Any Landlord here ? Advice needed pls

[iwannafurloughmydp]

Hi,
I privately rent a property for 1 year now and did it all on my own with the help of another landlord friend. I have a AST contract with my tenants and after my first visit to the property I got in chock with the quantity of things they've changed in the house in 1 year without even dropping me an email.

I decided to pass on the headache of managing it to an agency.
I wonder if anyone ever did this and what's the outcome. For me is the right thing atm as I've been through a lot last whole year and I just cannot cope seeing people doing things that they shouldn't on my house.

What's the positives and negatives of involving an agency, apart from the % they charge to do it please ?

I think that I can't trust anyone else after what I've seen and Although I think that this is the best for my own mental health, I am also scared of digging a bigger hole here.

Any advice is welcome
Tia

What have they changed? Have they paid a deposit that’s in the deposit scheme?

I would write to them and say that any unauthorised changes to the property must be corrected before the end of the tenancy or will be deducted from their deposit.

And confirm they must not make any further changes.

In terms of an agent, my dad has a number of rental properties and he uses an agent who take a % fee. They save him the bother of dealing with day to day issues directly with the tenant and it works well for him.

@LawnFever

What have they changed? Have they paid a deposit that’s in the deposit scheme?

I would write to them and say that any unauthorised changes to the property must be corrected before the end of the tenancy or will be deducted from their deposit.

And confirm they must not make any further changes.

In terms of an agent, my dad has a number of rental properties and he uses an agent who take a % fee. They save him the bother of dealing with day to day issues directly with the tenant and it works well for him.

Hi, Yes, the letter has been sent and everything that you said was mentioned :) They changed my whole Kitchen cupboards - and got rid of it- without permission and for second hand terrible ones. I don't know how a month's deposit would cover the expense of putting up another cupboard of my taste. I believe that their excuse is that it has been replaced for another one of the same "level" or whatever bs they want to say to protect them as they don't seem stupid.

Glad to know that agents work well for your father
Thank you

I've always used an agent to manage my rental, it's well worth the fee for the time I save in particular when it comes to arranging any short notice repairs. It's stressful enough getting a plumber or electrician arranged when I need it at my own home let alone for someone else when I'm not there! I live alone and often find it a lot of pressure to deal with everything so at least I can pay for someone else to share the burden with the rental. I would hate to have phone calls from the tenants late in the evening or when I'm in the middle of a busy work day and have to arrange something so this works best from the tenants perspective too.

Saying that, my managing agents didn't realise for ages the tenants were subletting the flat to someone else even though the subletter was dealing with all communication 🙄 Other than 6 monthly inspections, they wouldn't really know if anything is changed etc. because well, how would anyone know really. But at least they know how to arrange the inspections correctly and send a thorough report with photos so it's easy to prove if something is damaged or changed.

Do you have it in the agreement that they must return the property to you in the same decor and condition as when they first moved in, allowing gif fair wear and tear?
My friend had 'good tenants for four years and they gave notice. When she went to donthe inventory she found out they had sold or given away done if her furniture. The managing agents told her it was 'just one of those things'. I advised her to call the police as it was theft. The mere threat was enough gir the tenants to return the items they gave away and pay gur the rest.
I don't know what fo do in your cirmstances, but it is a kind of vandalism or theft.
But to answer you I think managers are fine for the usual issues like boiler breaking down etc, but not so good when it's a serious issue. If you ask around a couple managing agents, why not ask what they would do faced with your particular issues? It might be a good judge of whether they are worth their fees.

I have never used an agent and wouldn't.
I would also allow changes, not do inspections. My tenants have stayed a long time (1 over ten years, another almost as long, another 5 years and the previous tenant was their relative).
There is a massive benefit to this and I can understand the tenant wanting to make it home.
From other people who have used agents, I have heard that it is not worth the loss of income.

I used to be a landlord and used a letting agent to manage the properties for me.

A percentage of the rent is paid to the letting agent every month (plus VAT) and, of course, some months there was very little for them to do.

However, I didn't get phone calls at 2 am or on Christmas Day when the boiler stopped working etc.

The letting agent used to inspect the property every 3 months and report back to me on the condition, within broad parameters. The tenants had to liaise with the letting agent over any changes they wished to make and the letting agent would speak with me before agreeing to any of their requests.

When the tenant started to think that paying rent was optional, the letting agent was pro-active in liaising with them to ensure that any shortfalls were paid before the next month's rent was due, until they got back on track.

Any problems with the tenants or the property was dealt with by the letting agent - I just had to agree to go ahead or not go ahead, depending upon the problem.

I'd recommend using a letting agent to manage the property on your behalf - but work out the pros and cons first!

I had my flat managed for a year. The tenant put awful cabling through the flat in breach of their TA. They drilled through the front door and stapled it to the wall. They also left the flat dirty. The managing agent did recover some money for me but it paled in comparison to their fees for the year.

@nordica thank you for your message. Well we’ll,,, the subletting is also, and also the reason for me to take an agency on board. In my inspection I found out that they are also subletting without my knowledge and approval, which is so wrong since we have this all written in contract.
I honestly can’t believe how much wrong doings are there and what scares me the most is how much the laws are not supportive of landlords and how this all will impact on me in the near future…specially the worry about it :(

We had to let out house for 5 years . The agent was worth every penny . I did not have to stress about looking at references , credit checks , organising gas checks etc . I am a natural worried so it felt better that someone else was taking care of things . Also as pp said , no emergency call outs at silly hours - all dealt with .
My advice would also to get a good insurance for unpaid rent , boiler, electricity problems etc .

@Candyapple49

We had to let out house for 5 years . The agent was worth every penny . I did not have to stress about looking at references , credit checks , organising gas checks etc . I am a natural worried so it felt better that someone else was taking care of things . Also as pp said , no emergency call outs at silly hours - all dealt with . My advice would also to get a good insurance for unpaid rent , boiler, electricity problems etc .

@candyapple49 thank you for your advice. I will look out for insurance.

:)

My agents did shite all, and ran off with my tenants deposit which I had to repay out of my own money. Complete bastards