Accord Lets Urge Landlords To Get The Basics Right
31 July 2009
In light of a recent report, which demonstrates that landlords in Scotland are not offering their tenants with a good enough service remit, Accord Lets the leading letting agents in Birmingham city centre, are offering advice on keeping the tenant happy and creating a great reputation.
The Scottish Housing Regulator, found that landlords often had an absent knowledge of the basics and common problems experienced included, letting out poorly equipped homes, failure to carry out repairs quickly, charging too much rent, having a lax attitude to anti social behaviour and neglecting complaints.
Mr Mimmack, from the firm who offer not just Birmingham apartments to let but property to rent in Leamington and Warwick property to let, said, “These figures really are shocking and they demonstrate that landlords who go it alone, may be underestimating the amount of work involved with letting out a property. The figures showed that over half of the tenants questioned felt that the service they received was poor or only just adequate, and in these difficult financial times, landlords should be upping their game.”
The survey also found that while tenants valued being involved in decisions about the way services are delivered to them, many of them placed getting a decent home and safe neighbourhood above this.
Mr Mimmack added, “At Accord we are not only one of the main letting agents in Birmingham city centre, but we also offer rental properties in Warwick and Leamington, making us fully experienced in this field. We advise all of our customers to look at both the pros and cons of going it alone, and we often find that customers are not fully aware of what renting out their property actually entails.
Many of the landlords that we come into contact we have tried to rent out their properties alone, and realised just how much work is involved. Renting out a property is equivalent to a full time job, and landlords have a responsibility of care to keep on board of not only the latest industry changes, but legislative changes, to avoid being prosecuted.
In addition to this, landlords have to set aside time to find suitable tenants, deal with any repairs and complaints, collect the rental payments each month and deal with the consequences if the tenant refuses to pay their rent. This is why I would advise anyone considering going it alone to consider it very carefully and organise meeting with reputable letting agents to find out how they can help.”