Getting the best out of your Letting Agency - tips for Landlords.

All the landlords I have ever known are extremely busy people and I regularly hear them say that working with their agency is frustrating.

Here are my tips for building a good relationship with your letting agent:-

• Check your agreement with the agency.
• Good communication.
• Be responsive. 

Firstly check your signed agreement with the agency and what it includes. Are you on fully managed or tenant find only or rent collection only or something else?
If you are on a fully managed agreement check for details such as how often are inspection reports carried out, do you need to login to a portal or are they emailed to you directly? 

Compliance - do the agency automatically notify you when things like your gas safety check are due? Do you have your own preferred supplier or are you happy for the agency to organise this for you? Do they advise you of the price before it is undertaken? Do they give you options like a boiler service as well or is it just the gas safety check?
 
Maintenance issues - do the agency contact you for each item separately or have you given them an allowance where they can spend up to a specified amount on your behalf for issues?

Communication
The key to every interaction we ever have! We are all human and have good days and those that are not as good.
Try to build a good working relationship with your letting agency. Hopefully the agency you have chosen will have one person in their office who looks after all your properties (I recently came across a case where the owner had 3 separates flats in a house, but each one was managed by a different member of their in-house team. As you can imagine this was frustrating for everyone concerned as it meant calling or emailing each staff member separately)!  
Consider picking up the phone and have a chat if you have a quick question and follow it up with an email to reiterate the conversation you had.

If you aren't getting the response you want regarding things like your interim inspections, rather than pick up the phone, when you are angry put it in an email  and save as a draft. Then when you are calmer reread it before you hit send. I am not trying to teach you how to communicate but I know for one I often have to walk away from something and calm down and come back to it later, so I don't send a rant!  

The aim is that you get value for money from your agency and that your tenants are happy. No landlord that I have ever worked with wants unhappy tenants and unfortunately poor communication leads to a breakdown between landlords, tenants and agencies. We all have dealt with the unreasonable tenants who  make unrealistic demands and the agency is there to act as your buffer from them.

Be Responsive. 
I have added this one, as from experience I have encountered some landlords who  aren't the best at responding to things. This usually happens for a number of reasons including they forget to. I'm not saying you should respond immediately, but there is nothing more frustrating than when you are caught between the tenant/ agency and the landlord and a week has gone by with no update, despite chasing for a reply. 

Ultimately, you are busy and your time is money! Yes you can change the agency that manages your property but will you be more satisfied ? 

With more  landlords having small portfolios but not looking to self manage, but needing someone to liaise with the agencies on their behalf who are knowledgeable about property and the legislation your option is to consider someone like me to liaise on your behalf. 

This post is not about agency bashing, as I have come across some very good agencies during my time working  in property but just some tips you can try to help you to work cohesively with your agency, so that you get the best outcome for everyone concerned.