What are the benefits of landlords using a letting agent?

When you become a Landlord it may be easy to think that cutting out a letting agent – and the associated fees – from the process of renting out a property is one way of boosting your bottom line. However, as the pandemic has shown us, it’s more important than ever to protect your rental investment – and having a letting agent can be one way of doing that.

As Letting Agents, we wear many hats in our day to day property management duties, we are negotiators, maintenance operatives, financial wizards and contract experts, to name just a few. All of this culminates in you ultimately saving you time and money, and potentially boosting your profits.

There are plenty of good reasons why landlords choose to work with letting agents, regardless of whether they own one property or one hundred, and here are just a few of those reasons…

Your legal requirements are taken care of:

Before you can think about letting your residential property out to a tenant, there are specific legal demands that have to be fulfilled, including gas and electrical safety, fire and security obligations and also Energy Performance Certificates.

No matter whether you have a let only or fully managed plan with your letting representative, they will certainly remove these worries from you. They will also keep you up to date on any adjustments in legislation, making certain that your residential property adheres to them. Often the small changes suggested by a letting agent can make all the difference.

The most suitable tenants will be found:

Not only will an agent be able to find potential tenants faster due to comprehensive marketing of the property, they will also be able to find the most suitable tenants through an extensive screening and referencing process. It’s impossible to completely eradicate potential problems down the line, but it gives you the best opportunity to rest easy.

Through experience they will also be able to recognise the common signs of potentially-troublesome tenants, and may even have had experience with a tenant previously. If you have a fully managed service, the collection of re-let fees and the costs of tenancy renewal negotiations should always be included.

A proper inventory will be carried out:

It’s essential these days that an in-depth inventory is carried out prior to anyone moving in. If the process is rushed and certain factors are overlooked, a landlord has little chance of winning if taken to adjudication by tenants. A professional and efficient letting agency will always provide specially-trained staff who can carry out this work for you, resulting in a full written and photographic inventory, which will always be given more weight by an adjudicator than one a landlord has drafted themselves.

Regular property checks will be actioned:

To ensure your property is being kept in a good state, a letting agent will perform regular property checks, this not only puts your mind at ease but also prevents any mistreatment of your property from reaching a critical stage, such as infestation or garden overgrowth, should you ever need to find new tenants quickly. The property check process allows your letting agent to act as a middleman between you and your tenants by gaining access to the property on your behalf.

You’ll never need to call a handyman:

If your property is fully managed, it is standard for a letting agent to  include an emergency call-out service, meaning you should never have to worry about being woken up in the middle of the night because of a boiler breakdown in the middle of winter. All repairs and maintenance are taken care of in the service, sparing you from having to keep a plumber, an electrician and a builder on speed dial.

At Stuarts Residential we know that your time is precious, but so too are your properties. If it’s your first property, you may want to lend a helping hand till you establish your portfolio, or if you already own multiple properties, you can be safe in the knowledge that each one is being carefully looked after by a knowledgeable and professional team.