MEGATHREAD:- Recommended Lettings Agents

[alirosdan]

Thank you everyone for the responses.

[garty]

Try d.g lettings, they do three for me, they charge

Ten% but no hidden costs and take care of everything.

Ask for david, 07976871145.

[MartinT81]

A lower price doesn't have to mean that the service suffers in every case, our business model cuts out expensive premises, multiple small branches, expensive company cars, inefficient working practices, franchise costs and all sorts of other wastefull media. Having worked for 2 of the most expensive agents around Yorkshire (typically 12.5% + VAT for a management fee), I feel I offer the same if not more with Hatched for a fraction of the price. Believe it or not, but just before I left my previous employer, I recall being a request to buy some new key fobs (About £10 for 50 or thereabouts) to replace the confusing set of old renumbered fobs resulting in all sorts of problems. Refused because apparently we couldn't afford it... Despite having a fee structure with the most expensive at 15%. They sent me to a viewing with a property that had been vacated, final inspection had been "carried out" by a member of staff due to leave, he'd not done it, I ended up walking into a house with 3 months worth of filth, the tenants had already been given back their full deposit. Even if they had tried to claim for the landlord, the inventory (compiled by the letting staff) would have been useless for so many reasons. I could go on... but I left after 3 months, worst employer I've ever had to deal with, all this from one of the biggest estate agents in the UK and part of a group of several very well known names.

Do your homework when checking out letting agents - do they answer your calls as a landlord AND as a tenant? Do they know about what's involved? What should you expect during the tenancy from them (ie visits to the property etc.), ask for ALL the costs. It's a massive trust issue and the amount of responsibility I feel as a letting agent for a landlord does weigh heavily at times, but there is a lot that can be done from the start to ensure the tenancy runs smoothly.