Property Management from just £14.99 a month

Mark,

I think you've done enough for everyone over the years to have earned a little respect in this regard. If you're saying it's worth a look, that's good enough for me.

People may not want it or need it. Perhaps it is a threat to their existing businesses or others may think it'll last five minutes at best - who can say.

I can't quite understand why the comments so far have been so negative but perhaps it's just the way this industry attracts the 'too good to be true' offers that everyone's got a heightened sensitivity.

In any case, all have the right to vote with their feet!

please send me details of the service offered £14.99/month managed let. thanks

Hi Greg

Just complete the boxes in the form above (see main article) and full details will be sent to you 🙂

Slightly misleading heading "Full property management for £14.99" as this is only a basic service and what most companies would regard as full management actually costs £34.99. Perhaps you should reword this.

Hi everyone,

I will comment on responses as I move down the list::

Jonathan Clarke.
We have no issues with dealing with DSS candidates. We endeavour to secure a guarantor and provide detailed references. Each property has it's own client group and if we have a property which is suitable for DSS clients, will work with the landlord to fill that property with the best tenant we can find. We have landlords in Torquay, Stoke on Trent and Durham who only deal with DSS applicants and we have no problems with placing tenants in this group. In fact, our referencing company has advised us that they are in the process of changing their criteria to include DSS clients although thiis is a few months away.

DS
We registered for VAT because we knew that we would be liable to pay VAT very soon as we knew that our growth would be exponential. We are starting to see that landlords are not now coming to us with not 1 property but 10 - 30 properties. We acknowledge that sometimes it is not easy to leave an existing Letting Agent because of onerous penalties or conditions (incidentally, we have none). I assume from your comments that you charge £40/60 per hour for your services. With respect, we think that this is ridiculous. We are ARLA registered and are registered with DPS. Please draw your own conclusions.

Antony Richards
I agree, anyone can be a busy fool, but also, anyone can be an inefficient fool! We don't have expensive High Street offices but a central office. We don't waste money on newspaper advertising which generates such a low level of interest but hit the market at property portal level. Zoopla and Rightmove are the key players as we all know, generating 90%+ of the traffic to our agencies. We don't have high printing costs, 90%+ through internet and documents digitally signed. All documents held on our dashboards for both landlords and tenants to scrutiny. No paperwork lost!
Incidentally, Antony, one of my key selling points is that the agent who meets the landlord, takes photos and a floor plan also conducts viewings, and conducts inventory and check in etc. No more new employee who doesn't know the layout of the building or even where the light switches are.

Ray
With respect, why do you presume that because someone is doing a job at a lower price than you are, it will be less efficient.? Why do you make it impossible for me to click on your name and contact you? If you want blank sample inventories I can send you some so that you may see the quality of what we offer. Most of our agents are AIIC or APIP qualified and offer a good service. We would stand up in any court to argue a claim if necessary. Are all of your in-house inventory clerks as fully qualified as ours are?

Kofi Nyame
Please hit submit below and I will contact you.

Mark,
Thank you for being non-judgemental

Greg
Please fill your details in below and I will contact you.

Damon,

The £34.99 + VAT service is full management plus a rent guarantee. For £24.99 + VAT, you will get what High Street agents charge 10% for and 12.5% for including the rent guarantee. If you want more information complete the submit section and I will call you.

Purchasing first buy to let property. I will need it fully managed. My margins are tight. Postcode is BR3
Thanks
David

Tony, I was not criticising your business model, just simply stating that I think this headline is misleading.

If you are advertising full property management for £14.99 then that should be a full service, however it isn't. If someone wants yourfull service then it's £34.99.

If you want to be fair this should in my view read property management £14.99 or full property management £34.99, as a professional high street agent would not deem your £14.99 service to be Full management.

As for your model, only time will tell. I am all for supporting new business ventures but if you have not yet reached the vat threshold in income then you will be losing money right now and by my maths, by the time you do get there you would have some 400+ props under management if they opt for the cheaper option. Good luck with providing a professional service to 400 properties on an income of less that £80k per annum.

Hi Damon

Thank you for your comment.

I would like to point out that this page is not Tony's advert.

It was written by me, as an independent review, well before the Property118 partners even considered acquiring shares in LettingSupermarket.com

We invested into LettingSupermarket.com having reviewed their business model in great detail. We genuinely believe their business model is good for landlords and will, in time, return good profit levels for their shareholders. Note that LettingSupermarket.com Limited was a start up company only last year and only begun trading earlier this year. Nevertheless, by the time we acquired shares last month they were already breaking even.

I can see that your comments will be putting Tony in an awkward position as he will not want to divulge the entire business model to prove to you that it works for fear of it being copied, not necessarily by you of course but thousands of 'would be' competitors do read this forum. As Tony is not looking for further investment this isn't necessary but if he was, i'm sure that you would be asked to sign an NDA prior to disclosure just as we were.

I am very satisfied with their progress and also their business model and so are the people which Property118 have referred to them, I've not received any negative feedback at all. That's not to say that I have not received feedback, I have, much of which has included great ideas which Letting Supermarket have adopted into their business model.

I do see your point regarding the title though and I have removed the word "Full".

Reply to the comment left by "Mark" at "10/12/2012 - 22:31":

Hi. This is my first post as I have only just joined. I know the company you are talking of as I have also used them. They offer an exceptional value for money deal and I have found them to be very helpful and honest. They tell it as it is and don't say they can do anything they can't. I would also recommend them, Mark

As someone who has recently been welcomed into this industry, I have to say that I'm not surprised with some of the negative comments. But like it or contest it, the letting industry is changing.

New models are emerging. And they need to, to ensure its survival and growth. It is a sector which is incredibly important to our economy and our country, but it has been letting itself down (no pun intended) for many years and consumers (whether a landlord or a tenant) are looking for new providers, offering efficient business models combined with excellent service.

As an entrepreneur originally from the business world of advising SMEs, I applaud all new start-ups (mine included!) for having a go at improving the status quo! That's not to say that there aren't traditional providers doing an excellent job, there are. But it doesn't mean that they have the perfect solution.

Let's take ideas that have been successful in other sectors, and use them to keep improving the scale and reputation of this one.

Thanks for prompting me to look at this thread Mark, very interesting.