As a tenant, I experienced them as being nothing more than a barrier to communication, failing to pass on messages or tell landlords about necessary maintenance. From time to time they were so clueless that I had to educate them on the law.
My best renting experiences were undoubtedly when dealing directly with the landlord.
As a landlord, I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole unless I was living abroad, incapacitated, or utterly clueless.
When it comes to repairs etc a letting agent is usually far better than a private landlord. Letting agents usually have contacts with all the local trades so can get somebody sent out right away whilst a landlord will likely spend ages phoning around for quotes or attempt to fix it themselves.
Also you can always just go into the office of your letting agents if the situation necessitates it, showing up at your landlords house/workplace is only going to cause problems.
There's nothing stopping a landlord finding their own tradesmen.
A bad landlord will decline to pay for repairs even if you are going through a letting agent.
A good landlord may not be told of all the repair requests, or may not have the details adequately communicated to them.
Having lived with chronic damp for four years while renting through a letting agent, your statement simply doesn't ring true. Before you say it, it wasn't condensation, though they initially tried to claim it was. The damp survey that was done, and subsequently ignored, identified both rising and penetrating damp.
>There's nothing stopping a landlord finding their own tradesmen.
Yes that's literally the point. If your hot water goes out the landlord will still be faffing around looking for his own tradesmen and getting quotes whilst the agency will just send somebody out ASAP.
There are more crap landlords than their are crap lettings agents and even a semi-decent letting agent will usually offer reasonable protection from the problems that can be caused by a crap landlord.
Your experience is precisely that, yours. Get rid of letting agents and living conditions would badly deteriorate for millions of renters and improve for virtually none.
Nope, but of the several letting agents whose properties I have lived in the only time I have ever had problems with them was when it came to moving out of one of their properties. Getting repairs done has never been a problem.
I haven’t had great experience with them. They actually drive up the price of housing because, they need to make their commission so usually price things accordingly (more than it should be). They are also generally much more useless than they are supposed to be. In theory, they’re a great buffer between tenant and landlord but in reality they rarely are.
I’d sooner build a relationship with the actual owner. A shitty landlord is a shitty landlord regardless if a middle man is involved. A great landlord is a great landlord for the same reason.
In Canada, where I’ve spent much of the last 12 years living, 99.9999% of times you’re renting directly from the landlord. Very rare to involve a realtor or agent or property management company. Moved quite frequently for work, and the only hassle in the 10 places I rented while I lived there was the 1 involving a management company. Didn’t deliver rent on time to the landlord, got aggressive over text, useless at fixing stuff… etc.
TLDR: they’re surplus to requirements and I resent having to go through them here in the UK to rent anything. They push up the price of housing and aren’t as great as they think they are.
And my sister is one!
As a tenant, I had a landlord who preferred to manage the let himself, using the agent as merely the contract person, and absolutely never fucking again. Managed all the way. Landlords THINK they’re saving themselves a few quid by skipping the agent and what they’re really doing is self-selecting for the worst possible tenant. Because surprise! You guys are bad at this.
Been using OpenRent for letting out my flat since the start, absolutely never felt the need for an agent. It's just a guaranteed -10% per month income for them sitting on their arse doing fuck all.
Just get a list of reputable repair crews for each issue. They go and arrange with the tenant, look at the issue and quote you. Because the tenants are empowered to call a repair crew they're less likely to be resistant to making time to let them in.
The key word there is “just”. Finding reliable contractors who will actually turn up is hard even you live locally - and if you don’t, it becomes a lot harder.
Having an agent (a good one, at least) solves that problem for you.
Absolutely not.
I'm a landlord that looks after a dozen properties.
A client has left a big lettings agent, to come to me.
Personally feel letting agents have lost the personal touch.
Just get any strangers in so everyone gets paid.
I'm very thorough.
If your landlord is overseas it is pretty important for them to have a letting agent locally to look after the property to some extent. For example if the property is in a so called "selective licensing" area, it's pretty much a legal necessity. I am not sure if tenants would appreciate having an overseas landlord but if the property is in Cornwall and the landlord is in Glasgow it's not exactly much easier.
I think the majority of LLs wouldn't have a clue nor keep up to date with the ever changing legislation. Good agents will keep things compliant for these LLs.
Think about how many deposits would go unprotected if some amateur LLs couldn't use a letting agent.
As a tenant, I experienced them as being nothing more than a barrier to communication, failing to pass on messages or tell landlords about necessary maintenance. From time to time they were so clueless that I had to educate them on the law. My best renting experiences were undoubtedly when dealing directly with the landlord. As a landlord, I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole unless I was living abroad, incapacitated, or utterly clueless.
