In the hot seat

AGENT “IN THE HOT SEAT”

WHAT’S A “TENANT FIND?”

A tenant-find (frequently referred to as a “tenant find only” service) is a service offered by most letting agents to landlords that wish to manage their own properties. A typical tenant-find service will include marketing services to generate tenant enquiries and tenant-referencing services. Then once a suitable tenant is found, the agent will assist in arranging a tenancy agreement, and then leave the responsibility of managing the tenancy/ property to the landlord. The service is purely designed to assist landlords in finding tenants and creating a “proper tenancy” for the landlord to then manage themselves.

PROS

This is a good option for self-managing landlords, especially for more hands-off property models, such as single lets or family lets. Choosing this service, means that a landlord can leverage their agent’s experience with tenant selection and referencing, whilst also benefitting from their agent’s regulation and compliance knowledge too, in setting up a proper and compliant tenancy.

CONS

Once a tenant is found, referenced, contract signed and checked in, the lan dlord is left to manage all other aspects of the tenancy themself. This includes all communication and interaction with the tenant and all maintenance. It also means that, moving forward, and beyond the tenancy creation, the responsibility for all compliance issues (including keeping up with the ever-changing nature of compliance and regulations) remain the responsibility of the landlord.

Where, with a tenant find service, the agent’s services do not extend beyond the check in, Full Management “does what it says on the tin.” A full management service incorporates all aspects of managing the tenancy. This often works well for landlords who do not have the time, experience, or knowledge to self-manage, or who have more than one property. It can also work well for more compliant or time intensive property models, like HMOs (Houses of multiple occupation) or SA (Serviced accommodation). THE COST

This will vary from agent to agent, as with all costings. My only comment here would be, to look at the cost as an indication of time spent. Selecting a good quality tenant is an art form and there is a huge difference between finding a tenant and selecting a good tenant. There is also the viewings process, referencing and contract creation, inventory (if you are going to have one) and check in to be completed. So, there is a considerable amount of work involved in the tenant find service, if it’s done correctly, so don’t be lured in by very low prices. We charge £50% of the first month’s rent (minimum of £499) for this service.

OUR TENANT FIND VERSUS OUR FULL MANAGEMENT

With our Tenant Find, you get to leverage exactly the same experience, knowledge and team as you get with full management, just for the part of the process that you need. We don’t outsou rce any part of our lettings service, so you get the full KPA experience, just for the “tenant find bit.” US VERSUS OUR COMPETITORS

There are some great agents out there and, whilst it’s hard to comment, specifically, on exactly how they carry out their Tenant Find service, a chat with them would soon answer any of your questions and queries. Most agents define the service in a very similar way and are very happy to carry out a tenant find for a landlord, understanding that they would like help and assistance at the “front end” of the tenancy but, wish to carry out the remainder of the management of the tenancy themselves. If you have found this subject useful, then you can find other, related, blog articles here:

https://kpa.co.uk/tenant-selection-partart-part-science/ https://kpa.co.uk/why-tenants-are-likeapples-and-how-to-pick-a-good-one/ https://kpa.co.uk/a-commonsense-approach-to-referencing/ https://kpa.co.uk/the-perfect-viewing/