Letting with which estate agents

[reclining-worm]

I'm thinking of letting my flat out and weighing up the options over whether to use an agent or self-manage. Would be interested to hear what agents you opted to use or how much is involved with self-managing? Also any general learnings you would like to share or things to avoid?

Many thanks

[alex_b]

If you're local then self-managing is pretty straightforward, especially if you have trusted tradespeople you can call when stuff breaks. We used KFH to let our old flat (now sold) and they were fine; they did the marketing and sorted out the contracts, deposits, check-in/out etc and we did the maintenance, gas safe certificate etc. When we were living overseas we had full management because we couldn't realistically respond in an emergency.

General learnings: get landlords insurance that covers failure to pay rent, leave as little stuff in the flat as possible (fewer things to go wrong) and replace anything that is "tricky" or needs to be handled with care (tenants will break it). Also make sure you have a good check-in agent that records stuff carefully.

[theron]

From a tenants point of view, I think cutting out the agents is the best decision we ever made. Not only did we save ourselves a LOT of money, but it was so much nicer to actually meet the landlord- giving both us and the landlord a chance to express any concerns, set any ground rules, run over the contract and ensure a level of trust etc. In a way, it has also made us respect the property even more, knowing how much our landlord loved it previously and how nervous she was about letting it! We also love having direct contact with our landlord now via WhatsApp to quickly ask her any questions etc, as opposed to going via an agent who sometimes in the past made us feel like a nuisance.

There is also in increase in landlord-tenant direct websites, such as OpenRent and Spareroom (where you can advertise 1 bed flats, etc).

[reclining-worm]

Thanks, all good points. Wasn't aware of Openrent so will look into that as I completely agree with I would like to have a direct relationship with the tenants.

[HelBel65]

Hi - wondering how you got on with this, as I'm considering doing the same later this year.

[montassa]

Hi - i did it all my self using OpenRent. They were brilliant - did all the checkins, gas checks, etc.. really simple site to use and cost next to nothing.

You can manage all your viewings etc, credit checks.

I see no reason to use estate agent -unless you can't show around - then you have no choice, but its an expensive route to pay, just for someone else to show your flat, when you know it better than any estate agent.

Would never use agents again.

[theron]

Really glad you are managing it yourself and are getting on well with it all!

We really struggled with agents, especially the additional agent fees, which most of the time made the rental property market unaffordable for young people (2 thousand pound deposit and fees before the move in!?). We really also struggled with the idea of why anyone would ever opt to use an agent to rent their property, and we wanted to urge landlords to rent their properties themselves. So glad that you decided to, and hope it continues going well!

[HelBel65]

Helpful answers, many thanks :)

[Lucyallen01]

I