UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi,

I am a new landlord with 1 property and would would like advice as to which lettings agent to use for managing my property.

Assuming the monthly management fee is the same between both letting agents, Peter Morgan and Peter Alan, which do you recommend I choose based on your own experience as a landlord?

My property is based in the Swansea area.

Thanks.

Have you spoken to both Peters?
How did one Peter differentiate himself from the other Peter, as you can't differentiate on price you need to differentiate on service.
I'd imagine you could find bad reviews of both Peters online as people like to take to the internet to vent.
I've no experience of either.

Quote from: Riptide on January 26, 2023, 10:17:15 PM
How did one Peter differentiate himself from the other Peter

Well, for a start, they are different colours!  (unless you have deuteranopia)

I'd choose the green one. It's more calming.


Seriously though...

A lot of multi-branch agencies centralise their lettings/property management operation, so you may not be dealing with people who are local to your property (other than the local branch for conducting viewings).

My experience with one large multi-branch agency is that they employed a lot young (and maybe not so bright) staff on minimum wage, who didn't really care about my property or their job. They made mistakes, I corrected them. They made more mistakes, and eventually it got to the point, after escalating to senior management that I terminated the contract and self-managed the property.

I think that if I wanted an agent who really cared about finding the right tenant and properly managing my property, I'd spend time looking at small independents and getting to know that people who will actually be doing the management.


Do you live far from the property? If not too far, I'd go down the self-letting & self-management route. It's a fairly steep learning curve at first, but eminently doable if you are willing to put the effort in and to be reasonably organised. There's plenty of help available on this forum but don't expect to be spoon-fed everything.

Do you want the cheapest possible service or a good service?

I'd go for the small office with a grizzled old experienced woman manning whos been there years and has local tradesmen contacts. Might cost a bit more than Peter.

Quote from: Riptide on January 27, 2023, 12:00:07 PM
Do you want the cheapest possible service or a good service?

I'd go for the small office with a grizzled old experienced woman manning who's been there years and has local tradesmen contacts. Might cost a bit more than Peter.

I want good service at a fair cost. The problem is without using any of the agencies I have no idea which one will provide a good service.

Peter Alan are more expensive, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I'd get better service. I guess I could just go with the cheaper one and then if after some time of working with them I feel that I am not getting value for money, then I could move to the more expensive one and hope they are worth the extra money.

This is why I am here and hoping to hear from other landlords that have used either agents to get some feedback and make an informed decision.

Quote from: LandL0rd on January 27, 2023, 12:06:49 PMI want good service at a fair cost.

Sounds like unrealistic expectations to me.

You are a very small fish in a big pond and a gullible mark in the eyes of the Agent. They are more likely to attempt to strip-mine you for all your assets. Your guess that you could choose one and then evaluate them over time - and if not happy - move to another... could, indeed, be far-fetched in itself. Agents are canny at locking Landlords in to contracts - this (if I offer only one piece of advice beyond - "don't use an Agent") is what I would say... read the Terms of Conditions that are put in front of you in detail. Don't just assume they're all going to be much of a muchness and that the Agent has your interests at heart.

There are no many Landlords and so many Agents it's probably unlikely you'll be able to benefit from personal experience of a limited subset of Agents here. You are not on your own, but you probably can't ride on the due diligence of other Landlords. I couldn't even tell you anything very valuable about the Agents in my operating area.

@LandL0rd

Heed well the advice of Hippogriff and Riptide.

When I said:

Quoteand eventually it got to the point, after escalating to senior management that I terminated the contract and self-managed the property

I may have left you with the impression that you can simply terminate the contract with an agent whenever you wish. In general you cannot. I had to lean hard on the agent, with lots of evidence of their repeated mistakes, plus the threat of referral to the Property Redress Scheme before they backed down.

Ask each of the agents for a copy of their Terms and Conditions (sometimes called Terms of Business) and study them. If they quibble, even slightly, about sending the Terms to you in advance, then walk away.

Whats putting you off self managing?

You have to complete a 'qualification' in Wales to be a landlord which is good education for a newbie.

There are resources such as these forums that will steer you in the right direction, has to be before though, no point asking after the event.

An agent will get someone in who ticks boxes, I prefer to meet the people who will have the property to try and make a judgement on them. And an agent doesnt care about my property as much as I do.