Things You Don't Know About Your Estate Agent: Part 1

June 16, 2022 Steve Cook

The agent who lets your rental property will never speak to your tenant again

At Maplewood, we’re all about transparency so we’ve decided to lift the lid and show you the inside workings at your typical high street estate agent. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be revealing things you probably didn’t know about your agent. Intrigued? Read on…

If your property is managed by a large or mid-size, multi-branch high street agent, you might be surprised to learn just how far apart are the functions of letting your property and managing your property (and managing your tenant). Consider the number of people involved in the lettings process:

1. Manager / Valuer / Director: The person who initially comes to meet you at your property and provide a valuation. They’re experienced senior staff whose time is most valuable in convincing you of their company’s ability to let your property and get you to sign on the dotted line.

2. Office Administrator: Having signed terms, the office administrator back in the office is tasked with creating the marketing materials – the descriptions and brochures seen online. They very rarely will actually step foot in your property, but hopefully they know the area.

3. Negotiators: Often on very low base salaries (£15k/year in London is not uncommon), negotiators compete with each other to let your property; their commission depends on it. They can be known to ‘encourage’ multi-year offers regardless of your preferences as break clauses eat into their commission.

4. Tenancy Co-ordinator: Once you’ve selected a tenant, the negotiator hands over the tenant’s details to a tenancy co-ordinator (and hopefully with the right information). With luck, this person can complete the referencing and move-in process for you and your new tenant.

5. Property Manager: After move-in, if a tenant has any issues, they don’t follow up with any of the people they have connected with thus far. A separate property management team looks after any maintenance issues and tenant aftercare.

This chain, when well-oiled, can work very well however it does rely on potentially FIVE different people being excellent at their jobs – and assuming you speak to the same person within each of those roles every time. As with anything, communication is key and when considering the letting of your property, don’t be afraid to ask detailed questions on who takes care of what steps of the process.