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Good Landlording

Written by: Suzanne Smith and Richard Jackson
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  • Summary

  • A weekly podcast co-hosted by Suzanne Smith and Richard Jackson, who discuss practical tips to help you start, grow and succeed as a landlord.
    © 2024 Good Landlording
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Episodes
  • Episode #4: Tips for signing up with letting agents

    Episode #4: Tips for signing up with letting agents
    May 1 2024
    This episode is the second in the series on letting agents, carrying on from Episode #3: Guide to selecting good letting agents. This week, Suzanne and Richard dig a little deeper and discuss tips to help landlords understand what to look out for in the contract so they strike a fair deal when signing up with letting agents. This is a practical episode that not only gives the perspective of letting agents, but also explores the experience that landlords have when dealing with agents, the ins and outs of the different services letting agents provide, what to look out for in the agency agreement, and what protection landlords have under the law. There are golden nuggets all the way through, but there's a particularly good one at the end. What we cover in Episode #41. The competitive environment for letting agents2. What packages do letting agents offer landlords?3. What should landlords look out for in agents' terms and conditions4. What protection do landlords from unfair terms in agency contracts?5. Why it's important to keep copies of all recordsGolden nuggetCredits >> Submit a question: Click here for question form 1. The competitive environment for letting agents The competitive environment has become very challenging for letting agents over the past few years. The Tenant Fees Act 2019 reduced income streams for letting agents as they could no longer charge tenants fees. Landlords have baulked at the extra costs, especially as interest rates and general costs like insurance and service changes have gone up. There are very low barriers to entry for letting agents as no minimum qualifications or licensing are required. There are unfortunately lots of agents who compete on price, at the expense of a quality service, and others who try to lock in landlords through unfair terms in contracts. Disruption from technology is beginning to gather steam, first with OpenRent who have already become the biggest agent in the UK, albeit an online platform. There are also new entrants like Hello Neighbour with their fixed price, no lock-in property management, and recently their new self-service letting package to compete with OpenRent. (Hello Neighbour advertise on Good Landlording, but Good Landlording is not an affiliate of Hello Neighbour). The NRLA are also doing more online. This all increases the pressure on agents. The industry has been consolidating, with big players like Countrywide buying up small local firms. Some are doubling down on customer service. A prime example is Kristjan Byfield's Base Property Specialists in London, who genuinely care about providing a quality service both for tenants and for landlords. Unfortunately, others try to stop landlords from leaving by tying them in or charging them a high exit fee if they want to terminate property management or in rent collection. This can make it very difficult for landlords to terminate rent collection and property management contracts. 2. What packages do letting agents offer landlords? These are the four key packages of services that letting agents typically offer landlords: a. Let-only / Tenant Find / Introduction Service This is the most basic level of service, and not all agents offer it. It's popular with self-managing landlords. The agents find tenants for the landlord, and hand the baton over to the landlord once they have checked in the tenant. The agents typically advertise and market the property, carry out viewings, and recommend a short list. Once the landlord makes a decision, the agent will carry out referencing and the right to rent checks. The landlord will usually pay extra for an inventory and the tenancy agreement. The agent handles the deposit and the first month's rent, and checks in the tenants. The landlord pays an upfront fee for this which can range from 3-8 weeks' rent, including all the costs. Suzanne said that the last time she used agents for a let-only service she paid 13% of the fi...
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    30 mins
  • RRB #2: Why Renter Reforms might start in May 2025

