UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi Guys , I am new to the forum and wonder if I could save myself 10% on each property by cutting out the middleman,??

If I run into problems would the agent do what the Landlord insurance covers anyway, for a much reduced fee.??

Your advice is appreciated,

thanks

Definitely, its what I have done.

Why pay the agent 10%, when if a problem arises, you are going to pay out of your own pocket anyway.

However landlord insurance on it's own is not enough for full cover. You would need Rent guarantee insurance and emergency cover for total peace of mind. These two add-ons will cost you a lot less than 10% a month, for me works out 1% which is peanuts for the peace of mind I get.

So any problems with rent - RGI insurance still pays me rent, and they are responsible for serving notices, getting tenant out of property, legal fees, etc

Any problems with a broken pipe - Emergency cover has this under control.

Only thing left for an agent to do is inspections, which you could probably do a better job of yourself.

O.k. thanks for your advice, I made a mistake saying 10%.....it is 15% inc VAT...!!!!!

So thanks for your comments,

One more thing though, I may well be moving to Australia for a couple of years, would the Insurances cover me when I am Away....??

Cheers

Quote from: stephensteve on May 06, 2012, 10:04:56 AM
Hi Guys , I am new to the forum and wonder if I could save myself 10% on each property by cutting out the middleman,??

If I run into problems would the agent do what the Landlord insurance covers anyway, for a much reduced fee.??

Your advice is appreciated,

thanks

I went down this route and I found it to be even more unsatisfactory than having an agent. I'd advise against it unless you already have a tenant lined up.

-Armin

Can I propose you use OpenRent to do the admin and find you the tenants also? That's the advertising, contracts, referencing, deposit handling all covered for only £20 (and your first listing is free).

Then you're set up - you just need to ensure you have an EPC and Gas Safety Cert. If you have landlord insurance, and RGI, then you're very much covered. Depending on how much work you want to do yourself, you can get further levels of emergency protection too.

That way, it's easy to find new tenants and get them set up, and you can decide how hands on, or hands off, you want to be during the tenancy.

I don't see how one could get any sort of quality referencing for a mere £20. Care to elaborate on the referencing services and are they accepted by landlord insurance providers?