Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Letting Agents - Should I Use a Letting Agent to Let my Property? Should I Pay Renewal Fees Every Time The Tenancy Is Renewed?
If you use a letting agent, their fees are not set in stone so look carefully at the rates they quote in their contract.
Be prepared to negotiate (or remove altogether) any clauses in their contract covering payments of fees that you feel are unjustified or excessive.
For example, if a fixed term assured tenancy becomes a rolling or “monthly periodic tenancy” after 6 months then the workload for the agent should be minimal.
In these circumstances, all that might happen is an exchange of emails between your tenant and your agent to say they wish to stay on - the tenancy becoming a monthly rolling or periodic one. This type of situation does not justify a hefty renewal fee.
So make sure you don’t sign a contract which gives the agent the right to charge a fee on renewal of each tenancy. If you do, you’ll be paying a fee for as long as the tenants stay.
Neither is a big fee justified for producing a tenancy agreement. These are available from the internet or from landlords associations or in my book “Successful Property Letting – How to Make Money in Buy to Let” at little or no cost.
Don't Be Mean
But don’t be mean.
Good letting agents are worth their fees and work hard and do unsocial hours on your behalf - so be prepared to pay for the work that the agency does when they do it. In many cases this will mean 7 to 10% for finding a tenant and at between 3 and 5% for managing them.
But just make sure you don’t sign up to pay renewal fees where little or no work is done by the agent.
CHECK OUT THESE PAGES AT OUR SITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:
THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investing Seminar and Networking Event
We have GREAT OFFERS on a range of products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
For general info on our SEMINARS AND CONSULTING click here: Property Seminars, Networking Evenings and Consulting
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTING click here: Property Mentoring
CLIENT TESTIMONIALS from past customers click here: Testimonials
BUY THE BOOK click here: Buy the Book at Amazon
ABOUT US
LettingFocus.com are the experts on landlord issues and I’m David Lawrenson, the author of “Successful Property Letting” – which has been the UK’s top selling property and buy to let book for the last 3 years.
We help landlords and property investors make money in property by coaching them in ways that work, that are ethical and which involve minimal risk.
I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years.
At LettingFocus we offer independent unbiased buy to let advice for property buyers and landlords both on a one to one mentoring and coaching basis as well as through occasional group seminars.
Property syndicates and property advice in the UK is still largely unregulated and what counts as “advice” is too often more about making the promoter money than giving useful information to the investor.
With no link to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers, at LettingFocus, we aim to give unbiased independent advice on where and what type of property to buy for investment, when to buy and how to buy property at a low price.
We also show you how to manage tenants properly and in ways that take up as little of your time as possible.
See this related article from our Articles pages: http://www.lettingfocus.com/pages/myarticles_ChoosingaLettingAgency.html
NEWSLETTER
To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!
IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR OUR WEBSITE?
Selling services to landlords and property investors and have a national coverage? You could be a partner, please get in touch!
TO VIEW RELATED POSTS select a “Category” at the bottom of this page.
WANT TO ADD A COMMENT OR VIEW OLD COMMENTS?
To add a comment or view other people's comments on this post, simply click on “link to this post.”
Be prepared to negotiate (or remove altogether) any clauses in their contract covering payments of fees that you feel are unjustified or excessive.
For example, if a fixed term assured tenancy becomes a rolling or “monthly periodic tenancy” after 6 months then the workload for the agent should be minimal.
In these circumstances, all that might happen is an exchange of emails between your tenant and your agent to say they wish to stay on - the tenancy becoming a monthly rolling or periodic one. This type of situation does not justify a hefty renewal fee.
So make sure you don’t sign a contract which gives the agent the right to charge a fee on renewal of each tenancy. If you do, you’ll be paying a fee for as long as the tenants stay.
Neither is a big fee justified for producing a tenancy agreement. These are available from the internet or from landlords associations or in my book “Successful Property Letting – How to Make Money in Buy to Let” at little or no cost.
Don't Be Mean
But don’t be mean.
Good letting agents are worth their fees and work hard and do unsocial hours on your behalf - so be prepared to pay for the work that the agency does when they do it. In many cases this will mean 7 to 10% for finding a tenant and at between 3 and 5% for managing them.
But just make sure you don’t sign up to pay renewal fees where little or no work is done by the agent.
CHECK OUT THESE PAGES AT OUR SITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:
THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investing Seminar and Networking Event
We have GREAT OFFERS on a range of products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
For general info on our SEMINARS AND CONSULTING click here: Property Seminars, Networking Evenings and Consulting
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTING click here: Property Mentoring
CLIENT TESTIMONIALS from past customers click here: Testimonials
BUY THE BOOK click here: Buy the Book at Amazon
ABOUT US
LettingFocus.com are the experts on landlord issues and I’m David Lawrenson, the author of “Successful Property Letting” – which has been the UK’s top selling property and buy to let book for the last 3 years.
We help landlords and property investors make money in property by coaching them in ways that work, that are ethical and which involve minimal risk.
I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years.
At LettingFocus we offer independent unbiased buy to let advice for property buyers and landlords both on a one to one mentoring and coaching basis as well as through occasional group seminars.
Property syndicates and property advice in the UK is still largely unregulated and what counts as “advice” is too often more about making the promoter money than giving useful information to the investor.
With no link to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers, at LettingFocus, we aim to give unbiased independent advice on where and what type of property to buy for investment, when to buy and how to buy property at a low price.
We also show you how to manage tenants properly and in ways that take up as little of your time as possible.
See this related article from our Articles pages: http://www.lettingfocus.com/pages/myarticles_ChoosingaLettingAgency.html
NEWSLETTER
To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!
IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR OUR WEBSITE?
Selling services to landlords and property investors and have a national coverage? You could be a partner, please get in touch!
TO VIEW RELATED POSTS select a “Category” at the bottom of this page.
WANT TO ADD A COMMENT OR VIEW OLD COMMENTS?
To add a comment or view other people's comments on this post, simply click on “link to this post.”
Labels: letting agency, letting agency fees, letting agent fees, letting renewal fees, renewal fees, repeat fees letting
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