Being a landlord is rarely easy. From owning one property through to owning a huge portfolio puts pressure on landlords, as not only do they need to make sure the properties are occupied, but that they stay occupied, that the properties are safe and that all off the legal requirements are conformed to at all times.
This can often place big pressures on the landlord and leave the tenants frustrated, as part time landlords will also have jobs and family commitments, which means they might not be able to contact the tenant quickly if something goes wrong, or they might not be able to keep a check on the tenant to stop issues becoming major problems. Therefore, as a landlord, you have often have a choice – do you go it alone and have the tag of a private landlord, or do you use a letting agent to manage your properties for you.
We spoke to Gloucester letting agents Alex Clark as to why a landlord might want to consider using a property management firm.
Location
Trying to manage a property from the other side of the county or even country is hard, as you cannot simply turn up for all the viewings, do all the checks and then deal with any issues quickly. A local letting agent makes the world of difference, as you can be anywhere in the world and they are the middle people, dealing with the tenant on your behalf, from collecting the rent every month, to making sure the Gas Safety checks are once again complete for another year.
Time Pressures
With a job, a family, a hobby and just generally living your life, trying to manage a leaky tap in property one and finding a new tenant for property 4 can just become a real challenge, which is why the pressures on private landlords are often telling to say the least. A letting agent will deal with everything for you, and only contact you should they really need to, which means you can place all of your properties in safe hands and get on with living your life.
Legal Requirements
When renting a property as a landlord, you are required to make sure you have all the safety certificates, the property is in good condition and that you deal with any issues accordingly and do not leave your tenants living in a poor environment. Knowing everything you need to know is not always straightforward, which is where a letting agent will use their experience and make sure everything you need to do, is quite simply, done.
Finding The Right Tenant
With the rental market the way it is at the moment, it is very easy to find a tenant. But, finding the right tenant is a very, very different matter, which is where a letting agent would do all the checks, take care of all the meetings and viewings and then take this and all of their experience to only rent the property to right kind of people. Happy tenants are often long term tenants, so getting the right people in the property from day one is crucial for ongoing occupation of the property.
Knowledge And Expertise
Any established and decent property management company would have a wealth of experience and would have handled many, many tenant and landlord relationships. This puts them in a good position to help their landlords with any issues, and to make sure they can use their expertise ranging from situations where a landlord is considering buying a new BTL property, through to how to deal with things should something go wrong.
Pic Credit – Alan Cleaver, Flickr, Creative Commons
