1. Finding the right agent for you
Ensuring you find the right agent for you is vital to guarantee your home is let at the maximum possible value, but also an agent who understands your wants/needs from a potential tenant. When selecting an agent, ensure they advertise on a good range of property portals, their marketing is quality and in short you can really trust them to look out for you and your home!
2. The valuation
Although they want to get the very best possible price for you, the Letting agent needs to value your property sensibly and should be supplying recent comparable evidence to support the valuation. You do not want your property sitting on the market for months with no interest due to the price being too high.
3. Which service?
Once you have chosen your letting agent a price, you need to decide which service option you would like. These range from:
- Let only (the agent markets and finds you the tenant).
- Rent collection (the agent finds you a tenant and then takes responsibility for collecting the rent monthly. The Landlord is then responsible for the management of the property).
- Full Management (the agent takes ownership of the full management of the home as well as collecting the rent and passing it onto you each month).
Also you would need to discuss with the agent whether you are wanting to let it furnished, part furnished or unfurnished. Details of what is left will be included at the pre-move in inventory. You would also need to obtain an EPC if you do not have one, this is a legal requirement before we can commence marketing the home.
4. Marketing!
Now you have agreed which service and agent to list your property with, the agent will now begin marketing the home across all major platforms, conducting full property ring outs, using unique social media campaigns and erecting a To Let board out the front - this will help drive traffic to the home and ensure your home achieves the best rent. The agent must accompany all the viewings and you can leave a set of keys with them.
5. Agreeing an offer
After the agent has conducted the viewings, they will begin to receive offers on the home. Once agreed, the tenant will pay a reservation fee to secure the home whilst the background checks are done. It is vital the agent conducts thorough checks to ensure the tenant is right for the home. This would include reference checks with previous landlords and their employer, credit checks to ensure their credit history is stable and salary check to ensure they can afford to pay the monthly rent, as a general rule of thumb, the property rent should equal no less than x30 of what your yearly salary is.
6. Moving in
Once the tenant has passed all the reference checks, a move-in date will be agreed, the tenant will pay a value agreed from the Landlord upfront and the agent will meet the tenant at the property with the keys.
7. Moving out
Once the tenancy comes to an end, you can either serve the current tenant notice or ask to renew the agreement. If you wish to serve them notice, a new inventory will be carried out and the deposit (minus any costs for damage occurred) will be transferred back to the tenant, you can then ask the agent to relist the home to find a new tenant!