Sometimes, property owners just do not have what it takes to rent and manage their own properties. They just do not have the time, the patience, or business skills to do all the work.
If you are in that group of people, then you should hire a letting agent to help you with the details of renting your property. The trick is to find the right letting agent and get their duties laid out clearly.
Generally, you can expect the letting agents to find tenants, collect the rent, and take care of simple housing issues. But their duties go beyond those three.
It is hard to pinpoint all the daily duties as management responsibilities do not take place every day. But many letting agents may offer a 24-hour service for when those occasions arise that need their attention.
The type of duties you can expect from your letting agent will be determined by the package you select. What you can expect to see in your letting agent is a good track record, commitment, and dedication.
With that, some of the duties you can expect to see on a daily basis for the tenant find package are as follows:
With a full-service package, you can expect to see your letting agent perform the following duties:
This will depend on the type of package the letting agency offers and the one you select. Each package will come with different duties, as you can see from the two examples in the previous section.
There will be some overlap between the packages, and for a fully managed package, you can expect your letting agent to do the following tasks:
Then for the online fully managed package, the following is what you can expect your letting agent to do:
The basic difference between the two fully managed packages is that the latter online option does not include any in-person duties. While the online letting agent does much the same work as a high street letting agent, the big difference is that they provide support through e-mail and telephone only.
If you are going to use your estate agent to handle your rental property and find tenants, they should be a member of one of the three government-approved letting agency redress schemes.
These schemes provide their members with their own code of conduct and professional standards. Then these estate agents should provide the following basic and general services:
Each agent needs to be fair when providing those services. The estate agent must abide by the rules governing letting agents and they may have different services that they provide, just like the letting agent has.
What you need to do is read the fine print in the terms & conditions section of the contract. That is where you will find all the restrictions, exclusions as well as duties the agent will perform.
The best thing to do is to talk to your estate agent and see what she or he says. They may not want to do any letting and may refer you to someone in their office who specializes in that area of real estate.
There are duties that the letting agent is not to do. These are important to remember when you are looking for a letting agent to hire.
The responsibility to see that these obligations are met is on the shoulders of the landlord. In the eyes of the law, the landlord is always responsible for these duties.
While the letting agent may say they will do those duties, it is up to the landlord to make sure they are done right.
Your letting agent will do their best to help smooth out the problems, but ultimately, this task is on the landlord’s shoulders as well. The letting agent will work with you on this problem when you have a full management package contract.
Lesser packages may not have the agent working on your behalf.
The same can be said for this common landlord/tenant problem. The letting agent will help as best they can, but in the end, the responsibility lies with the landlord.
To make sure about these responsibilities, read the terms and conditions closely. You should find the letting agency’s position on these problems in those caveats.
To help you with your letting problems and duties, give our agency a call. Not only do we have over 10 years of letting experience, but we also have top agents that can help you find tenants and manage your properties.
All it takes is one phone call to find out what we can do for you. Our fees are reasonable and affordable, so you know you are getting the best service for the right amount of money. Don’t hesitate, call today.
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