Letting agents, perhaps unfairly, have a bit of a bad reputation in society. This is mainly due to landlords having bad experiences with their agents and then relaying this experience to friends, family and even the media.

In quite a few cases, these bad experiences can be put down to a few unscrupulous agents shamelessly fleecing naive landlords for their money, or offering poor service for an inflated fee. Concluding that all letting agents are bad from this minority can be adequately summed up as tarring all agents with the same bad brush.

However, sometimes bad experiences can happen despite both the landlord and the letting agency having nothing but the best intentions. These experiences can predominantly be put down to the landlord picking the wrong agent for their needs. Unfortunately, the main reason for this is a lack of research on the part of the landlord.

Although a lot of media outlets are quick to promote the idea of ‘going it alone’, the fact is that letting agents still make renting out a property a lot easier for prospective landlords, especially if it is your first time renting a property out.

Letting agents will mainly market your property to try and get you in touch with tenants, but can also help deal with references, deposit management and day-to-day management of your property. Most letting agents can also provide a wealth of knowledge on renting out a property and the local area, knowledge gleaned from years of experience.

The process of picking a letting agent shouldn’t be taken lightly and there a few considerations to keep in mind. When considering agents, it’s a good idea to determine the sort of reputation they have among landlords. Try and question landlords currently with them or who have used them in the past directly, or use a search engine to pull up forums and blog posts on the agent.

You can also get a good idea of how reputable an agency is by the accreditation they hold. A good mark of quality in the UK would be membership of ARLA (Association of Residential Letting Agents).

Also look into how long the agency has been in business. While this isn’t the most reliable measure of quality, an agency that has been going for ten years will likely have more knowledge of the area than a recent start up. On the flipside of this, however, an older agency may fall back on redundant knowledge, so don’t rely on this as a solid system of determining quality.

You should also pick an agent based on your personal needs. Consider the location of the letting agent in proximity to your property; too far out, and it may be the case that your property doesn’t receive the attention and expertise it deserves.

You’ll also need to take into account the type of property an agency specialises in. For example, a high-end city centre apartment wouldn’t be best served by an agency specialising in council housing in the outer city. Not all agencies have an advertised specialism, but you can generally pick up trends by browsing through their listings.

There’s one final thing to keep in mind when searching for your agent – whether you like working with them or not. Renting out a property with the help of an agency means striking up a working relationship in the same manner as working with a colleague. If you don’t enjoy working with that colleague, the chances are you’ll have a bad experience.

Obviously don’t choose a poor agent on the basis that you like them, but don’t go for a top agent if you don’t feel you can work with them!

Ben Greenwood is writing on behalf of Shepherd Gilmour, letting agents specialising in Manchester City Centre property

Ben Greenwood is writing on behalf of Shepherd Gilmour, http://www.shepherdgilmour.com letting agents specialising in Manchester City Centre property

Author Bio: Ben Greenwood is writing on behalf of Shepherd Gilmour, letting agents specialising in Manchester City Centre property

Category: Real Estate
Keywords: letting agents, letting agent