Letting Agents

In letting a property, the option of whether to let privately or go through a letting agent were discussed. But what does a letting agent do?

Well, in a nutshell, they will find tenants who want to live in your property. They will help assess what you can charge to rent out the property. This may well often change over time, and so don't be put off if, in a harder climate as there has been recently, the agency suggests that you drop the rental price a little from previous lets in order to get occupants more quickly.

Once the rent has been assessed and agreed by you and the agent, then they will start to advertise the property as being available. Most letting agents will have a website these days, together with their offices where they will usually display the property. There may even be advertising in the property pages of the local newspaper too.

The last thing you will want to do, in most cases, is to show people around, and again the letting agent will do this for you and show people around and relay offers to you. They then provide a legal contract for both parties to sign once everything is agreed, and can be done remotely so it is nice and time efficient for you.

Letting agents usually have a range of different offers made available to you, and you can decide which of their services you want to use. Generally the more you ask for, the more you pay for it. For instance, they may do an inventory check service, will collect rent and deposit for you the landlord, and perhaps even offer some sort of maintenance package whereby they will undertake repairs. For instance, if you live a distance from the property then this can be an attractive service and when the washing machines breaks down will save you having to go around, take a look, and either practice your handy skills or get someone in to fix it which as we all know can be a lot of hassle.

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