Landlord Products / Services
On many occasions I’ve been unfortunate enough to be in the line-of-fire of a notoriously slippery tongue of an letting agent. Yesterday, I was bitterly reminded of how extortionate and how ridiculous some letting agents are (to clarify, the ones that give the industry a bad name).
So, here I am again, sitting on my soapbox, throwing my toys out of the pram, highlighting how backwards some things in life really are.
I received a phone call yesterday from an unrecognised number, so I was half expecting it to be from some kind of shit-bag trying to sell me garbage. Low and behold, it was a letting agent that had seen a “property available for rent” advert of mine on Gumtree.
Before he commenced with his scripted spiel, he asked me whether I had found a tenant for the property. I told him I was still in the process of looking, but I had a few viewings lined-up. At this point I thought it was a genuine enquiry. But then he commenced explaining that he was a letting agent, and would help promote the property if I was struggling to find tenants *oh GREAT*
Obviously my next line was,
HOW MUCH GREEN DO YOU WANT FOR FINDING ME TENANTS, BRUV?
His response,
We usually charge 10%, but I’ll do you a special rate of £400. We’ll advertise your property across different platforms like Rightmove and Primelocation. We’re based about 30mins from you, but in the past we have successfully found tenants in your area. We’ll just send you the leads and you can do all the viewings yourself so you can personally interrogate the tenants. We’ll sort out all the contracts for you.
I’ll think about it. Thanks for your time. Peace, homie.
Errr… what? £400 for listing my property on a few property portals? And then once he receives enquiries, he’ll send them to me so I can take the viewings?
I was left there thinking, so what exactly are YOU going to be doing besides from forwarding me enquiries (a task a new-born chimp is more than capable of doing in return for a banana)?
I can market my rental property on websites like Rightmove for £30 and take the viewings myself. That’s a saving of £370. I have no idea what i’d save as a percentage, but it’s a boatload.
I refuse to pay £400 for an agent to sit on his fat ass and click a few buttons to forward a few details over to me. At least offer me a service for £400!!
I know times are tough right now in the property industry, but come on.
Disclaimer: I'm just a landlord blogger; I'm 100% not qualified to give legal or financial advice. I'm a doofus. Any information I share is my unqualified opinion, and should never be construed as professional legal or financial advice. You should definitely get advice from a qualified professional for any legal or financial matters. For more information, please read my full disclaimer.
Are you sure that letmatch will put your property on the main portals. I thought Rightmove & the others only allowed agents with shop fronts to advertise. letmatch's 'Free Advertising' links go to a spammy site that is currently for sale. I'm looking forward to you review but I don't expect much.
You would be better trying to strike an 'advertising only' deal with a local agent. Agents pay a monthly fee to put their properties on the portals so it won't cost them any more to add yours. If you don't want them to be involved in viewings or admin you should be able to strike a good deal with an independent.
I agree about the agent; it is irritating when they call you up from a private ad. Do you put 'No Agents' in your copy. If so I think you have the right to be as rude as you like.