👀 What do landlords really look for when choosing a letting agent?

We are sure everyone who receives these emails will know what a landlord will look for in an agent, and all will agree it’s not just about the fees. Don’t get us wrong fees play a big part, especially in a tight economy and with cost of living increasing, but the value a landlord receives remains just as important.

Keeping to our standard format, here are some emoji bullet points to consider:

👨‍💼 Professional standards – you all should be registered with the Ombudsman, but landlords also consider ARLA or NALS schemes. This shows trustworthiness, client money protection and compliance with ever-changing legislation.

👍 Reviews – Google really has started something by allowing people to leave reviews and now it’s everywhere. When was the last time you checked yours, responded to them or had a push to get more? You’ll be surprised how many you can get just by asking the question. Many job applicants will also check your reviews before applying to work with you!

🏡 How will you market the property – the most common of these is one of the portals like Rightmove or Zoopla, but this is now a standard expectation from landlords. Why not try impressing them by showing some lateral thinking and offering an alternative to the ‘norm’ (watch this space for the power of social media!)

💕 Size does matter – to landlords, size matters, but for differing reasons (you can’t win them all!). Some will look for smaller agents as these are seen as easier to knock down on fees (I did say it’s still a consideration) and offer a more personal 1-2-1 service. Others will look to the bigger agents as their reach is longer, have more money for marketing, compliance can be tighter or give options if the landlord has a portfolio split geographically.

🏦 How you protect the deposit – if not a first-time landlord, it’s likely they’ve had some experience with a deposit scheme. It’s possible they would prefer one over another as a result. If you don’t know what we mean by this, ask your property manager.

📞 Communication – to coin a phrase, ‘communication is key’ and this is very true within agency! Have regular touch points planned with your landlords from the first to last interaction with them and let them know the plan, but always stick to it. There is nothing worse than leaving a landlord with unmet expectations.

🔧 How do you deal with maintenance – for managed clients, this is an important factor. All landlords seem to have their own specific way they would like you to manage their property. Can you cater to this, and communicate how?

📲 Innovation – the landlord journey is important, it’s ok to utilise tech for this when it has a place, doesn’t conflict with your initial promises and has a benefit to them, they really don’t care if you’re the only one to benefit from tech!

💷 Fees – yes, we said it. It’s still an impacting factor whether we like it or not, but what does the landlord get back? Whenever we have to spend money, we all consider if we can get it cheaper, but most still like to think we would still use John Lewis. What’s your John Lewis moment of fee negotiations?

We’re sure the list will go on, however we like to offer some brevity to these emails (yes, this is brief!). We’d love to hear from you to know how you set yourself apart from the guys down the road!

If you’re interested in automating maintenance to free up time for your property managers and save money for your landlords, you can book a demo of the Help me Fix video triage service here.