Selection Guidelines for Letting Agents in the UK

Posted by alexedward on May 6th, 2014

When you are searching for letting agents in York, you will have to focus on the service rather than the price they charge. There are several signs of good letting agents. A letting agent who takes care of the tenant as well as you, is generally considered to be a good letting agent. To judge the service quality of a good letting agent, you can first pose as a tenant and see how well you are served.

Generally there is no accreditation or certification for letting agents in the UK, but it will always be good if you select agents who belong to National Approved Lettings Scheme (NALS) or the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA). When you visit the letting agent, he or she will present you with the terms and conditions document. This can be 30 to 40 pages long, so, you may have to decipher the information from a lettings legal professional. If you agree to the terms and conditions, you will have to then understand the actual service or services that you will be getting from the letting agent. 

Before you choose estate agents in York, you will have to ascertain what kind of service you require and how much you are willing to pay. If you are looking at the most comprehensive type of service, which is the full management, then you will have to be very sure of the services that you need. In a typical full management service, the letting agent will find a suitable tenant, draw up contracts, collect rent, and deal with regular problems like maintenance. By and large, the full management is the most expensive type of deal.

If you don’t want to go with full management, then you can simply ask the letting agent to find a suitable tenant and collect the rent on your behalf. This service will surely be lesser than full management. If you are prepared to collect the rent from the tenant, then you can only ask the letting agent to find the suitable tenant for your property. In addition, you can also ask the letting agent to draw up a contract.  You will have to be very attentive when you are deciding the type of fee structure for the letting agent. Letting agent’s fees operate in two ways—proportion of rent or fixed fee.

Most letting agents in york will charge you on a percentage basis for full management and tenant finding services. By and large, you will have to pay 10% of the rent if you want a full management service from the letting agent. If a letting agent is charging more than 15% for full management, you should discard that agent and look out for another one. If you decide to pay a fixed rate or a flat rate, you will have to negotiate very well. Try and translate the cost in terms of percentage and work out the cost. By doing this, you will get a better picture of the payout.   

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alexedward
Joined: May 5th, 2014
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