You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Im possibly going to become a LL for the first time in the next month or so, been reading up a lot on it and have decided to let a Ea manage it for me for 10% a month .
However in the LL questionaire it asks for recommended builders or repair men to be nominated otherwise they will use there own contracters who no doubt push prices right up.
To save on costs and as im fairly confident at doing repairs myself i was wondering if that was ok ?
obviously for things like boiler servicings etc i would get proper people to do it but im talking about leaks, tiling etc.
Is this a common thing or not?
also even though im going to use a Ea to manage the house for me is it a good idea for me to write to tenants directly saying they can contact me directly if they have no joy with EA.
thanks
Steve
well it really depends if you want your tenant to have your contact details?
I guess it's in your interest to look after your property as best you can. It may also help to control costs as we've been hit for charges for work that was never even needed or completed.
I think tenants get the landlord's contact details (or at least their address) on the contract. It is your house, you're paying the EA, you can manage it however you want, surely?
By (Enland & Wales) law the tenant has to have the landlord's details anyway, so they can contact if having trouble with agent etc and to be sure who owns it and might have rights to enter etc.
I do most of my own day to day repairs on four properties where I can, but have a couple of friendly tradesmen who I pass the numbers on for when I am away or real emergencies, which if the tenant know where the stopcock and fuseboard are are pretty rare. Make sure you get it in writing in your agency agreement that you get first choice on repair to do them yourself or organise someone and that the agent's guy only gets the OK if you can't handle it that time.
We rent our student house privately (and not through an agency), and our landlord does most of the maintenance himself and then just calls in professionals when necessary. Seems to work well.
Speaking as a tenant, I will say it's much easier and nicer dealing directly with my LL than the shysters at the EAs. Stuff that needs sorting gets sorted quickly, and any little problems we discuss with each otherm thus negating the need for these [s]duplicitous self-serving scum[/s] people who are carrying out a perfectly lawful enterprise...
Bear in mind that all EAs will bung their own cut on top of any contractor's fees, thus pushing the price for any work done, right up.
Nearly everyone I know who's ever dealt with EAs, be it as tenants or LLs, has had grief.
thanks for the replies just what i was after!
Ditto the above, as a tenant, I would far rather deal with the landlord than an agency in general. Always seems to have resulted in less hassle all round.
As a tenant, I've always preferred dealing with the landlord directly.
My previous 2 landlords have been great - still dealt with through an agency, but with repairs/problems, dealt with them directly & got things sorted more quickly & cheaply. This obviously depends on the tenants & landlord being decent & reasonable people, but hopefully you can build a good relationship. We tended not to bother the landlords with minor problems & sorted out ourselves.
Our current landlord won't deal with us directly (fair choice) but everything is done through homecover type stuff & takes ages & will cost more.
e.g. had a leaking gutter - I don't have a ladder & when someone was called out, they said gutter & brackets all needed replacing - next doors as well - so sent out quotes etc. & would cost £500+. in the mean time I climbed on to the adjacent flat roof & removed some leaves. problem sorted & also the most DIY I've ever done! - gutter was a bit rubbish but no real need to replace.
Agencies will have preferred tradesmen so it's a bit open to abuse - in my opinion/experience.
letting/estate agents are parasites, do it yourself, treat people fairly and build a relationship of trust.
My LL got rid of the EA about 2 years ago, for me it works really well, if i have a fault just send him a txt, normally 24hrs later its all sorted. In the past when it was just the EA it was a pain in the backside to get anything done, always took weeks!!