    RRB #2: Why Renter Reforms might start in May 2025
    Apr 29 2024
    This is the second special episode of Good Landlording on the Renters Reform Bill. Richard and Suzanne talk about how and why the renter reforms may well start to come into effect in May 2025, and what this means for landlords. This includes the likely timetable for implementation of what will be the Renters Reform Act, and when the key provisions will start to apply to new tenancies. The new rules could come in for new tenancies as early as May 2025, assuming Royal Assent is in October 2024. They also discuss the implications of the wide definition of new tenancies, which means that tenancies that are already in place now may be subject to the new rules next year. These show notes summarise the main points about the discussion about when the new renter reform rules will start to come into force, and include links to useful resources. What we cover in Renters Reform Bill Special #2When will tenancies be subject to the Renters Reform Bill?Stage One: For new tenancies from the Commencement Date (probably from May 2025 )Stage Two: For existing tenancies on the Extended Application Date (after Lord Chancellor assessment - 2026?)What is a new tenancy under the Renters Reform Bill?What is an existing tenancy under the Renters Reform Bill?Examples of when the new rules will applyFixed term tenancy signed November 2024 ending July 2026Until when will landlords be able to serve a Section 21 notice?ConclusionCredits When will tenancies be subject to the Renters Reform Bill? For landlords, the big question is when Chapter 1 of Part 1 will come into force. Chapter 1 of Part 1 is the section of the Bill that sets out the new rules for tenancies. In other words, the new periodic assured tenancies which will have no fixed term periods, no s21 "no fault" eviction rights for landlords, no rent review clauses, and a new implied right for tenants to have pets. The first big step will be for the Renters Reform Bill to receive Royal Assent, which will transform it into the Renters Reform Act. Once a Bill becomes an Act, not much happens at that point. Before it comes into force, it needs to be implemented, and this is usually done in stages. Although it initially appeared as if the new Lord Chancellor's assessment of the operation of the eviction process had kicked the abolition of Section 21 into touch, that is not strictly the case. In fact, tenancies will start to switch over to the new regime on a commencement date that will be at least six months after Royal Assent. Assuming Royal Assent in October, that brings us to May 2025, if a new government keeps to the same timetable. A Department for Levelling Up spokesperson said on 24 April: "We have always said we will give six months notice before ending section 21 for all new tenancies. In addition, we have committed to ensuring improvements in the courts service are rapidly implemented before extending this abolition to all existing tenancies." These are the stages that the DLUHC spokesperson refers to: Stage One: For new tenancies from the Commencement Date (probably from May 2025 ) The changes for new tenancies will come into effect at least 6 months after Royal Assent. The government will publish a start date for the implementation of the rules after Royal Assent and give 6 months’ notice. May 2025 date is prob about the earliest date. It might be later than that. This is called the Commencement Date in the Bill. Stage Two: For existing tenancies on the Extended Application Date (after Lord Chancellor assessment - 2026?) The Renters Reform Bill has been recently amended so that the Extended Application Date for existing tenancies will be after the Lord Chancellor publishes an assessment on the operation of the eviction process and enforcement in the county courts. We spoke about the Lord Chancellor's assessment at length in RRB #1: Latest changes to Renters Reform Bill. We don’t know when the Extended Application Date will be...
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    Less than 1 minute
  • GL #3: Guide to selecting good letting agents

    GL #3: Guide to selecting good letting agents
    Apr 24 2024
    In Good Landlording Episode #3, Richard and Suzanne broach the big subject of letting agents by giving an overview of what landlords need to know about agents to help them make the right choice, in the first of a series of three episodes on agents. For many landlords, agents are a vital part of letting and managing their properties, while for other landlords, they prefer to manage every aspect of the properties themselves. As experienced landlords themselves, Suzanne and Richard discuss the pros and cons of using letting agents, and share some little-known tips on how to select good agents, based on their own experiences and Suzanne's legal insights. This is an introductory episode on letting agents. Richard and Suzanne cover practical tips for signing up with letting agents in Episode #4, out Wednesday 1 May. Here are the detailed show notes for Episode #3. What we cover in Episode #3 on letting agents1. How many landlords use letting agents?2. Why it's important to choose the right letting agent3. Why landlords should have copies of all documentation4. What does the law say about letting agents?5. Basic due diligence to avoid rogue or bad agents6. How can landlords find a good letting agent?Golden nuggetCredits >> Submit a question: Click here for question form 1. How many landlords use letting agents? It's difficult to know definitively how many of the 2.5 million or so landlords use letting agents as even the official statistics are estimates based on small samples. However, here are two surveys which both estimate that the overwhelming majority of landlords (over 80%) do not use them for property management. The 2021 English Private Landlord Survey (EPLS) estimated that almost half (49%) of the landlords surveyed said they didn't use a letting agent. 46% used an agent for letting services and less than one in five (18%) used one for property and tenant management services. Looking at it the other way, over four-fifths (82%) of the landlords surveyed self-managed their properties. However, this was not only a small sample size of 9,300 landlords, the sample was not representative of landlords as a whole and landlords who registered deposits themselves- figures for landlords whose agents registered deposits are not included in this analysis. In the Property Redress Scheme's 2023 Annual Sentiment Survey of 2,700 landlords and agents, 65% of landlords self-managed their own properties, with about a fifth (19%) relying on a hybrid of self and agent management. According to this PRS survey, only 14% of private rented properties are managed by letting agents. This number is less than estimated in the EPLS. In the "old days", before the internet, there were few letting agents and landlords would find tenants by advertising in the classifieds of newspapers. Suzanne remembers finding her first bed-sit in Clapham in the early 1990s in the classifieds of the Evening Standard. Technology has been slowly making it easier for landlords to self-manage their properties, with the advent of OpenRent (affiliate link) and now the new self-service letting platform launched by Hello Neighbour in April 2024. (Hello Neighbour sponsor Good Landlording and offer listeners a £10 discount by using this Good Landlording link). These online platforms facilitate the process of finding tenants themselves, advertising on the property portals such as Rightmove and Zoopla, and "onboarding" them. 2. Why it's important to choose the right letting agent Letting agents can make or break the success of a tenancy. The experience of using letting agents varies considerably, and even from branch to branch of the same company. The best agents typically find the best tenants. They do regular inspections, give landlords early warnings of an issue, and this results in properties being kept in good condition, with rent paid on time. They find long-term quality tenants which means ultimately fewer voids.
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    22 mins
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