Updating post from Reddit.
I am a relatively new landlord and am coming to the end of my first tenancy. I found the current tenants myself on spare room and got some help from estate agents with things like TA, inventory checks etc. I am no longer able to find new tenants myself as I don't live in London so can't do viewings, and estate agents want a months rent to let it for me. Has anyone ever offered their tenants a week or 2s rent to find someone? It only took me one post and an evening of viewings to let it, and in reality they know the property better than me!
Am I missing anything obvious? Has anyone considered this and decided against it? What is stopping you? Would be keen to hear people's opinion on this!
Not worth it. You want someone who has experience in vetting tenants and see them face to face.
The tenant will just want to earn their fee and get the first homeless they find on the street to move in, unlike agents who care about their reputation.
Hahaha fair point, I would still want to do credit checks etc. but can see why the tenants might be poorly incentivised -thanks for the comment!
It’s basically only worth it for student flats where students always know other students looking for places. But student flats are in high demand usually so it wouldn’t be hard to let them anyways
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Makes sense - cheers for the comment!
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Definitely! I have quite a good relationship with them and think they'd understand that
I tried doing this years ago, alongside my usual marketing. I used to offer a quite generous finders fee for any tenant who recommended someone whose application led to a tenancy (ie subject to my usual vetting process). This was pre-GDPR and I maintained a mailing list of previous tenants, who also received this offer.
I never received a single contact from anyone, let alone one leading to a tenancy! So gave that up as a bad job.
Interesting - maybe not quite as plain sailing as I anticipated then!
You could just use a independent Property Manager (I am one). Professional, knows the law and will try to find you the right tenants etc
I hadn't considered this. What are the main difference between using an independent property manager vs. an estate agent? Are the fees drastically different? Thanks !
I would say so. Fees would be lower for PM, as it is just one person. Likely to be more flexible with services they provide, to fit your exact needs. Also, they would provide a more personalised service to your potential tenants, as they would have a smaller portfolio of properties to look after, and are aware that everything they do is a direct reflection of their business (rather than being able to blame things on ‘company procedures’etc).
As someone who has lived in a property managed flat vs an agency, the experience with the former was so much better than the later. Not a representative sample but I was able to WhatsApp the PM directly about issues like mold etc, he’d send someone and sort it and no issue.
Likewise if there was a problem that would harm the property I actually bothered to report it because I trusted the guy to not try and spin it back on me (ie water leaks etc). Whereas with agencies they are largely faceless and I don’t really trust them to do the right thing so I just stay quiet unless something is affecting me.
Thank you for sharing your experience. It’s really nice hearing it from the Tenant’s side. This reminds me of my situation, I have a nice working relationship with the guests I have in one of the houses I manage, and because the relationship has been so smooth, they’ve been really proactive about keeping me updated and taking care of things around the property. It’s nice to know from your experience, the personal touch makes a big difference.
It might be more achievable / sensible if you do the initial screening on Spareroom but pay them to manage the viewings?
You'd need to agree some viewing blocks in advance of course.
That seems like a pretty reasonable suggestion - thanks for the comment!
I might be wrong but I use open rent (which I recommend) and do the viewings myself.
I am pretty sure they offer a service where someone does the viewings?
Personally I’d rather that, especially if I could ‘meet’ them over a quick call first to give any information they need.
It’s just more professional, and I think professionalism is key when setting standards and expectations of tenants.