Compare Letting Agent Fees

Don’t you just hate overpaying for something, then not getting a good service or product in return? If you’re a landlord looking for a letting agent, you’re obviously interested in letting agent fees and comparing the best performing agents.

No doubt a good agent is of paramount importance. Wrong choices lead to bad tenants, vacant properties & leisure time being spent focusing on your rental property.

In modern times, the use of comparison sites like go Go Compare to scan the market is far easier than making numerous phone calls to get the best deal.

So why, when looking for a letting agent, do you need to research each agent individually to get an idea on fees & ratings?

Well now you don’t thanks to the invention of Rent Round.

Go Compare Letting Agents

Rent Round is a letting agent comparison site, showing fees letting agents charge, their rating and how close they are to your property.

Best of all, it’s free for landlords to use!

Letting agents now have a duty to show in their office as well as on their website, a list of fees they charge to landlords & tenants (section 83 of the consumer rights act 2015).

With the threat of a multiple fines, there’s increased transparency in the rental market.

Rent Round adds another layer.

Instead of searching for numerous fee pages across all potential letting agents, googling to see agents ratings and researching to understand what services are on offer, it’s now all in one place.

Letting agent fees mount up to the £1000’s, so it’s important you get value for your money.

The Market & Impact to Letting Agent Fees

The letting market is very saturated, so margins and fees are being squeezed.

In addition, with the influx of online only letting agents, the competition is ramping up even more.

But are online letting agents always cheaper than traditional letting agents?

Taking Haart as an example, their letting service, including marketing, using portals, newspaper advertising, accompanied viewings and offer negotiations is 4 weeks rent.

So if you’re rental income is £300 a week, you’ll be paying £1,200 (+VAT)

Whereas M.H. James, an independent letting agent covering London, Surrey & Hampshire will charge half that price at a fixed £600.

PurpleBricks on the other hand, renowned for the extremely cheap fixed property selling fees, come in at £1,050 for their tenant find service.

So while online estate agent fees are dwarfing the market (e.g. Door Steps offering £99 for an all-in, no commission service), the letting market is a mixed back when it comes down to fees.

Therefore if you’re looking for the best priced, highly rated agent, regardless of if the agent is traditional or online, Rent Round is here to help.

Taking under a minute to get your comparison results, you’re simply prompted to enter you postcode, property details and contact information… then you’re done!

Tenant Fee Ban

Being a savvy landlord, you’ll no doubt be aware of the recent ban on tenant fees.

Legislation now prevents the passing of fees onto tenants. This could impact landlords in one of 3 ways:

The agent foots the bill
Rents increase
The landlord pays higher agent fees

With the potential for higher costs, it increases the importance of research into prices.

Letting Agent Add On Fees

Although a minority, there’s a number of ‘sneaky agents’ where you risk the wrath of extremely high add on fees.

Your tenant needs a new set of keys cut? Thanks that’ll be £55.
Need a gas certificate renewing? Oh that’s £450.
How about that window that needs fixing? Well our maintenance teams charging you £800.

The potential add on costs can be substantial.

However, getting a comprehensive list of the types of additional fees that are catered to your exact property requirements is very difficult.

Therefore comparing letting agent fees isn’t the end all and be all, you need to factor in the agents reputation.

The internet is a valuable resource when it comes to establishing the reputable vs. notoriously difficult agents.

A quick scan can show you feedback from previous and existing letting agent customers that have aired their praise or dismay towards a particular agent.

At Rent Round we work with agents every day and most are professional and excellent to work with.

These agents provide an amazing service to landlords, making their lifes easier and safeguarding their investment.

Our rating system ensures alongside letting agent fees, you also get a valuable view on the agent’s performance… more on this below.

Credibility of Letting Agent Ratings

An ever annoying bump in the road for review sites is the risk of fake reviews!

It’s not difficult to sign up to review forums and leave a negative review for competitors while praising one’s own firm.

Offering discounts to customers leaving reviews can taint ratings as well. Of course if a person is financially better off for leaving a review, the more likely the review will be positive.

Social Media

Has an agent got thousands of followers and gets hundreds of likes on Instagram? Well, they must be good at what they do right? Most likely yes.

But when you analyse the ability to buy followers and likes, it does open the door for fake impressions.

A high number of followers paints the perception of instant credibility and is known impact the thoughts of consumers across industries substantially. It’s clear why large companies like Mercedes, Proctor & Gamble and Ritz-Carlton have been pushing to artificially increase their follower volumes.

While we’ve painted a negative picture, it’s only a small minority of agents that fall into the above brackets, nevertheless the risk to landlords is always there.

In addition to showing letting agent fees, Rent Round also compares the ratings of agents.

However to ensure the rating is reflective of the true agent performance, the rating is comprised of multiple sources, including but not restricted to:

Google
Trust Pilot
Landlord feedback
Social media
Other agent review sites

By conducting this in depth review to conclude a rating, it ensures a far more rounded approach to rating agents and the threat of rating manipulation is minimised.