Advertise property to let, reference tenants, guarantee rent – one package

Blimey Mark you've come up with the mother lode!!
For LL who are happy in NOT using a High St LA this offer seems to be the answer to a LL dreams.
LA will be quaking in their boots if LL get wind of such an efficacious offer.
As you suggest the present online LA business model will be unviable when and most probably LA fees are banned as Scotland has introduced.
Your package offer will get first mover advantage and possibly wipe out the present competition if those Scottish laws come in down here!
Your business model will be ahead of the game.
To me it is a no-brainer!
Even if the package doesn't work; what have you really lost!?......£97.00..........that is s-d all.
If it works and a RGI claim is needed you'll be quids in.
I'd take a gamble on paying £97.00 any day.
The problem you will have is convincing LL the gamble is cheap enough and worthwhile doing.
I'm convinced however!

Cheers Paul, the underwriter of the RGI is DAS which is the same underwriter used by most other companies so its safe too. If the Scottish law comes to England though the price will need to increase significantly as tenants can not be charged premiums.

Most of my tenants are couples, so two tenants need referencing. I assume your £97 allows for this, and is not just for singles ?

It does indeed 🙂

Hallo everyone. Hope 2013 is great for us all - in business and at home. Mark I think this is a brilliant idea but I wonder if it could be extended to people like me who simply cannot do their own lettings. There must be many of us as otherwise letting agents would not be so busy.
Also, with my portfolio on the South Coast I do get a six month rental guarantee period free with each tenancy and I do not pay for referencing etc. I also managed to get my management fees down to 8% and I have never had more than a three week void (and that was because I had to replace a shower). This seems to be a very good deal but maybe it is just average. If tenancies go over the six months then I do have to pay for the next rental guarantee period but it is not very much.
Could your new scheme which sounds brilliant be extended for a small fee so that they do the lettings as well?

Hello Annette, good news, YES, it can be extended to do lettings, inventories, viewings, periodic checks, check out, informing utility companies, maintenance management etc. etc. in fact everything I can think of which you could possibly need. The "Full Management" options are already live in many areas of England and the appointment of local agents is growing all the time. Please see >>> http://www.property118.com/?p=34413

As a Scottish LL I'd love to see this type of package available in Scotland and I'd be quite happy to pay additional for the referencing if the total package added up to about £20 per month over a 12 month contract. Previously the referencing service I used charged £70 per tenant so a package at around £240 for renting to a couple of tenants aught to be possible. I can easily add £20 per month to all my rents and the tenants are going to see it as a good deal because letting agents here are currently trying to push rents up considerably more (to offset charging the LL a higher %) and so claw back what they have lost by no longer being able to overcharge tenants with ridiculous additional fees. As an independent LL the new Scottish law is a big plus as I can undercut high street letting agent prices and still benefit from higher rents. My tenants have also said it works better for them, as instead of paying letting agent and referencing fees up front for a tenancy they might not get the cost is spread out into more manageable monthly payments.

Very interesting comment, I will talk to my contacts about this 🙂

What services would you want for £20 a month?

The reason I ask is that advertising, referencing and RGI might be possible but if you add in rent collection, viewings, inventories etc. it is unlikely to be viable without the ability to charge premiums to tenants.