Trust and reliability are key. So, the ever helpful Belvoir! has put together these 3 top tips that will help you pick the best agent…
Timescales
It’s always good to find out before instructing an agent how long it will take for them to let your property out. Obviously a definitive answer couldn’t be given due to factors such as location and the property itself, however a good agent will be able to tell you if they think your property will take a little longer. How many people do they have on their database that they could contact? That’s always good to ask. Prospective tenants on the lookout may have left their details, if the agent contacts them they might just be interested!
Tenant reliability
How reliable are the tenants that the agent can provide? If the agent fails to do in-depth referencing then you could end up with a bad tenant on your hands. A good agent will be able to provide you with a tenant that has been fully referenced, credit checked and also had the required right to rent checks which came in to action on 1st February. Find out from the agent which checks they carry out and at what stage the checks will be done in the process.
What makes them better?
A good question to ask the agent is what makes them stand out from the crowd…if all they can give you is a good cup of tea then perhaps collect your belongings and head to a café instead. What exactly makes them better than their competition, as we said at the start of this post, there’s so many agents for you to choose from so why should you pick them? For instance; would they be able to do later viewings out of office hours to help prospective tenants, how swiftly would they be able to deal with maintenance issues and how frequently will they carry out inspections of the property.
Ultimately, you want to be able to draw a list of what different agents can and can’t offer – that way you can then work out which agent will provide the best all-round service and essentially, find tenants for your property.
