Letting Agents biggest failings

[Grampa]

Being an agent and liking to think I am (maybe wrongly) a slightly better than average one, I have my own ideas what I think the main failings of poor agents are. However, my thinking maybe skewed as I am in the industry and do all the legal courses etc and probably think it is different to what what the landlord thinks

So if any of you would like to share your opinion of letting agents you have used (past and present) what would you say are the top 2 or 3 things that could be improved with the biggest fault number one. 

Even if you are generally happy with the service received there will always be something that could be improved upon even if the majority of the service is good. 

 

[Carryon Regardless]

It might be of benefit to learn what both LL's and T's find most attractive about using A's.

I used to hope that I could live remote and use the services of such as yourself to look after my properties in my absence. I became paranoid that they would drop me in the goo.

But long term T's in my Ashton property wouldn't have found me, or wanted to, if it wasn't for the find only service provided. When they learned I would self manage they were unsure as they perceived they would enjoy a more professional service from an A. This we know is often not the case.

I guess some T's would also be concerned at dealing with LL's that might be abusive when things aren't to their liking. Again a perception that A's would be more polite and responsive.

My issues with A's, on the find only, was them ringing to discuss an ideal proposed T. But didn't know their age, if they had animals, if there was a G'tor (and suitable). They effectively expected me to trust them to install who ever, and considered me to be awkward for having the audacity to question their choice for my properties.

In one location the A had their own properties. This meant they had 1st choice and I would get the undesirables sent to me.

Some A's found it unpalatable to use 'my' contract, as they were not familiar. They didn't see that I would have the T on their contract that I was unfamiliar with.

This isn't something I had experience of but have heard that the transparency in maintenance / repairs can be lacking. The cost often might be perceived as ott with A's enjoying what ever mark up. Then of course there are questions as to the validity of works carried out. To some "it's a rented property" sounds like "it's an insurance claim", it being a cash cow situation.

In Wales I even had an A state they couldn't find me a T because proposed applicants couldn't understand that I didn't take a deposit. It was said with a straight face. That was the last dealing I had with them.

 

[bil8999]

I have only used an agent for one of my properties which is some 20 miles from where i live.

Of all my properties it has been by far the most problematic.

This i believe was down to the people they had working for them at the time and choice of tenant.

Also it concerns me when the agents working on your behalf states that they own and let properties in that area, they will cherry pick.

[Grampa]

5 hours ago, Carryon Regardless said:

My issues with A's, on the find only, was them ringing to discuss an ideal proposed T. But didn't know their age, if they had animals, if there was a G'tor (and suitable). They effectively expected me to trust them to install who ever, and considered me to be awkward for having the audacity to question their choice for my properties. 

In one location the A had their own properties. This meant they had 1st choice and I would get the undesirables sent to me.

Some A's found it unpalatable to use 'my' contract, as they were not familiar. They didn't see that I would have the T on their contract that I was unfamiliar with.

This isn't something I had experience of but have heard that the transparency in maintenance / repairs can be lacking. The cost often might be perceived as ott with A's enjoying what ever mark up. Then of course there are questions as to the validity of works carried out. To some "it's a rented property" sounds like "it's an insurance claim", it being a cash cow situation.

 

I can see the thinking about agents who are landlords as well and the perception they will keep the good tenants for themselves but in reality I dont think that is the case. I am a landlord as well as a agent with a handful of properties and some of my staff also have some of their own properties. However, it would be very unlikely one of "our own" properties coming up for rent that is the exact and/or very similar in price and area to another at the same time. If in the very unlikely event it did happen I probably would try to direct a good tenant to my property but ultimately it would be the tenants choice. An agent in my view would have to own many dozens of properties for that to be even a slight concern and remember there is always more than one good tenant out there.

I do agree there is an issue with "Tenant find service only" with a lot of agents and I think there is a lot of agents who dont add in the agents best interest with this service as some are happy to put forward any one so they can get their fee and wash their hands of any future problems.

[Grampa]

Back on the subject of "Tenant find Service" and the quality of tenants pushed forward onto the landlord with limited info. I found myself in the unusual position of instructing another agent to find me a tenant for a 2 bed flat I have just completed on.

