Letting Agents

troops

Does anyone know exactly what a letting agent will do if you want them to look after your house?
besides sourcing tenants and showing them the house.
do they collect the rent monthly, sort out maintenance issues, cut the grass or what?
and any idea what they charge? is it a % of monthly rent

also, if you go with one , do you have to do everything by the book i.e. pay tax, register with prtb etc...?

thanx

silja

Don't use a letting agent if you can avoid it. I wish I had listened to the people here when they told me that a couple of years ago... ours disappeared completely (Red Property), without a word, and now we are having to scramble to find new tenants. Fortunately, a friend has agreed to look after the flat now.

Anyways... letting agent will source tenants, check references etc. Once tenant is in the house, they will be first point of contact if the tenant has an issue/ question. They will organise small repairs but you will need to pay for them; some hold a small fund for you for this purpose. They will get new keys cut, and inspect the property at regular intervals (usually quarterly or half-yearly); they may represent you in court should there be issues with the tenant. Some will collect rent, but usually this is paid by the tenant directly into your bank account. They will not cut the grass etc. Yes you will need to do everything by the book. They usually charge a % of monthly rent, 10-15% depending on area/ agency seems normal. Some offer a service where they just find the tenant and do the moving in procedure (key handover, signing of lease, checking references etc) for a smaller fee, around 5-8%, and then you do the day-to-day stuff yourself.

mathepac

Good agents will also register with Revenue as "collection agents" so as to deduct and remit the 20% deduction tax that legally must be withheld from rents payable to non-resident landlords.

convert

From personal experience and judging by a lot of what has been posted on this forum, if at all possible it would probably be best to avoid going down the EA route and managing things yourself.

Obviously you'll need to brush up on what's required by you, as a landlord, but it may be easier in the long run to do it yourself. When I was looking for a place to rent, I found it extremely difficult to deal with EAs regarding basic queries such as the times for which the viewings were organised. I just seemed to be spammed with emails from them with no replies to any follow up queries.

As mentioned above, you'll still have to organise someone to maintain the garden, etc. and even though they are the tenant's first port of call, it's very difficult to know how quickly they'll pass on any complaints/queries to you.

Is there anyone, such as a friend or relative, who could manage things for you if you're away? I was in a house for 5 years and it was our landlord's sister who was our first port of call and it worked out well because she had an interest in the house as opposed to an EA who is more than likely in it only for the money.

If you are going to go down the route of managing things by yourself, I would suggest you contact Threshold and a solicitor so you'll know exactly what's expected of you before you make a final decision.