letting agents...

thetope

Further to cifpower's post above, after reading a thread posted a couple of years ago on the same topic, I chose Martin & Co to let out my property starting last February (also in Cregagh).

I had a couple of agents come to the house but to be honest the guy from Martin & Co was by far the most thorough and basically made me feel like it would be in safe hands... and they were also very competitive! I don't know what it's like with other agents but i did have to go through all the official hoops such as registering with Belfast City Council, getting Corgi gas certificate for my gas hob (which I admit I should have already had!) and electrical pat testing done. I had the house rented within 5 days of appointing them which was amazing though it was a very busy period for renting and then when the tenants (eastern europeans who bailed when the work dried out) left after 6 months (I initially accepted a 6 months-with-the-option-to-extend contract as I wasn't sure how moving in with my boyfriend would pan out!) I had two more tenants within a fortnight. The house was spotless and they check on it after 4 weeks then every 4 months thereafter to make sure the tenants aren't trashing the house. I would wholeheartedly recommend them as I (touch wood!) haven't had any trouble at all so far.

(edit: here's the thread i was talking about) http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=239629

nozzadamozza

hi niceday999- as someone who was looking to rent back in sept (there is a thread on it - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1104847- I wrote at the time of my experiences with some estate agents- so dont know if it would be helpful to you- but we found some estate agents didnt seem to care if they rented the house out or not (which considering the current climate, you would think they would have been more enthusiastic!)

niceday999

thetope wrote: »

Further to cifpower's post above, after reading a thread posted a couple of years ago on the same topic, I chose Martin & Co to let out my property starting last February (also in Cregagh).

I had a couple of agents come to the house but to be honest the guy from Martin & Co was by far the most thorough and basically made me feel like it would be in safe hands... and they were also very competitive! I don't know what it's like with other agents but i did have to go through all the official hoops such as registering with Belfast City Council, getting Corgi gas certificate for my gas hob (which I admit I should have already had!) and electrical pat testing done. I had the house rented within 5 days of appointing them which was amazing though it was a very busy period for renting and then when the tenants (eastern europeans who bailed when the work dried out) left after 6 months (I initially accepted a 6 months-with-the-option-to-extend contract as I wasn't sure how moving in with my boyfriend would pan out!) I had two more tenants within a fortnight. The house was spotless and they check on it after 4 weeks then every 4 months thereafter to make sure the tenants aren't trashing the house. I would wholeheartedly recommend them as I (touch wood!) haven't had any trouble at all so far.

(edit: here's the thread i was talking about) http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=239629

Did you have to get the people yourself to get the gas and electric checked ? Do you need this done every year ?
i will need the epc certificate but will be able to contact someone off here....Thanks

thetope

The agent organised the electricity but I organised the gas testing myself - they could have dealt with it as well if i'd wanted them to, but I needed a bit of work done at the same time so just organised it myself. Can't remember if it needs done every year though!

I asked them to arrange the EPC - I could have organised it myself a little bit cheaper, but it's easier for them to sort out access with the tenants

manalive_2

Can anyone recomment a good agent to talk to about lettings in the south/east belfast areas. Whats people's experiences ? Is it better to use the listings in the paper ?

Also whats a reasonable price for a 2 bed place ? And are listed prices negotiable ?

blondie21

My sister always uses Gumtree.....There is always loads on there.....with pics etc......
where abouts are you looking for ?
there is a thread on here somewhere on the NI board ....

arkonite_babe

We have a thread similar to this already, I'll add your query to it so all the replies are together. Posts are listed in date order so you'll need to read from the beginning to catch up

MOVING THREADS FOR BETTER RESPONSES

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL]

leftieM

I've recently been looking at places to rent and MortonPinpoint seem to put houses on too high. They have a lot of properties sticking on the market because they are on for up to £100 a month more than people are willing to pay. I don't know if the landlords put pressure on them to get a premium or they oversell in the first place to get the business - probably the latter.
TMC are more realistic and their houses are let quickly.
At the moment, for the kind of places I was looking at (family homes), supply outstrips demand.

Manalive - there's a great resource called propertybee that works through Firefox. You can check how long places have been listed before they are let. The longer a place has been on the market, the better your chance of getting a discount (as they are probably on too high to begin with.) Also you can usually expect a better deal for a 12 month lease. It's good to see a lot of places, even if only on the internet, to get a feel for the value of rental places in different areas.

manalive_2

thanks for the info. Anyone had any luck in the past with getting the rental price reduced ?

cifpower

My friends got £50pm knocked off by bringing their own furniture but this was with a private renter in the Telegraph classifeids. Don't know if that would make a difference.