Tips on Selecting a Letting Agent
For a high number of landlords a letting agency is a must but there are other property owners that opt to manage the affairs of the property themselves and for landlords that select a letting agent they need to consider some factors when choosing a letting agent and some of them are discussed below. Letting agents offer various kinds of services and they are bundled under three offers which are full management services, tenant finding service and tenant finding service plus rent collection. The full management service gives all the responsibility to the letting agency and the agent takes up the work of finding a good tenant, collecting rent and paying the landlord, drawing up contracts and dealing with issues like maintenance and this is the most expensive type of service. Another option is the tenant search plus rent collection service which involves the letting agent looking for a suitable agent, verifying their employment status, checking their letting history and collecting rent for the landlord and the last kind of service is the tenant finding service which involves the agent looking for a proper tenant, drawing up the contract then leaving the rent collection and other maintenance services to the landlord.
The landlord has to understand the agent fees and there are mainly two ways that fees are charged and that is through a fixed fee or a proportion of rent and generally full management and tenant finding services are charged on a percentage basis and the person can expect ten percent of the rent as service fee for a full management service though there are agencies that charge higher. Another option is to pay a flat fee that is common among simple tenant finding services and these fees can vary greatly from one agent to another.
The landlord may use a trade association because trade associations are the most important and efficient ways to choose a reputable and fair agent because the membership of trade association generally requires that the agent signs up and follow a strict code of conduct that controls the way they deal with tenants and landlords. A personal recommendation is the most reliable form of endorsement and if the person knows some owners in the area they can ask them which agencies they would recommend and which agencies they would like to avoid at all costs and the same information can be obtained from the landlord association in the area one resides in. Guaranteed rent deals are popular among many landowners but the property owner needs to be wary of them because the rent they are likely to get is below market value for the property.
Source: additional hints