Hi,
I haven’t used OpenRent before and I’m not very familiar with it, so apologies if this is a dumb question.
Has anyone used OpenRent for initial advertising and screening, then handed over to a letting agency for in-depth checks and ongoing management once you’ve chosen a tenant you’re happy with? If so, what was your experience?
This is doable but you are reliant on a letting agent that will accommodate this. Some won’t as it’s just more hassle and more contract considerations.
May be better to hand over the whole thing to a good local agent if you don’t want to manage yourself. Personally I would avoid the corporates and find an established flexible independent.
You could still get involved with the tenant finding, still meet them and assess yourself.
Look at the contract carefully, and be prepared to negotiate on it. You want to be able to keep the tenant should things turn sour.
Theres no need to hand over just for “in depth checks” as this can be done by OR referencing.
Thanks for your insights and advice. I hadn’t considered enough the potential issues and reluctance of letting agencies, especially the corporate ones, to accommodate this arrangement.
Do you realise how much an agent charges for on going management and the contract that ties you in for as long as the tenant is there ? I would never do that . Always hands on
Thanks for sharing your perspective. I’m going to be doing quite a bit of travelling overseas and am keen on getting some help with my first rental. I’m keen to be hands-on in choosing the tenant though, and I thought using OpenRent would allow me more control in this regard compared to using an agent.
Make some calls to the agent first.
You can easily meet and be privy to details of referencing and checks of the tenants an agent finds and be completely satisfied before committing.
They often already have good tenants on their books who are looking to move.
If you go this route, just make sure you can keep them if you need to part ways with the agent, (they may sting you with a months rent).
Hi Phil,
Whilst it is probably doable, it feels to me you are doing all the hard work and then handing over the easy bit to your letting agent. I am unsure if this gives you any cost savings but potentially you give your letting agent a good get out clause should any problems arise in the future. They have the excuse that they were not involved in choosing the tenants.
Wanting to be hands on choosing your tenants is not unreasonable so I would suggest putting everything in the hands of letting agent including marketing but make it clear what information you would like provided to you when choosing the tenant. The choice of tenant is yours not the letting agent so they should be coming to you with a good short list of prospective tenants for you to choose from. If non are suitable to you, they should be instructed to continue marketing.
I believe that a lot of tenants use open rent because they only wish to deal with a private landlord, rather than a letting agent.
Thanks for all the great feedback. You’ve pointed out many things I hadn’t considered. I will try to find an agent who will allow me to provide the upfront screening questions I want asked and will not proceed with any viewings or background checks unless I give the go-ahead.
I agree with Martin 41, if you intend handing the full management to an agent, let them do the donkey work in finding a tenant, by all means, to your satisfaction.
An agent will likely charge you a set-up fee for a new tenant reference and contract, but it sounds like you want them to do that anyway, so I would simply oversea their recommended applicants in this situation.
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