10 Reasons Why You Should Let Your Property Through A Letting Agent

Letting your property through a letting agent will save you a lot of trouble. No one likes to be a lone soldier, especially when you are dealing with something this complicated. The property market in London moves quickly, so you’ll want to get all the help you can to keep up.

At James Pendleton, we have years of experience working alongside seasoned landlords who know what they are doing, and who continually choose to let their properties through our Property Management Services team.

Why? Because it’s not about whether you can do it alone or not, it’s about the value you get back by letting your property through an experienced letting agent.

Here are 10 reasons why letting through an estate agent is better than letting a property yourself.

We have access to the largest online market

Movebubble, Rightmove, Zoopla – over 4 million people are using these online platforms to rent a place in the UK. Rightmove is, in fact, the 6th busiest UK website, according to Experian Hitwise.

Ads for homes to let on Gum Tree and Facebook are less trustworthy, generally speaking. Why? Because anyone can post an ad and let a property on them, some of them are not verified, and they don’t have a license. If anything happens, there are no professionals available to take responsibility and deal with the situation.

However, platforms like Rightmove and Zoopla are only accessible by verified estate agents. If you are a private landlord letting a property in London or the UK, you are certainly not getting as much market reach as those who are letting through an agent.

We give you maximum exposure

Your property is not only connected to the world wide web but also to our own internal network. 41% of successful lettings are from cross-selling, meaning introducing the viewers to a property other than the property on their first inquiry.

Our team of London property experts get to know our customers and can match their needs to your property, thus creating a steady stream of house hunters stored in our customer database. For example, once our team receives a rental enquiry and the customers’ details, we show them multiple homes that meet their criteria.

Higher payback

Properties which are let through agents are generally priced higher than private property to let. Leveraging our local market expertise, we know how to price your property competitively, whilst keeping an eye on other properties which come available to maximise your profit. Sure, you can do all the research online and compare prices in your area, but an estate agent has more developed tools and experience in setting the best price for your property.

We deal with all the complications

Letting is not a two-step process – it’s not just uploading your property online and sitting back waiting for someone to take it 10 minutes later. The process can be complicated, and an experienced set of hands will offer a real advantage. Renting a property comes with red tape around compliance, legislation and taxation, not to mention the inevitable and unexpected pitfalls, and tenant queries you’ll face. Navigating taxation alone is very frustrating.

With James Pendleton, you don’t have to deal with all the hassle – we’ll calculate the tax obligations, and ensure the process is legally compliant, and will even manage your tenants for you.

Estate laws change like the weather

Legislation changes frequently. It can be hard to follow and it can be very easy to miss out on amendments. 80% of landlords don’t know these changes are even happening.

To top that off, if you are dealing alone in the letting market, it’s going to be even harder, with having to check the latest legislation regularly, and dealing with taxation and compliance. If your property is not 100% compliant to the law, you can be penalised and even sentenced to imprisonment.

At James Pendleton, we ensure all our Property Management Services clients are following the most recent legislation, so if there is an update, we will be the first to know and the first to take action.

We use skilled professional photographers

People do judge a book by its cover. 90% of viewings booked start with a photo. We have all have seen property listings with awful photos, poor lighting, even un-made beds… all the deal-breakers that drive customers away immediately.

We know how important photography is, nine times out of ten the images determine whether a person will click into your property. That is why we have to make sure all property photos are taken by professionals. They have extensive experience in real estate photography, knowing what works and what doesn’t.

We know what to tell your potential tenants

The James Pendleton team is handling property management day in, day out. After showing countless viewers around thousands of properties for decades, we’ve not only built up an unrivalled knowledge of our local market, we’ve also learnt all the skills we need to understand and deal with people. We understand what makes people tick and use this to enhance their customer experience – knowing which properties to showcase and what to say to seal the deal.

We maximise your property

Not only the price but also the property itself. We will conduct an evaluation of your property and give you the advice to polish it even more, so as to make it more appealing to the viewers.

If there is any refurbishment to be carried out, we can help with that too. We advise on what could be refurbished, arrange quotes, and generate work for your property.

After following all the steps, your property value would most likely rise, thus maximising your profit in every aspect.

We even manage your tenancy

This might be a unique advantage exclusive to James Pendleton’s clients. We won’t kick you off the radar after we fill your house with tenants. We will help manage your tenants, from dealing with complaints to collecting rent. With our angel department service here to make sure they are comfortable after moving in, they can enjoy a bespoke after-care such as maintenance and even dog-walking.

It’s just easier

Instead of drawing circles by yourself figuring how to do all the tax and agreements, why risk it when an estate agent can answer all your looping questions, and do most of the work? By maintaining constant communication with you, you will be reassured that the process will go smoothly.