What to look for in a Letting Agent

Choosing the right letting agent to rent your property can make the difference between a successful, profitable buy to let and one that just becomes a nightmare.

Most people choose their letting agent based on price, but this could mean you don't get the service you want. Before you start talking to letting agents, it's a good idea to work out what role you want to play as a landlord and exactly what you want the letting agent to do.

Full Time Landlord

If you are happy to manage the let yourself and deal with tenants on a day to day basis, then you might just use a letting agent for tenant find purposes.

Part Time Landlord

You might prefer to hand over the job of finding a tenant and day to day responsibility to a letting agent, but want to maintain the property yourself. In this case, it's essential that you agree this with the letting agent before you sign their terms of business agreement.

Passive Landlord

If you live far away from the property or have a busy job, you may want to hand over all property issues to the letting agent. It's a good idea to ensure you agree what decisions they can make without contacting you, such as how much they can spend on any repairs. Set up and agree in writing an approval procedure if it is not included in the terms of business contract.

Once you know how much you want the letting agent to do, it's important to visit each letting agent and ideally secure a reference by talking to a current landlord. Before you talk about prices, go through all the services they offer and understand how they will carry out their services, including:

  • market your property
  • carry out tenant referencing and credit checks
  • how they keep up to date with legal changes
  • when you will receive your rent
  • what their statements will look like
  • what happens if a tenant defaults on payment

Another good way to work out whether they are the right agent for you is to ask what happens if they make a mistake or you are unhappy with their service. All agents should have a complaints procedure.

After you've asked all these questions, then it's worth talking about pricing. Do add up all the costs you will incur to let and re-let each property so that you can compare letting agents' costs on a like for like basis.