landlords) and tenants.

Very good: A bit like asking an MP if he's doing a good job...

Do your clients (landlords) and tenants consider that you provide a thorough, fair & ethical service?? How do you measure that view?? (hint - surveys??)

I have a good agent.. but suspect they may be un-typical...

budgetdiyer

Very true.

Well you can't please all of the people all of the time, of course i've had tenants who feel aggrieved, but then i feel aggrieved when (on the odd occasion) we experience rent arrears / willful damage etc.

I feel the volume of repeat business we get from both landlords and tenants is a strong indicator that we do a good job.

We try and treat tenants and landlords how we would like / expect to be treated ourselves.

I'm not a great fan of the numerous fees that agents charge tenants, we simply charge a reference fee and an administration fee at the start of the tenancy. No hidden fees, all explained upfront.

Unfortunately there seem to be a plethora of agents opening who use low landlord fees to build their client base and charge tenants through the nose to make up for this.

theartfullodger

budgetdiyer wrote: »

...

I feel the volume of repeat business we get from both landlords and tenants is a strong indicator that we do a good job.

..

...

No, sadly: Just that you are (just, possibly only very slightly....) better than your competitors... You could (I'm sure you're not...) be doing a c**p job but if it is better than the alternative you'll get the repeat business...

(cf does your MP do good job?? Probably not, but is he just better than the rivals...)

A minor flaw in the otherwise stunning Capitalist system.... aye, right....

budgetdiyer

Well whilst thats a possibility i'm happy that, thats not the case in this instance.

Of course though i'm still the bad guy who makes the tenants cooker blow an element on Christmas day or make the boiler pack up on the coldest of winter days.

whalster

Budgetdyer how much for ref. per person and how much admin fee per person and what percentage do you charge us landlords?
I charge £20 per person for ref. £30 for admin per house let oh and I get to keep all my rent so can be a little cheaper than all agent lets

MissMotivation

In my time in Lettings I've dealt with bad LA's, bad Tenants and bad Landlords. Luckily I don't tar everyone with the same brush or I would never take on properties OR let to any Tenants.

I stopped posting in here ages ago as got sick of hearing the same thing time and time again. There used to be quite a few EA/LA's posting, I guess they all got fed up of defending themselves.

budgetdiyer

Reference fee is £40 per person, admin fee is £60 per tenancy.

Landlord fee varies depending on a number of factors, exact service (although the vast majority are fully managed, some landlords have different requirements to cater for), location of the property, desirability of property, number of properties they might have etc etc.

For example - A high end rental property would be at a higher fee because it will require more advertising / management when its let. For example in my area a property above £1000pcm the demand falls sharply.

- A modern refurbished flat a minutes walk from my office would be a lower fee - less management likely to be needed, no associated travel expenses etc etc

Mozzanov

A very interesting thread.

@budgetdiyer, what would you say is a fair overall fee to charge a tenant?

I almost rented a place recently, but the letting agent - wish I had read the reviews first - was odd, I'll say politely, and also had an extortionate admin fee £325. I looked to buy instead, but in a situation where I need a two bedroom property by April. Limited options for renting, but viewing somewhere tomorrow. The admin fee is £300 though, which seems very high to me, but then I have rented the same property through a HA for over ten years. So, it's interesting to learn views from "the other side".