Landlords who do not handle their own property viewings could be missing a trick according to our new research.
Following the long held simple belief that landlords are better than agents at showing tenants around their properties, we asked 382 tenants from across the UK if they agreed and discovered that a mere 15% would rather meet an agent for a viewing than deal directly with the landlord.
Over half of tenants asked said they would rather meet the landlord, while just over a third said that they were indifferent, highlighting the obvious advantages for landlords to liaise with tenants directly.
James Davis, our CEO and hands-on landlord of 14 years comments: "from our research, it appears that honesty and obtaining direct answers is of the utmost importance to potential tenants so it makes perfect sense for landlords to self-manage and hold viewings themselves. Landlords who are not doing this are simply missing out."
To further demonstrate the sentiment, we asked tenants exactly why they prefer one over the other. While one pro-agent tenant explained: "Agents are probably more objective about the property they are showing", the majority of tenant comments in the survey revealed a pro-landlord attitude with one tenant stating:
"It is the landlord's property and therefore he or she is more likely to know the finer details about the house than the agent who is simply there to do a job. Landlords are more honest with you and you don't feel like you are being constantly pitched or sold to. A landlord is more likely to tell it like it is. I don't believe agents are always truthful and because agents only care about the money I believe landlords are better - they actually care about keeping good tenants."
Davis further comments:
"The data speaks for itself and it's important that UK landlords listen to what tenants want. By cutting out the middle man and dealing directly with tenants, landlords have full control, enabling them to build trust and secure long lasting relationships with their tenants. We've used this research to build a better lettings agency model. At Upad, we find and reference great tenants for our landlords but allow them to handle viewings personally. The results have been amazing with properties being filled in days, even hours in some cases and the feedback has been phenomenal."
This is great news but I've yet to see a landlord (apart from one) even visit their own properties, prefering to hide behind their letting agents!
As a landlord, I never use Agents. They only want to get the earliest tenant so that they can get paid a large amount and then they go on to the next payment.
I specify the type of professional tenants that I wish to have and turn down the other 70% on the phone.
Many potential tenants say they want to have a viewing, (as they are a group of 4 professionals)
Often, only 2 of them arrive and they say they want to take it and they like it a lot, so they will vouch for the other 2 who will move in, even it they did not look around the house.
Many tenants do not realise that as a landlord, I want to view each of the potential tenants, just the same as they want to view the house. Viewing potential tenants allows me to check if they are the right kind of professional people for my house. It also helps each other to know about the house and landlord and the tenants.
I only take on all 4 reliable tenants whom I have seen and spoken with.
Subsequently, most people then feel very comfortable with house and landlord.
Regards
K
We never do anything but interview our own tenants and manage our own properties. Now we have found good advertising and referencing firms (thank you Upad and NLA!), we are finding very satisfactory tenants. We have always wanted to know who is going into the properties we have spent so many hours working on, and feel it is important to meet them and to start to build what we hope is a long-term and mutually rewarding relationship from the outset.