If you want to put your house or flat up for the rental market, you need to find a good letting agent that will find you the right tenant for the right price. Here are some points to look for when you begin researching local letting agents.
Full or part time management
Before you begin looking, you need to work out what kind of service you need from a letting agent. Their services range from full time property management to merely finding you the tenant. If you would rather the general maintenance of the house be taken care of, you’re better off going for a letting agent that will offer property management. This means that any problems or issues that may arise from the tenant’s perspective, can be dealt with by the agent rather than yourself.
Advertising avenues
You should ask potential letting agents about the different advertising avenues and marketing ideas. A good letting agent will use a variety, to reach the most amount of people. These include ‘To Let’ boards, housing websites and newspaper adverts. This is where a national letting agent may be beneficial as they may have more advertising options, but a local letting agent will have more localised adverts so it’s worth asking about.
Previous lettings
Find out what kind of rental properties the letting agent typically works with, the type of tenant that they usually find and the typical length of tenancy. This will help give you an idea of whether they are well suited to the type of tenant you are looking for and if they have previous experience similar to your own situation.
Letting fees
Before you agree on a letting agent, you should find out what kind of fees they charge. It’s most likely that their fees will be a percentage of the rental price over the whole length of the tenancy, starting from 10% however this does vary. Check what their fee involves too, so you can be clear where your money is going.
Most agencies will have a ‘no let, no fee’ basis so it might be worth your time selecting a few and seeing how they perform.
Furnished or unfurnished?
Once you’ve found a letting agent, you need to decide whether you’ll let your property with or without furniture. If you have furniture that needs to be put away in storage, Intransit can help. We are a removal company with storage containers that are specially constructed, in order to keep your furniture and belongings safe.
If you’d like some more information, you can call us for a chat on 01225 759200 or you can request a quote online.
