To give a bit of background, my wife and I own a house that we previously rented to family at a big discount (big mistake). We had issues with the tenants so with that and other things, we decided to sell the house. Accepted an offer in February, tenants moved out at the end of April, then have been kept hanging by the buyers til a couple of weeks ago when the sale fell through.
Obviously the market is very different now to what it was in February, so even though the EA have relisted at the same price, we only had 4 viewings for the open day vs 10+ back in February, but that could of course be due to the time of year (summer holidays, etc), so we are trying to come up with a plan B as we simply cannot afford to be paying bills on two houses indefinitely.
So, our plan B would be to put the house up for rent on the open market but I’m not sure if the best way to do it. In the past when when we’ve rented out properties, we’ve found tenants on local Facebook groups, etc. In most cases that worked out fine, but without proper vetting, we did end up with one or two disasters which ended up costing us.
I understand that this is an ‘OpenRent’ forum but is there an argument for using a traditional Letting Agent rather than OpenRent for finding a tenant? I’m not keen on using a Letting Agent to manage the tenancy because it seems like a fairly big expense for not a great deal of gain (unless of course they are guaranteeing the incoming rent, etc), but we would be looking at around £150 per month for a LA to essentially collect rent.
Openrent only offer an advertising and tenancy creation service. You would still need to know the legal and best practice requirements of managing and sometimes ending a tenancy. I would strongly recommend some up to date landlord training if you dont already have it.
Thanks for your reply. I completely understand that OpenRent is advertising/referencing only but that’s why I’m asking whether getting a LA to advertise/reference is worth it vs just using OpenRent?
Sorry, I missed that part of your question. My answer would be no. I would never use a local agent for tenant find only as they have little incentive to pass you a good tenant if they wont be managing them.
It depends on how knowledgeable of legislation you are. That’s what others were trying to say. Nobody, but nobody will give you a guaranteed rent, even though City Council claims so. Again, if you know how it works yo know this as well. If you don’t, absolutely join the association recommended by others and do some training. I wouldn’t rely on agent or anyone else, because you’ll be the one responsible for their mistakes.
I would never use an agent. As useful as a chocolate fireguard if any kind of dispute arises. Doesn’t really matter how you find your tenants yourself but you will have ‘disasters’ if you don’t do your referencing thoroughly. Its still possible to get a tenancy turn bad even after thorough referencing due to a change in circumstances or legislation. You can’t insure against every possibility. Being a LL is never going to be for the risk averse.
Out of interest, do you use OpenRent’s referencing or someone external? We’ve looked at the NRLA tenant application form but wondering whether to just keep everything on OpenRent instead.
Neither. I do it myself. Even knowing the willingness with which a serious tenant hands over the relevant documents and contact details are quite telling. I do reciprocate. I prove who I am and that I own the property.