OpenRent vs Traditional Letting Agent?

gazfocus

Following the sale of our rental house falling through, we have been mulling over the idea of renting it out again rather than selling it. Looking at houses available in our area, there’s only one 4 bedroom house available so kinda feel like we’d be doing a good deed keeping the house on the rental market, but obviously there will be a fair amount of demand and we might get inundated. 

Anyway, with the likes of OpenRent where I can advertise on rightmove and do the tenant referencing, rent guarantee insurance, etc, is there any real reason to use a traditional letting agent? Other than doing the viewings (though I’d like to meet prospective tenants myself), what does a Letting Agent do that OpenRent don’t? 

theartfullodger

Traditional letting agent definitely not. 

A decent, responsive, expert letting agent maybe.

Fundamental issue is that to be a lettings agent in England requires no qualifications, no training,no criminal records check.

Bonkers!

gazfocus

theartfullodger said:

Traditional letting agent definitely not. 

A decent, responsive, expert letting agent maybe.

Fundamental issue is that to be a lettings agent in England requires no qualifications, no training,no criminal records check.

Bonkers!

Haha, yes I see what you’re saying. If we were to use a LA it would be the EA we listed the house for sale with. They are also the LA we got our current rental from so know how they work and trust them. My issue is that they will cost us £1500 for finding a tenant (vs £29 + referencing) with OpenRent, then if we wanted them to manage the rental, it’d be 10% of the rent each month. 

anselld

Really you should not pay finders fee *and* full management.  Most agents on full management will find their own tenants.  There might be some admin fees to the L but £1500 is way OTT if already on fully managed.

If you know what you are doing then OpenRent / self-manage is fine, but mistakes can be expensive if you are inexperienced.

... PS ... you cannot afford to trust any Agent.  Mistakes are still on you as L.

gazfocus

anselld said:

Really you should not pay finders fee *and* full management.  Most agents on full management will find their own tenants.  There might be some admin fees to the L but £1500 is way OTT if already on fully managed.

If you know what you are doing then OpenRent / self-manage is fine, but mistakes can be expensive if you are inexperienced.

... PS ... you cannot afford to trust any Agent.  Mistakes are still on you as L.

I’ve spoken to two LA’s so far and one charges 50% of the first months rent, the other charges 100% of the first months rent for finding a tenant. I’m waiting to hear back from the third. They then both quoted 10% of each months rent for managing which will be £150 per month.

As I say, we’ve rented the house before so do know how to get our ducks in a row, but as for mistakes, I also get what you’re saying. 

Just as an example, the LA we got our last rental property with photographed every inch of the house when we moved in, the LA we got our current rental through didn’t do a check in inventory but took photos at the 3 month inspection so I know they’ll have a much more difficult time deducting from our deposit if the need arises, so even using a LA is no guarantee of all things being correctly done. 

Green_hopeful

We have used open rent to let our my sons house a couple of times and it has been fine. The credit check process was rubbish for us the only time we used it. The people didn’t listen to what our proposed tenants said or deal with their employers properly. The estate agents just ask you to prove your income is three times the rent to show affordability. 

I suppose it depends on how involved you want to be. We normally advertise and then do all the viewings the next weekend. We do all the day to day management and know local tradespeople so we are as good as any agent. 

gazfocus

Green_hopeful said:

We have used open rent to let our my sons house a couple of times and it has been fine. The credit check process was rubbish for us the only time we used it. The people didn’t listen to what our proposed tenants said or deal with their employers properly. The estate agents just ask you to prove your income is three times the rent to show affordability. 

I suppose it depends on how involved you want to be. We normally advertise and then do all the viewings the next weekend. We do all the day to day management and know local tradespeople so we are as good as any agent. 

Sorry, was it the credit check process on OpenRent that was rubbish?

We already know a really good maintenance guy. He seems to know enough himself to do quick fixes if his own trades contacts aren’t immediately available and he already knows the house quite well from work he’s done while we lived in the house, so I’d almost certainly get him on board.

I think that’s one of my concerns with a LA managing the rental…we’d have very little control over how much they spend on fixing any issues, and they can just keep rent to pay for it. 

The only reason I’ve considered a LA is because I feel like tenants are less likely to try and get away with paying their rent late if it’s a LA they are paying rent to but I could well just be over thinking it. 

BobT36

gazfocus said:
I think that’s one of my concerns with a LA managing the rental…we’d have very little control over how much they spend on fixing any issues, and they can just keep rent to pay for it.

In my last rental, the shower valve was leaking. The LA's plumber came and said the part would be very hard to find, replace the whole shower.. 
I looked online, found the part (just a flow valve and involved measuring it and counting the teeth!) and with their permission, bought and installed it myself. 

They paid me back for it of course, but it was about a couple of quid lol. I saved the landlord big time there, should have just kept my mouth zipped and enjoyed a brand new shower! It just didn't feel right though as I knew it didn't need a full replacement just for a flow valve.
Crazy.  

Murphybear

theartfullodger said:

Traditional letting agent definitely not. 

A decent, responsive, expert letting agent maybe.

Fundamental issue is that to be a lettings agent in England requires no qualifications, no training,no criminal records check.

Bonkers!

Couldn’t agree more.  Use an ARLA agent, the agent must have passed the ARLA exams which are not a piece of cake.  Ask if they’ve got the Advanced exams, these are quite difficult.  How do I know?  I’ve passed them both

fiish

When I married my wife, we were living in different cities and each had our own place. We moved into one and rented out the other. I shopped around for a letting agent and used their management service, mainly because the rental property was far away. The letting agent is organized and responsive, and I'd probably keep using them if the current tenants moved out.

Now we're moving within the same council area, and will probably let out our old home using OpenRent as we won't be very far, so travelling for viewings and later inspections is less of an issue, and we also have a bit more experience doing maintenance and dealing with trades.

Even with a fully managed service, the landlord is still ultimately responsible for everything, particularly the really important decisions like choosing the tenant. 

FFHillbilly

the margins for private landlords is just getting smaller and smaller, I'd have a think about managing it yourself it's not that much different and the more you do the easier it gets. theres loads of info online for landlords, you could sign upto a body like the NRLA etc. I have never bothered with one and just do it myself (I've used Openrent to advertise it only, it's ok but still really annoys me)

gazfocus said:

The only reason I’ve considered a LA is because I feel like tenants are less likely to try and get away with paying their rent late if it’s a LA they are paying rent to but I could well just be over thinking it. 

you can create you're own letting agent if you like, set up a different e-mail address, set up a bank account and name it "made up lettings agency" etc...