Choosing a Letting Agent, or Going It Alone? | SOLM Property
Every landlord faces the same question sooner or later. Do you manage the property yourself and keep the fee, or pay an agent to take it off your hands? It used to be a fairly even call. With the rules around letting getting heavier, the calculation has shifted, and it is worth thinking through properly rather than defaulting either way.
Here is an honest look at the costs, what each option really involves, and when each one makes sense.
What agents charge, and for what
Letting agents usually offer three levels of service. Tenant-find, sometimes called let-only, is a one-off job where the agent markets the property, does viewings, references the tenant and sets up the tenancy, then hands it back to you. It typically costs around one month’s rent. Rent collection sits in the middle, handling the money side for an ongoing percentage. Full management is the hands-off option, where the agent runs everything day to day, and that generally costs between 10% and 15% of the monthly rent, plus VAT.
Be clear-eyed about that VAT, because it is added on top and most residential landlords cannot reclaim it, so a headline 12% fee actually costs 14.4% of your rent in practice. On a property let at £1,200 a month, full management works out at roughly £2,000 a year, and more once you add extras like inventories, check-outs, renewals and contractor charges. The large national chains often sit at the top of the range, up to 17% or more. Landlord fees are not capped, but they are at least tax-deductible against your rental income, and many of the add-ons are negotiable.
What going it alone actually involves
Self-managing means keeping that fee, which is real money. In return, you take on the whole job. That is marketing the property and doing viewings, referencing tenants and running Right to Rent checks, drawing up a compliant tenancy agreement, protecting the deposit correctly, arranging and tracking all the safety certificates, carrying out inspections, sorting repairs whenever they crop up, chasing rent when it is late, and staying fully on top of the Renters’ Rights Act.
That last part is the one that has changed the picture most. Since the Act came in, tenancies are periodic, possession requires the right grounds and notices, and a landlord database and ombudsman are on the way. The compliance bar is genuinely higher than it was, and the penalties for getting it wrong run into thousands of pounds. Our guides to the Renters’ Rights Act and to being a first-time landlord give a sense of just how much there now is to track.
The honest case for self-managing
None of that means you should not do it yourself. Plenty of good landlords self-manage, and it can absolutely be the right call. It works well if you have one or two properties, live close enough to deal with them, have the time and the temperament for it, stay organised about compliance, and have a reliable plumber, electrician and handyman on speed dial. If that is you, self-managing saves you a meaningful sum every year, and anyone who tells you it cannot be done is usually the person hoping to charge you.
The honest case for using an agent
Using an agent earns its fee when your situation makes self-managing a strain. That is the case if you are short on time, do not live near the property, have several properties to run, want the compliance handled by someone who does it every day, or simply do not want to be the person a tenant rings at eleven at night about a leak. For a lot of landlords, the higher compliance burden since the Renters’ Rights Act has tipped the balance, and paying for management is as much about peace of mind and staying legal as it is about convenience. The fee being tax-deductible softens the cost too.
If you use an agent, choose a good one
This matters more than the headline percentage, because agents vary enormously. Look for membership of a redress scheme and client money protection, and ideally regulation through a body such as ARLA Propertymark. Ask for the full fee schedule with the add-ons spelled out, not just the headline rate. Ask existing landlord clients about maintenance response times and how easy the agent is to reach. And find out who will actually manage your property day to day.
That last question is the important one. A cheap fee from a chain that passes you to a call centre can be far worse value than a slightly higher fee from someone who knows your property and answers the phone. The government’s guidance on renting out a property is a useful compliance reference whichever way you go.
Where SOLM Property fits
This is exactly where our model is built to help. The big national chains often charge the most and then hand you to a faceless team where no one really knows your property. As a personal, local service, we manage far fewer properties, but we manage them properly. You deal with someone who knows your home, knows the area, and is actually contactable, and who handles the compliance correctly rather than as an afterthought. We would always rather look after a smaller number of landlords well than a large number badly.
So which is right for you?
Here is our straight steer. If you have one property, live nearby, have the time, and are organised about the legal side, self-managing can be the sensible choice, and we are happy to simply find you a good tenant on a let-only basis and leave you to it. If you have several properties, are time-poor or live away, or you just want it off your plate and done right, full management usually earns its fee, and more so now than a few years ago. Either way, be honest with yourself about how much time you really have and how comfortable you are carrying the compliance risk.
Thinking about letting a property?
Whether you want us to manage everything or just help you find the right tenant, we offer both across Chester, the Wirral, North Wales, Liverpool and Manchester, and we will tell you honestly which option actually suits your situation rather than pushing you toward the pricier one.
If you are weighing up managing a property yourself against using an agent, get in touch and we will help you make the right call.