Letting agents services to landlords
Once you have purchased that buy to let property you wanted, your next order of business is to fix it up and find tenants so you start earning revenue on the property. You could do these things yourself, especially if you want to be a full-time landlord. But if you want to build up a portfolio of buy to let properties, you will be busy hunting for property to purchase and arranging for buy to let mortgages; you may neither have the time nor the inclination to focus on the mundane responsibilities of property letting. This is where letting agencies can help you.
The main function of the letting agencies is to help the landlord with the management of the property or act on their behalf. Some letting agencies, known as accommodation agencies, are limited to looking for tenants for properties. If you want to be a full time landlord, you can still contact them for help in finding tenants.
It should not be difficult for you to find a good letting agency. There are listings for letting agencies included in the Yellow Pages, but the more reliable source could be the Association of Residential Letting Agents (or their website) since the association knows those agencies that are conforming with ethical industry practices. Your national association of landlords may also be able to provide assistance.
The accommodation agencies can take care of screening the prospective tenants for you. They usually take holding deposits from the prospective tenants and check their references. This usually means the bank where they keep their accounts, their employers, and their previous landlords. They may also pull the credit reports of the concerned parties for review.
As the letting agent is acting on your behalf, you are entitled to see the references and this is often advisable so that you can veto any prospective tenant that you are not completely happy with.
Taking an inventory is normally done by independent inventory taking firms, acting on the agents behalf. This should work out better for you as well as your tenant since the credibility of the inventory compilation is assured. It will provide benchmark information on the contents and condition of every item in your property that is part of the tenancy agreement. Your letting agent should make sure to be around when the inventory is being compiled, to verify the entries to the inventory report. This will be one of the bases for resolving issues, in case there is a dispute when the tenancy ends.
Arranging for repairs and maintenance can be a bother, especially if some of your buy to let properties are let to students. In buy to let student properties, tenants can be rough on doors and fixtures, furniture, the white goods, or carpets; you may not want to be bogged down by all these details and out-sourcing the maintenance managemenet of these items to your letting agent may save you time and money
Normally, a landlord wants to conduct quarterly inspections of the let premises to ensure that the property and its contents are being cared for well; it is also an occasion to get informed about any issues that may need to be addressed. You can ask the letting agencies to do this for you.
The other important things that your letting agent should attend to are:
- the gas safety inspection before a new tenant comes in. This is required by law, and failure to do this constitutes a criminal offence where you could be liable;
- the tenant's deposit which you will have to handle under the new tenancy deposit schemes implemented last April 2007;
- in case your property is vacant during the winter months (or between November to March), the heating and water systems should be drained down to avoid damage due to freezing (which can be terribly expensive and could void the insurance cover).
