When you’re a homeowner looking to let out your home as a landlord, you will face the all-important question: Should I self-manage or use a letting agent?
With two great options, full of their own advantages, the right choice depends on your time, experience, portfolio size, and long-term goals.
Sometimes, making the right choice can be really difficult, which is why this guide helps you answer the question: self-manage vs letting agent, what’s best for landlords?
Click here, call 0113 230 55 52, or email info@redbrickproperties.co.uk to get in touch with our award-winning team at Redbrick Properties (Leeds) Ltd and ensure your property is in safe hands, like many other landlords we have helped.
What Does Self-Management Involve?
When you opt for the self-management of your property, it means you have to take care of every aspect. Your typical responsibilities include:
- Tenant selection
- Conducting viewings
- Tenant referencing
- Rent collection
- Deposit protection
- Property inspections
- Ongoing maintenance
- Managing tenant issues
- Handling rent arrears
- Legal compliance
In other words, you have to take care of everything to stay compliant with your contract agreement with the tenant. Many landlords choose self-management because it offers full control over their rental property and can help save money on agent and management fees.
Benefits of Self-Management
There are many benefits to managing your own property, as you are in charge of who lives there and how everything is conducted.
Here’s a look at the key benefits:
Full Control
First and foremost, as the landlord, you will control every decision made. You decide who lives in your property, the rent collection method and date, deposit protection and amount, and who does the maintenance work.
Cost Savings
Arguably, the biggest reason to self-manage is to avoid property management fees. This can increase rental income, particularly for landlords with a single property.
Direct Tenant Relationships
The constant communication with your tenant will allow for a stronger relationship built on trust, transparency, and respect. Plus, with direct communication, maintenance, rent, or other similar issues can be dealt with much faster.
Challenges of Self-Management
For self-managing landlords, unfortunately, there are many challenges to navigate, too.
The majority of these require a legal understanding of what you need to do and ensure you stay compliant.
Landlords must understand:
- Deposit handling rules
- Safety certificates
- Rent increases legislation
- All the rules surrounding tenancy law
You’ll also need to deal with maintenance issues, phone calls, tenant moves, rent payments, and potential legal disputes.
It is easier to handle all of these requirements when you have a single property. However, for landlords with multiple properties, self-management can quickly become a full-time property business.
Benefits of Using a Letting Agent
Alternatively, you can use a respectable and trusted letting agent, such as Redbrick Properties, to take all the stress of property management off your hands.
From tenant referencing and viewings to finalising rent and maintenance issues, the letting agent will undertake all the jobs you would have had to self-manage.
A property manager can:
- Find quality tenants
- Manage rent arrears
- Arrange property inspections
- Coordinate ongoing maintenance
- Support landlords through tenant issues
- Provide professional support when legal disputes arise
All of these tasks are designed to allow landlords to enjoy a more passive investment while still protecting their property investment.
The Cost of Property Management Fees
Of course, professional management comes at a cost; the cost can vary depending on how in-depth the service you want to pay for is.
What Does Redbrick Properties Provide Landlords?
At Redbrick Properties, we offer a few different services for our landlords to take advantage of.
The four services we provide are:
- Let Only: Perfect for landlords who have everything in place, but need a trusted agency to help find the tenants and to vet them.
- Let Only Plus: With this service, we can also help with rent collection and managing late payments, etc.
- Full Management: Help with safety certificates and 24/7 support for tenants, so you don’t need to do anything.
- Full Management HMO: For a completely hands-off approach in which you don’t have to be involved in any way, and just enjoy the money going into your account.
Self-Manage vs Letting Agent: Which Is Right for You?
Ultimately, the decision to use a letting agent lies with the landlord. In our opinion, self-management may suit landlords who:
- Have strong knowledge of legal requirements
- Own one or two rental properties
- Have time to manage tenant issues
- Want complete control
Alternatively, using a letting agent may suit landlords who:
- Own multiple properties
- Want professional support
- Prefer a passive investment approach
- Need help with legal compliance
- Have other businesses or commitments
From landlord to landlord, the situation differs vastly in terms of the number of properties, amount of time, and knowledge of legal compliance. If you feel ok with all of that, then you should be able to manage your own rental properties. But, if not, then the agent fees you pay may be the best investment you make this year.
So, before making a decision, consider your property portfolio, available time, and long-term investment goals to determine which option is best for managing a property effectively.
Click here, call 0113 230 55 52, or email info@redbrickproperties.co.uk to contact Redbrick Properties.
