Can I ask more than one letting agent to find a tenant for me or i have to go by single one? say i select one, he will advertise on rightmove my property under his name ? then can i ask others agents also to search a tenant for my property
2007-03-28 23:25:25 · 2 answers · asked by sonia k 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Renting & Real Estate
You can employ more than one Agent, however you may find they charge different rates ... for example, if you agree 'sole agent' you might get charged 12% whilst if you refuse they might charge 15%.
All the Agencies will ask you to sign a Contract - check the wording extremely carefully, especially the bits about how and when you get paid the rent, who has to chase the Tenant (if they don't pay) and who has to arrange / pay for repairs etc. - also who sorts out Insurance etc == the Agent usually 'looks after' the Tenants deposit & this can be a problem if there is any dispute about damage after the Tenant leaves (either the Agent gives Tenant back their deposit and you are left to sort out repairs - or worse, the Agent takes the Deposit and Tenant sues you for it's return...)
It can also be extremely annoying to discover the Agent uses his own plumber/builder etc for repairs and then charges you a gold-plated fee (and probably gets a kick-back from the plumber etc. too).
The other massive con-trick is annual Contract renewal == same as 'finders fee'.
The Agent often expects you to pay up to one months rent (on top of the 12 or 15%) when they find you a Tenant.
However since Rental Contracts are usually written for a maximum of 1 year, they will expect you to pay them another months rent at the end of the year EVEN IF the Tenant stays on !
Finally, don't forget to keep records of all expenses etc. to oofset against tax. You will have to pay Income Tax on the rent and even if you 'forget' to declare it, the Inland Revenue scans all the 'Property to Rent' ads. in newspapers and on-line and will catch up with you eventually.
2007-03-29 00:10:34 · answer #1 · answered by Steve B 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No problem. But it usually takes so little time to find a tenant that the question hardly arises. I've had 14 properties for some time and have never had to think about putting one with more than 1 agent.
2007-03-31 14:58:23 · answer #2 · answered by Gnomedropper 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