Landlord management companies

[Stratman]

Toe in the water time.

We have a house which we rent to one of our sons but he wants to move on. If we sell we'll have lots of money sitting in the bank earning 0.00000001%, so the alternative is to rent it out again. Renting it to our son was easy, but I don't really want to drive three quarters of an hour each way to put a drop of oil on a squeaky hinge or change a light bulb.

I'm assuming there are companies who will take over the running of the place, from finding suitable tenants to doing the maintenance and suchlike, and send me the remains of the rental each month.

Do they exist, what are they called, where do I find them and what do they charge?

Any and all information and advice will be treasured.

 

[airportstar]

Estate agents.

 

[AMGeed]

Estate agents.

Or more specifically, letting agents

I think this is Developer (John's) field of interest.I expect he'll comment

 

[developer]

Letting agents offer a suite of "products" from tenant find (the cheapest) to full management (the most expensive).

If you want little involvement due to distance or other, then full management may be the answer. It's not cheap - perhaps 12 to 15 percent of gross rent, plus you're responsible for repair/maintenance costs.

Really what you need is an agent that can respond to both your tenant's and your own needs, as if they mis-manage stuff you'll lose your tenant and voids (empty property periods) are expensive.

I'd try to work on personal recommendations - there are few barriers to entry in becoming an estate agent and while letters after the name like MNEA or FNEA look impressive, they are paid subscription monikers.

 

[oldguy57]

From my own experience I would only go with a "big name" letting agent. They may charge more but local one man bands can be an absolute nightmare. Personally if I had to let out a property again, I wouldn't. Plenty of people seem to make a success of it though.

 

[Stratman]

Thanks.

Full management sounds like it could be the answer, although as I don't know any landlords I'll be sticking a pin in the yellow pages. 12-15 percent sounds OK, it wouldn't have surprised me if you'd said 20-25.

I'm guessing I'd be better off steering clear of the national chains of estate agents (Foxtons for example) and going for a local independent near the property.

Oldguy57 beat me to the post. I shall have to set aside my prejudices...

 

[developer]

Thanks.

Full management sounds like it could be the answer, although as I don't know any landlords I'll be sticking a pin in the yellow pages. 12-15 percent sounds OK, it wouldn't have surprised me if you'd said 20-25.

I'm guessing I'd be better off steering clear of the national chains of estate agents (Foxtons for example) and going for a local independent near the property.

It might be higher in your area.

I'd look for an NLA or ARLA member - still paid up subscription clubs but at least they've shown some interest in the industry.

You must protect your tenant's deposit too - there are significant consequences if you don't.

 

[Codger49]

My daughter has ARLA after her name on her business card, I seem to remember she did have to pass some exams to get it.

 

[moonloops]

Landlord Advice - Renting a Property Made Easy

 

[developer]

My daughter has ARLA after her name on her business card, I seem to remember she did have to pass some exams to get it.

It would seem so, albeit a bit "in house".
Qualifications | ARLA

 

[Piff]

20% is typical in this area and that only includes phoning the man to go oil the hinge, doesn't include the call out charge of the man or the oil

 

[Bellow]

Thanks.

Full management sounds like it could be the answer, although as I don't know any landlords I'll be sticking a pin in the yellow pages. 12-15 percent sounds OK, it wouldn't have surprised me if you'd said 20-25.

I'm guessing I'd be better off steering clear of the national chains of estate agents (Foxtons for example) and going for a local independent near the property.
.

Jump on the 'net as though you were looking for a property similar to your's to rent. You will soon see who the active letting/estate agents in your area are.

 

[scumbag]

Yep. Locally based letting agents attached to a large chain are reasonable. They have a better spread of tenants wanting properties. If they have been in business a long time and have a good rep, they are usually ok.

I have a house in west yorkshire tenanted for 10 years. Full management. They contact me every so often to tell me what has broken and sometimes ask for a view on what to do. They never agree to spend money unless it is approved.

Had one issue this year, when the washer broke down. However, for some reason when the last one broke down 18months ago, they replaced it with a refurbished one. Obviously I didn't pick up on that at the time. I said, replace with new. If I get 10 years out of it will have been 25 quid a year. If I get 5 years out of it 50quid a year. get on with it. refurb;s was 180. a tenner a month. bin.

Had two bad tenants and probably 5 good ones including the latest.

one of the bad ones left the house full of rubbish basically and unclean. costs two days of cleaning from a local domestic cleaner. (The letting agent found out they were paying for that and also providing the new tenant finding service for free, amazing what turning up in a suit and being calm gets you, they hadn't performed 6 monthly checks like they said they would.).

The other tenant I felt a tad sorry for. They had the mother in law from hell, who felt they should pay £1 and get rolls royce service. The central heating boiler broke, about 2 hrs later, I had agreed to get man in to fix and bill me, my responsibility and this was all arranged via the agent. not bad service. However parts were required, not available, salavaged something, bodged it up, got it working, came back a week later to fit proper bits.....mother in law of the tenants (not the tenants mind), felt compensation was in order, one or two other things, lots of shouting at the letting agent.

Anyway, a they got nothing as I had done everything reasonable. B two months later when the renewal of the lease was to be extended, they got notice it was being take off the rental market, please fine somewhere else. They did, moved out, back up in rent, new tenants within the month.

If anyone wants to buy the house please make me an offer.....

 

[Deleted member 11979]

I am an estate agent and I would never use a large chain like countrywide or sequence or connells.

They generally (not always) have a large turn over of I'll trained young staff without the experience or gumption to deal properly with tricky tenant situations.

I would use a local multi office agent, but more importantly vet the particular agent handling your property. You are I am afraid just a number.

Full management shouldn't be more than 10% plus vat, in Devon anyway.

I would and do always meet the tenants too, they will be in your house after all, we see many applicants daily who don't smoke yet seem to reek of it for example.

Good luck, chose your tenant and agent well and it should be pretty straight forward.

 

[Deleted member 11979]

Also, watch the fees charged to the tenant, countrywide charge £600 per couple for example on set up, this will deter tenants from renting your house

 

[developer]

I would and do always meet the tenants too, they will be in your house after all,

This^^^ (if you are able).

I use a local agent for tenant find only, but always meet the potential tenant before proceeding.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Having dealt with many different estate agents over the past four years I still find it astounding how they get away with charging more than the solicitors for their services.

 

[The _Don]

Having dealt with many different estate agents over the past four years I still find it astounding how they get away with charging more than the solicitors for their services.

Maybe not for long -

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3da7c0f6-..._links/rss/companies_financials/feed//product

 

[Stratman]

We ended up going with the chain agency (Barnard Marcus) through which my son found his new place.

Their initial 18% fully managed fee very rapidly became 10% + VAT. For that they deduct PAYE and do everything else including finding and vetting prospective tenants, so our total involvement will be to have money deposited into Mrs. Stratman's account every month.

 

[Tombola]

I have 2 managed propertys and it is a 10% + VAT fee. They do everything from dealing with any problems (anything that costs less than £100 they do without asking, but they are sensible people so if it is £100 for a lightbulb they don't just say yes for example)to finding a new tenant for us and vetting them first. Guess it depends on the region as for costs.