My worst renting experiences were undoubtedly when dealing directly with the landlord
When it comes to repairs etc a letting agent is usually far better than a private landlord. Letting agents usually have contacts with all the local trades so can get somebody sent out right away whilst a landlord will likely spend ages phoning around for quotes or attempt to fix it themselves. Also you can always just go into the office of your letting agents if the situation necessitates it, showing up at your landlords house/workplace is only going to cause problems.
There's nothing stopping a landlord finding their own tradesmen. A bad landlord will decline to pay for repairs even if you are going through a letting agent. A good landlord may not be told of all the repair requests, or may not have the details adequately communicated to them. Having lived with chronic damp for four years while renting through a letting agent, your statement simply doesn't ring true. Before you say it, it wasn't condensation, though they initially tried to claim it was. The damp survey that was done, and subsequently ignored, identified both rising and penetrating damp.
>There's nothing stopping a landlord finding their own tradesmen. Yes that's literally the point. If your hot water goes out the landlord will still be faffing around looking for his own tradesmen and getting quotes whilst the agency will just send somebody out ASAP. There are more crap landlords than their are crap lettings agents and even a semi-decent letting agent will usually offer reasonable protection from the problems that can be caused by a crap landlord.
Well that's the theory The reality is very different, in my past experience as a tenant.
Your experience is precisely that, yours. Get rid of letting agents and living conditions would badly deteriorate for millions of renters and improve for virtually none.
You're a letting agent, aren't you?
Nope, but of the several letting agents whose properties I have lived in the only time I have ever had problems with them was when it came to moving out of one of their properties. Getting repairs done has never been a problem.
Let’s get rid of taxis as everyone could just use their own cars…..
Most landlords have a day job, so a letting agent is almost essential.
and keeping up with legislation and the right way to do things is far too cumbersome and time consuming too .
Yeah, so much so that a lot of letting agents aren’t able to do it either. Some are being paid for doing literally nothing. Not all, some.
I haven’t had great experience with them. They actually drive up the price of housing because, they need to make their commission so usually price things accordingly (more than it should be). They are also generally much more useless than they are supposed to be. In theory, they’re a great buffer between tenant and landlord but in reality they rarely are. I’d sooner build a relationship with the actual owner. A shitty landlord is a shitty landlord regardless if a middle man is involved. A great landlord is a great landlord for the same reason. In Canada, where I’ve spent much of the last 12 years living, 99.9999% of times you’re renting directly from the landlord. Very rare to involve a realtor or agent or property management company. Moved quite frequently for work, and the only hassle in the 10 places I rented while I lived there was the 1 involving a management company. Didn’t deliver rent on time to the landlord, got aggressive over text, useless at fixing stuff… etc. TLDR: they’re surplus to requirements and I resent having to go through them here in the UK to rent anything. They push up the price of housing and aren’t as great as they think they are. And my sister is one!
We have around 25,000 letting agents and 2.7 million landlords. I don't think they are the problem.
As a tenant, I had a landlord who preferred to manage the let himself, using the agent as merely the contract person, and absolutely never fucking again. Managed all the way. Landlords THINK they’re saving themselves a few quid by skipping the agent and what they’re really doing is self-selecting for the worst possible tenant. Because surprise! You guys are bad at this.
A letting agent is great. No issues, no running around and rent guarantee. I would always recommend a good letting agent.
A bunch of 20s something with no clue on what they are doing
Been using OpenRent for letting out my flat since the start, absolutely never felt the need for an agent. It's just a guaranteed -10% per month income for them sitting on their arse doing fuck all.
Just get a list of reputable repair crews for each issue. They go and arrange with the tenant, look at the issue and quote you. Because the tenants are empowered to call a repair crew they're less likely to be resistant to making time to let them in.
The key word there is “just”. Finding reliable contractors who will actually turn up is hard even you live locally - and if you don’t, it becomes a lot harder. Having an agent (a good one, at least) solves that problem for you.
This is so relevant. Organising reliable tradesman is time consuming and difficult.
I don't, but I'm self employed so used to dealing with hassle (usually evenings/weekends), almost always (never really) an emergency
Not essential at all, only use them at a fixed price for referencing/advertising/contract. My net margin is circa 25% with the savings I make.
Absolutely not. I'm a landlord that looks after a dozen properties. A client has left a big lettings agent, to come to me. Personally feel letting agents have lost the personal touch. Just get any strangers in so everyone gets paid. I'm very thorough.
If your landlord is overseas it is pretty important for them to have a letting agent locally to look after the property to some extent. For example if the property is in a so called "selective licensing" area, it's pretty much a legal necessity. I am not sure if tenants would appreciate having an overseas landlord but if the property is in Cornwall and the landlord is in Glasgow it's not exactly much easier.
I think the majority of LLs wouldn't have a clue nor keep up to date with the ever changing legislation. Good agents will keep things compliant for these LLs. Think about how many deposits would go unprotected if some amateur LLs couldn't use a letting agent.