Being a property expert will not be enough to build a successful letting agency. Growing a letting agency requires finding new landlords who are willing for you to manage their rental property. Landlords choose to work with letting agents to either source quality tenants and take care of referencing and tenancy deposits (let only) or to source a tenant and take care of the property management activities throughout the tenancy (full management). This article shares some unique tips for helping you acquire new landlords for your letting agency.
What is your letting agency's background and track record?
Landlords want to know that your letting agency will look after their property, ensure it is filled with tenants and that their rental income is secure with no rent arrears. Whilst it is impossible for you to prevent rent arrears and other issues during the tenancy, you can minimise their likelihood by following rigorous processes before and during the tenancy. Be transparent with your landlords about how you source and vet tenants, how you ensure rent collection is timely as well as how you handle maintenance and repairs to give your prospective landlords peace of mind. You can also highlight your ARLA and client money protection scheme credentials to establish credibility and trust with your prospective landlords.
How to prove that your letting agency is unique?
Your letting agency is unique, you offer good services and are able to meet the requirements of your landlords. But have you ever thought about how to prove this to landlords? How do you show them that your letting agency can indeed meet their requirements? If your skillset is staging, give examples of how you've staged properties and give an overview of how you'll stage their property for prospective tenants. If your vision is to run a fully virtual letting agency where fees are lower thanks to automation, explain to landlords how this benefits them and tenants. If you have been in the property market for a long time and have an unrivalled understanding of the local rental market, demonstrate it to landlords so that they pick your letting agency over your competitors.
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What services do you offer?
Many landlords have never used a letting agent before and may not know what is included in a letting agency's service. To help landlords feel more confident about working with you, offer different managed services options in the form of packages that they can choose from easily. Keep your offerings simple and explain the benefits of each package and what each package includes or doesn't include to avoid surprises during tenancies. Provide examples of how a certain package might benefit a landlord based on their personal circumstances. Highlight what a landlord will need to take care of both from a practical and legal perspective if they don't choose your packages.
How do you take care of compliance?
Renting out your property to renters in the private sector requires complying with a growing number or rules and laws which is something prospective landlords are not always aware of. For example, deposits must be protected with government approved deposit protection schemes and certain fees can't be charged to tenants. You must highlight to landlords that your tenancy agreements are up-to-date and that you know how take care of the legal eviction process which can be long and complicated to navigate, especially if the right documents were not used at the start of the tenancy.
Where to find landlords?
There are over 2.65 million landlords in the UK but they are not necessarily easy to find. You can post flyers through residential letter boxes and adverts in landlord forums and networking events to highlight that you are looking for landlords. In these adverts you should highlight your unique strengths and more importantly that you already have tenants ready to rent in their area. You can also browse listings by private landlords on property platforms like Rightmove or Zoopla to identify potential prospects. Finally, you can develop a content marketing strategy to build your online brand awareness which with time and persistence will generate inbound leads for you. Distill your unique views and strengths in articles on your website and post them on social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn to increase your reach.
This article has provided a playbook to help you increase the number of landlords who want to work your letting agency. As you grow your brand and onboard new landlords you will eventually generate leads through word of mouth from previous landlords who have had a good experience with you. As you grow your business you will need to leverage automation software to ensure you continue to offer a great service to your landlords and tenants. Using a contract management platform like Legislate allows you to create all your tenancy related documents in minutes and without the mistakes whilst offering a great user experience to your tenants and landlords. To get started, sign up to Legislate today.