Reply to: What do you pay your BTL agent?

[TheGreenBastard]

I've never been offered this service.

One property I have this, agency charges 10%, they might even out source it: Welcome to Rent on Time - Rent On Time

But I also have coverage with my insurance provider.

[d000hg]

You guys don't use agents' guaranteed rent for tenant rent delinquency, preferring to cover yourselves via insurance?

I've never been offered this service.

[eek]

You guys don't use agents' guaranteed rent for tenant rent delinquency, preferring to cover yourselves via insurance?

Last time I did that - I discovered the agent had been drip feeding me the deposit to top up the payment (yes this was going back a lot of years before deposits were protected).

[TheGreenBastard]

You guys don't use agents' guaranteed rent for tenant rent delinquency, preferring to cover yourselves via insurance?

[rootsnall]

Then why are you paying them 7.5% if you do maintenance yourself , only to find tenants ?

WHS. You are paying a lot of money for a phone answering service. Finding good tenants is the hardest bit, painful at the time to DIY but the best investment of your own time.

[Andy2]

I pay my Rental Agents 7.5% for a fully managed service (Surrey for the last 7 years). There isn't a lot to manage, since if something goes titsup, I get to use "my people" as opposed to the weighted charges that their tradesmen charge.

Then why are you paying them 7.5% if you do maintenance yourself , only to find tenants ?

[NowPermOutsideUK]

Finding tennants is easy via openrent directly. I never use them as agents simply just act as interesting busybodies

Agents are useful when you come to sell as they can really squeeze the lemon and make sure all offers are submitted and persuade the buyer they are getting good value

Other then that best avoided. The worst of them by far is Foxtons. Tenancy fees for landlords and tenants and markup on tradesmen calling out

[Old Greg]

It wasn't in my flat, but I think they include a professional Not Mentioning The Disembodied Corpse Downstairs service in the fees.

Sweet.

[d000hg]

Does your agent include murder victim corpse removal in those costs?

It wasn't in my flat, but I think they include a professional Not Mentioning The Disembodied Corpse Downstairs service in the fees.

[Old Greg]

I own 2 BTLs managed by different agencies in different parts of the country. Both provide 'full service' management i.e. they find and vet tenants, handle small repairs, etc - I do virtually nothing.

Both have headline fees of 10% (+VAT) which seems quite standard. Both charge some fixed fee for new tenancy agreements. Maybe about £200, not certain.
On property A, that's it.
On property B, they also charge me monthly for:
"Gross rental information to HMRC" @ £15+VAT pcm
"Landlord regulation checks" @ £10+VAT pcm

Tot it all up and I'm probably getting about 80% of the rent if you reckon on a new tenant about once a year. Seems a lot of fees.

What do you pay your agents and what individual service fees are they charging? Why is my agent charging me to send information to HMRC for instance?
The current FTC is coming to an end and I'm wondering about trying to push back, but no idea how much leverage I've got.

Does your agent include murder victim corpse removal in those costs?

[Eirikur]

My BLT agent normally asks £2.50 for a baguette

[Scruff]

I pay my Rental Agents 7.5% for a fully managed service (Surrey for the last 7 years). There isn't a lot to manage, since if something goes titsup, I get to use "my people" as opposed to the weighted charges that their tradesmen charge.

[mattfx]

I've only ever used tenant find services from agents, I've self managed from there and saved myself the fees. Sometimes it can be frustrating but, for the sake of 5-10 hours of effort per property per year, I think the extra cash in the bank is worth the effort.

[courtg9000]

Any idea what they are? If they just said 12%+VAT I would probably be fine, but it's doing it as all these little extras I dislike.

In my experience, rental agents have actually been quite helpful and provide a useful service of making sure I don't have to talk to my tenant or sort out their problems. In smaller communities they tend to know who all the troublemakers are and so on.
Unlike sales agents who do Jack **** for their money.

I have no idea what they are suggesting with your extra's I suggest you have a strong word. I would certain strongly question and ask if he wants to be finding the next tenant after this one leaves and which one of his competitors he suggests the business goes to.
Remember that after the tenant fees ban letting agents are running low on income and they can only fleece landlords now.

[d000hg]

8-12.5% is the normal range.
The extras's on property B are a bit naughty

Any idea what they are? If they just said 12%+VAT I would probably be fine, but it's doing it as all these little extras I dislike.

In my experience, rental agents have actually been quite helpful and provide a useful service of making sure I don't have to talk to my tenant or sort out their problems. In smaller communities they tend to know who all the troublemakers are and so on.
Unlike sales agents who do Jack **** for their money.