If you’re looking for a new agent to let your property, it’s a good time to re-evaluate what kind of lettings service you really need. And if you’re brand new to letting property, you might not even know where to start. Fortunately, help is at hand. In this blog, we look at the differences between the different kinds of letting services: let only, rent collection and fully managed. We hope this will help you find the best option for your needs.

Let only

Let only property service is the most basic service. When you sign up for let only, your lettings agent will market the property on your behalf, find tenants, carry out referencing checks and negotiate the tenancy agreement. Once the tenants have moved in, the lettings agent ceases to be involved. The exception is when the tenancy is renewed, in which case the agents step in again to oversee the renewal process. 

Because this is the most basic service, it is the cheapest. Some experienced landlords choose this service because they find it the most cost-effective. However, before you decide it’s the one for you, do consider the alternatives. Would you be prepared to chase unpaid rent? Do you have the time, contacts and experience to find tradespeople and ensure that repairs are completed promptly? Could you be “on call” for your tenants 24/7? If the answer is yes, go for it. But we believe letting property shouldn’t be stressful, and if balancing landlord duties with your everyday life is going to be a headache, it’s worth paying a bit more and getting some support from the experts. 

Rent collection

The rent collection service also includes marketing and letting the property, as described above. 

This service is a good compromise between the let only and fully managed services. It costs a relatively low percentage of the overall rent, but not as low as let only. On the other hand, signing up to this service means that your agent takes on the most potentially stressful part of being a landlord, namely rent collection. 

Many people find money a difficult subject, and asking for money even worse. However, with the rent collection service, your letting agent will deal with any issues relating to rent, from polite reminders upwards. If the situation were to become serious and you were considering evicting your tenants over non-payment of rent, the paperwork and procedure would all have to be closely followed. With this service you also get monthly statements and an annual statement you can hand to your accountant, which will make accounting your rental income a piece of cake.

So, unless you have solid experience in financial and legal matters, we would recommend giving the rent collection responsibilities to an experienced letting agent. 

Fully managed service

This is our most popular, all-inclusive service that includes letting the property, collecting rent and managing repairs and tenant communication as well. While this service costs more than either of the others, it has a number of advantages and, on balance, offers excellent value.

The fully managed service is ideal for people who work full time. If your tenant were to call you at work to discuss a problem, you might not be able to drop everything and find them a plumber – you might not even be able to take the call. Likewise, we wouldn’t want to use our annual leave to do a property inspection visit – we doubt you would either! 

This service is also a great solution for landlords who live abroad. Simply delegate your property management to a local agency like Cobbles and let us sort everything out using our own contacts.

In fact, our network of local tradespeople saves our landlords money. While booking a plumber or an engineer for a one-off job might be expensive, lettings agents like Cobbles can often negotiate a lower rate because we give one plumber so much business. 

Whatever lettings service you choose, we want it to be the right one for you. Some landlords have been very successful with let-only, while others have found it to be false economy. Before you completely make your mind up, check out our comparison chart here to see exactly what is covered by each service. And if you’d like to have a chat about it, get in touch today on 01483 457 000 – we’d love to hear from you.