lauradarlin Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Hi all I'm in the process of preparing my UK home for rental while I'm in Australia. I'm comparing a couple of letting agents, is there anything in particular I should look out for or questions I should be asking them before I commit? thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noworriesmate Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Personally I would ask them if they are members of the association of residential letting agents (ARLA) which means they are governed by a code of conduct and gives you a level of cover (like ABTA in the travel industry) should things go wrong. Make sure they know about overseas landlord tax legislation, aside from that I would try to get recommendations from people who have actually used them. NWM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauradarlin Posted March 13, 2013 Author Share Posted March 13, 2013 thanks, always the big things that slip my mind! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesnparry Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Hi all I'm in the process of preparing my UK home for rental while I'm in Australia. I'm comparing a couple of letting agents, is there anything in particular I should look out for or questions I should be asking them before I commit? Although being apart of ARLA shows commitment in some ways - it does not guarantee the lettings manager or employees are good or will not slip up.......gut reactions is important. Consider 1 How will they communicate with you, will they attach photo's or even do video of inspections, and repairs ( before and after) 2 How do they select trades ( do they vet them for quality/chekc that they pay the VAT and not just add it as a bonus - can you pay the trade/repairer direct) do they charge on top of your management fee to supervise repairs 3 In the event of an insurance claim, do they charge to supervise/arrange things 4 Will they agree to pay your rent by a particular time of the month ( so you can make sure it arrives before your mortgage payment is due - leave at least 10 days so if its late, you have time to act from savings or other sources) 5 How to they vet persons - will they send the forms via email to you to agree on who lets 6 what computer software do they use, to remind on inspections/gas safety/electrical safety/repairs/calls from tenants/calls from neighbours etc( re noise/parties/abandonment) 7 How many properties do they manage, and then how many staff looking after those properties ( then divide these numbers so you understand what work load they have, to see if the comment that they see properties every month can stack up) 8 do they take proceedings through the courts to get possesion/recover loss - how many have they done ? ( that gives you an idea if you have to use your own solicitor to do such matters, which if they have selected the wrong tenant with no asset = then its hard to cover the loss and expense of court/possession 9 will they be paying you gross or net of tax overall it is good to have all these questions answered so you can see which agent is good/which lettings person knows their stuff, and ultimately who to use pm me if you need guidance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noworriesmate Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Hi all I'm in the process of preparing my UK home for rental while I'm in Australia. I'm comparing a couple of letting agents, is there anything in particular I should look out for or questions I should be asking them before I commit? Although being apart of ARLA shows commitment in some ways - it does not guarantee the lettings manager or employees are good or will not slip up.......gut reactions is important. Consider 1 How will they communicate with you, will they attach photo's or even do video of inspections, and repairs ( before and after) 2 How do they select trades ( do they vet them for quality/chekc that they pay the VAT and not just add it as a bonus - can you pay the trade/repairer direct) do they charge on top of your management fee to supervise repairs 3 In the event of an insurance claim, do they charge to supervise/arrange things 4 Will they agree to pay your rent by a particular time of the month ( so you can make sure it arrives before your mortgage payment is due - leave at least 10 days so if its late, you have time to act from savings or other sources) 5 How to they vet persons - will they send the forms via email to you to agree on who lets 6 what computer software do they use, to remind on inspections/gas safety/electrical safety/repairs/calls from tenants/calls from neighbours etc( re noise/parties/abandonment) 7 How many properties do they manage, and then how many staff looking after those properties ( then divide these numbers so you understand what work load they have, to see if the comment that they see properties every month can stack up) 8 do they take proceedings through the courts to get possesion/recover loss - how many have they done ? ( that gives you an idea if you have to use your own solicitor to do such matters, which if they have selected the wrong tenant with no asset = then its hard to cover the loss and expense of court/possession 9 will they be paying you gross or net of tax overall it is good to have all these questions answered so you can see which agent is good/which lettings person knows their stuff, and ultimately who to use pm me if you need guidance I agree with some of the questions you suggest asking however how is the OP supposed to know what level of staff is suitable for the amount of properties they manage? For instance some companies (such as my ones) do not out-source many of the functions such as inspections, debt collection etc but other companies might. I'm also not sure whether a lay person would know which lettings software is a good one or what might be a poor one. I also don't think that the number of court cases a company has handled is a good indicator of how competent a company is. We manage over 1200 properties yet we go to court maybe once a year as we are usually able to negotiate with a bad tenant well before it gets to the eviction stage. In addition our landlords insurance that we offer would cover for that eventuality anyway. As to the other questions - a good lettings company will have these answered in it's promotional material. For me ARLA membership is like a security blanket to landlords should things go wrong, and as to training, membership at least gives some assurance that some level of competence has been obtained by some of the staff. In my case ALL staff have the basic qualification and the manager of each branch has the higher qualification. At the end of the day reputation is something that paramount and although an agent may promise all kinds of things when they meet you, its other peoples experiences that will be a better guide of what will happen should things go wrong. NWM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauradarlin Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 Thanks guys, some useful things to think about here. Of the two agents i'm deciding between, one is with UKALA and the Property Ombudsman and the other is in the process of qualifying to be able to join ARLA. Meeting them both this week so ill be bombarding them with all your questions! cheers x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 I find that the know how to say the right things. We had 3 companies out for our original letting and 1 really stood out- saying about how she set up the letting department and was really involved etc. We never saw her again as she moved on the next week! And they were absolutely appalling. My top top advice would be to get a recommendation. Ask around friends, colleagues etc. We have struck gold with our guy in the UK at the moment and I hope and pray he doesn't move on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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