If you are considering renting your property as an alternative to selling, it would be understandable if you considered using the agent who is handling your sale to find a tenant instead.

However, a word of caution here on two counts. Firstly, many estate agents have recently entered the market offering lettings alongside their traditional sales practice, apparently as an alternative revenue stream.

Yet rentals is a very different business to sales, requiring a variety of skill sets of which many estate agents simply have no experience or natural inclination. Estate agents seldom, if ever, have to handle lease documentation, references, deposit guarantees, or inventories. They are unlikely to have any knowledge of the hundreds of relevant landlord and tenant laws, such as HMO regulations, nor are they likely to be able to advise you about important aspects of health and safety legislation that will certainly affect you as you move from resident to landlord. They often have a culture of “quick fix sale” rather than the ongoing care required in property management.

Secondly, agencies who handle both sales and lettings are potentially much more exposed to financial difficulty during difficult times. This is especially true of agents who are new to lettings because it usually takes several years to develop a portfolio of rental properties that is sufficient to sustain a healthy business. Even if the agency has been in the business for some time, they are likely to be highly reliant on their sales volumes, which is where their historic focus tends to lie.

Letting your property is an important decision. It requires the services of a dedicated lettings specialist who has the training, experience, knowledge and skills to help you ensure that your greatest asset is protected and profitable. Please feel free to call us for a confidential chat about letting your property effectively. We only do lettings, and we like to think we do it pretty well!