I happen to enquire about another possible purchase which another estate agent (who didn't know I was a agent myself) and I mentioned I had just completed on a property and about to look for tenants, they mentioned they had the perfect tenant couple and then went into great detail about them. I thought hey hoe if I can get a good tenant asap via another agency I wasn't bothered it wasn't through my own agency as tenant find only.

Well these tenants didn't materise and I thought why not continue with this company to see how a corporate agent acts and I might pick up some tips or be able to plagiarise some docs. Well I am shocked by the way they acted and tried to put you under pressure to take anyone and it was also like getting blood out of a stone to get info on the applicants. I had "really interested nice people" wanting the property who were, split up couples without history, furloughed chefs from pubs who would "definitely" be going back to work, couples with a reasonable joint income but one  who was pregnant and couples of 20 yo who are in a new relationships. These were people who I was encouraged to take on as tenants without any advise or opinion on the suitability or possible pitfalls of the situation. It was FXXXXXXG OUTRAGEOUS.  

My staff will only put forward applicants who tick at least all lot or all of the boxes of suitability/requirement and will advise of the pros and cons of each applicant in our professional view and give a preference and the reason why. I thought all agents would do that as a basic service requirement

 

[kerbut]

Sounds like my recent experience with Palmer Snell, I will never deal with the Sequence group again ( Palmer Snell and Connells ), I will stick with our local Martin and Co franchise.

[Richlist]

Well I hope I don't upset anyone.....

I have only ever used 1 letting agent in the last 20 years.......I'm very much a believer in finding something that works and sticking with it.  I guess I was lucky in finding them before going elsewhere. Provided the agent does a good job generally and their charges are reasonable, why not ? I can't think of a single major letting problem that I can attribute to them in that time. I feel I've been very fortunate as we have made a good team. They are always on hand and over the years they have provided me with help, advice, maintenance contacts/ recommendations, legal information etc. They have been in business around 50 years, originally run by the father of the current owner.

My arrangement with them is somewhat different to many of their other landlords. They provide a tenant find service, referencing, deposit protection, RGI &/or guarantor, draw up the contract & my 2 pages of additional clauses and liase with me on check in & check out. I do everything else.

I only have 2 issues that can be annoying.

* Inexperienced staff......everyone is inexperienced at something at some time in their life but why do I have to deal with them ?

* Unsatisfactory prospective tenants.......I provide a basic criteria that applicants must meet but occasionally I'll get sent an applicant who doesn't tick all the boxes. It's annoying because a simple question would determine their suitability. 

I still think that if they are the only issues I have I must be pretty lucky.

[Grampa]

8 hours ago, bil8999 said:

I have only used an agent for one of my properties which is some 20 miles from where i live.

Of all my properties it has been by far the most problematic.

This i believe was down to the people they had working for them at the time and choice of tenant.

Also it concerns me when the agents working on your behalf states that they own and let properties in that area, they will cherry pick.

So is that because the agent did not provide you with all the facts or relevant info on the tenant they put forward? Or give an honest assessment of suitability?

 

[Grampa]

2 hours ago, Richlist said:

I only have 2 issues that can be annoying.

* Inexperienced staff......everyone is inexperienced at something at some time in their life but why do I have to deal with them ?

* Unsatisfactory prospective tenants.......I provide a basic criteria that applicants must meet but occasionally I'll get sent an applicant who doesn't tick all the boxes. It's annoying because a simple question would determine their suitability. 

It seems "Unsatisfactory prospective tenants." is a common theme here.

 

So for everyone who has been previously offered unsuitable applicants could this be because the tenant type requirements is based on a casual conversation with the agent that isn't clear cut and interpretation of requirements can get blurred?  

[Grampa]

10 hours ago, Carryon Regardless said:

My issues with A's, on the find only, was them ringing to discuss an ideal proposed T. But didn't know their age, if they had animals, if there was a G'tor (and suitable). They effectively expected me to trust them to install who ever, and considered me to be awkward for having the audacity to question their choice for my properties.

Exactly what I found.

