Letting agent experience Housy, Norhwoods etc

a_symmetry

Hi there,
I have a one bed mainsonette I have been letting out since 2013. Due to disability I am unable to live in the flat and have an agent managing it.
Recently, I've become very unhappy with their procedures and I'm wondering if it's worth changing.

Firstly, this agent asked me 'as an incentive' to get the current tenant to renew her policy' to sit in my flat and wait for a metre guy to come and inspect it. A metre she had installed I believe. My property is fully managed and the ageny said it wasn't feasible for them.

Her tenancy expires mid August and I have been asking for weeks if she intends to renew as I'm panicking about having a vacant property I can't afford, yet again. The property is in a good, high demand area, but agents are not proactive advertising it until the last minute. They will not give me an answer as to if this tenant is renewing or not.

So I started looking at rental guarantee agencies to save a LOT of stress long term. I've seen mixed reviews online so of course I'm wary. I am aware their fees are higher, which is fair enough. But, obviously the last thing I want to do is put myself in an even worse situation than I am now.

I just wondered if anyone has used either Housy or Northwoods (both of whom have sounded helpful, but I'm wary of being sucked in!) as their letting agency and if it's worth the risk in switching.
Any advice/ experience would be gratefully received as I cannot continue like this much longer!
Many thanks
Jen

csgohan4

To Answer your question, you need to understand the tenants rights and yours. there is no need to renew and just let it go on a rolling contract.


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5180214/tenancies-in-eng-wales-guides-for-landlords-and-tenants


Above is G_M's helpful guide, have a look.


I assume you have protected the Tenant's deposit and done gas safety checks e.t.c?

System

I have dealt with Northwood in the past, they are a franchise and each office is privately owned so as with any company the service is only as good as the individuals in that office.


The northwood scheme does work well but they do not pay you market rent and you are tied to them for the duration of the agreement. On average they pay 20% below the market rent

a_symmetry

Thanks for this suggestion, I will have a look.

My property is fully managed and they renew the tenancy usually around this time,every 12 months. But, when I asked if the tenant intends to stay on they said it would help my case if I would go to my flat for a day and wait for the 'metre issue' to be sorted. So the agent won't give me an answer and I know the metre issue is not my responsibility, nor can I even get to the flat at present to do that. The agent did say it was an 'unusual request' but would 'help give her an incentive to stay'. Which, has obviously made me worry that implies she's likely to not renew at the last minute.

Yes, the agent do all the necessary deposit schemes, which I've signed. It's all done through the mydesposits externally.

Thankfully, my property doesn't have gas so no certificate needed. I have the agency PAT test all eletricals (which there aren't many) and make sure the smoke alarm is working. My agents do usually rollover the tenancy, but the tenant has not currently stated if she is likely to stay on or not and I am started to panic that it will be empty for a long period again. This is what happened last year, only we knew the tenants were leaving and they had started to advertise long before now. This year it's been a case of 'once you've done this, we will ask the tenant'. I don't really know where I stand with my agent. Originally, they told me the tenant had intended to stay for around 4 years. Usually it's all renewed by now via Docusign, but the agents for some reason are being really slow this year.

I will have a look into that thank you.

csgohan4 wrote: »

To Answer your question, you need to understand the tenants rights and yours. there is no need to renew and just let it go on a rolling contract.





Above is G_M's helpful guide, have a look.


I assume you have protected the Tenant's deposit and done gas safety checks e.t.c?

G_M

I'm not a fan of these rent guarantee schemes.


Yes, you get a guaranteed monthly income but

* it is way below market rent
* you have a commercial tenancy (with the agent), not an AST - so can not make use of S21, S8 or other AST leglislation
* the agent has no incentive to choose good tenants as long as they get tenants in. And you have no say in the matter
* the agent has minimal incentive to see the property is cared for
* you have no control, not even to sack the agent once you've signed a commercial agreement
* your LL insurance is probably invalid - most require you to let on an AST
* Likewise your mortgage lender - and maybe your freeholder if a leasehold property

Now see


* New landlords: advice, information & links

* Letting agents: how should a landlord select or sack?

System

G_M wrote: »

I'm not a fan of these rent guarantee schemes.


Yes, you get a guaranteed monthly income but

* it is way below market rent
* you have a commercial tenancy (with the agent), not an AST - so can not make use of S21, S8 or other AST leglislation
* the agent has no incentive to choose good tenants as long as they get tenants in. And you have no say in the matter
* the agent has minimal incentive to see the property is cared for
* you have no control, not even to sack the agent once you've signed a commercial agreement
* your LL insurance is probably invalid - most require you to let on an AST
* Likewise your mortgage lender - and maybe your freeholder if a leasehold property

Now see


* New landlords: advice, information & links

* Letting agents: how should a landlord select or sack?

Sorry disagree with this statement GM, companies like Northwood self indemnify themselves with a deposit equivalent to a normal deposit and they are using their own money to pay the landlord rent every month so if they put in a tenant that doesn't pay or damages the property it could cost them a pretty penny plus should they need to evict the court costs become their cost and not the landlords.


But as previously stated they pay an average of 20% below market rent but there are no management or set up fee to pay so for some people it works for them.