[Carryon Regardless]

In my case I make it clear, over 25's, no animals, retired or sick welcome intentionally unemployed not. As for g'tors while home owning is strongly desired I can't always hold out for such, but it doesn't take much noggin to realise the a are wasting all our time by suggesting another unemployed renter, if they have even considered I require a G'tor after being told.

As I am remote from most of my properties the idea of the A is to save me pointless journeys by weeding out the dross, and finding a suitable applicant from their superior marketing set up. In Ashton this was achieved, and swiftly. In Accrington I went through 2 A's in over 12 months, they sent potential T's time and again that you would cross the street to avoid. Being a slow learner I eventually sorted it out myself. In Wales the T's I did accept from their presented dross didn't work out well. Now I post a board (that has done well) leave it a week or so, then advertise. I have close communication with another long term T that conducts initial viewings.

As suggested by RL my aim has been to develop good working relationships, not only with A's but trades as well. The mutual advantage from trust and loyalty is well worth cultivating.

[Richlist]

7 hours ago, Grampa said:

It seems "Unsatisfactory prospective tenants." is a common theme here.

 

So for everyone who has been previously offered unsuitable applicants could this be because the tenant type requirements is based on a casual conversation with the agent that isn't clear cut and interpretation of requirements can get blurred?  

In my case I provide a written list of applicants I won't accept. The list is quite comprehensive and over the years has grown to be quite long. It's that plus the fact that the vast majority of other landlords that my Agent deals with don't provide a list, don't suggest anyone who may be unsuitable and leave tenant selection completely in the hands of the Agent. That makes me somewhat unique & unusual and the inexperienced staff seem to struggle to handle anything different to their normal business.

We have to remember that what might be almost second nature to us is, often to a 20 year old employee a mysterious complicated set of criteria that makes no sense in their world. I understand the problem only to well and think the solution is down to training within the Agency. Of course, the only training provided by many Agents is on the job, learning by making mistakes which does not always resolve issues for landlords.

If the Agency send an unsuitable applicant along to view a property then their unsuitability can be determined often within the first 20 seconds. No harm is done for the Agent......they just receive a call from me explaining the problem.

[bil8999]

8 hours ago, Grampa said:

So is that because the agent did not provide you with all the facts or relevant info on the tenant they put forward? Or give an honest assessment of suitability?

 

All of the above

[Melboy]

My reply is broadly the same as Richlists reply.  The last time I used an LA was around 1998 when the handling of my property by 2 or 3 LA's over a 2 year period was verging on the incompetence. Lot's of problems and coupled with the fact that with one Nationally known but local to me LA you could never speak to the same person twice when a problem did come up. Their tenant selection for me was very poor in my opinion. Lessons learnt!

               I decided at the time that I would become more involved and handle my own affairs as I couldn't make a worse job of it as I had experienced over a 2 year period. That is how it has remained up until present day.

Interestingly my last letting of a month ago the property was let to a Lettings Manager of a large local EA/LA company. A perverse sort of pay-back time in my head. 😀. Anyway no exception to the rules applied with their application to take the property on. The person is well known to me which helps when making decisions on who is going to rent my property.

If I were to use an LA then I would choose a person / LA like Grampa who has the experience and knowledge and hopefully if a problem did arise would show an interest in resolving that problem.

[Nev M]

My agent is quite good and offers the rent guarantee system and so is in there interest to get a good tenant(s). They do tell me about the family before they move in however.
My top Grips :

1. Late invoicing for repairs and not always clear on what was done or sending me pictures as requested e.g. broken sink.. OK please repair but send me pics on how a sink gets cracked.
2. Concerns about their understanding of the Law just recently and grip on the yearly safety checks. One property no problems at all but its let through agent to council so think they keep agent in check. The other property is too the public and recent post here (Melboy I think) mentioning new electrical checks prompted me to ask them on to see the last safety Cert and they said it was still pending to be done and they rented it out over 2 years ago. They know what's required but maybe a miss but knocked my trust a little. Also have missed a Gas safety check on same property. Still waiting for explanation and have instructed them to get checks and works done.
3. I do not get to see copy of the signed contract when they rent to new tenements till after they rented it and have to request it. Its a bit late by then as want to make sure all points i have are covered in it also. 

That's my Grips but overall they have been a good agent through the years.