Not everyone speaks English.

US Flag

Britain is the most racially diverse country in Europe with almost 1.7m people that don’t speak English as their first language, including 168,000 people that don’t speak English at all.

So how do you cater for this massive market? If you are English speaking and they aren’t then it can become a huge barrier that could result in you losing tenants to someone who speaks their language.

Now, we don’t expect you to learn every language in the world just on the off chance you get a non-speaking tenant.

 Statistically, non-English speaking people are still less than 10% of the population.

LettingFix however is prepared for any possibility. It allows tenants to report issues in any of 40 languages (and more on request) and for their issue report to be sent in English to your inbox.

Goodbye language barriers.

However this isn’t a sales blog, we know LettingFix can’t solve all of life’s problems, we understand that at some point face-to-face contact is needed.

So when it comes to the dreaded face-to-face moment, we suggest:

  • Hiring a translator

This can be pricey yes, however it may be necessary, especially when initially signing the tenancy agreement and agreeing on rent, can you really afford any mistakes? We recommend posting your job on here

  • Family member

After speaking to our customers, we found out that most non-English speaking tenants bring along a family member that can speak English to translate. One customer we spoke with told us how the translator was the tenant’s 10-year-old son, this is where you decide whether the best option is to spend money or not. Obviously a 10 year old cannot be held responsible for mistranslating something and especially when it comes to vital details do you want to try and hold someone responsible for it?

  •  Google translate

Google translate is the final option, it isn’t always reliable, it can be translated incorrectly and can be a bit time consuming which will be slightly awkward while having a conversation if you have to keep referring to Google to try and understand what they said.

So you have a number of choices for face-to-face interactions. But remember you won’t have to worry about any of that kind of problem for repair reporting if you sign up to LettingFix.

(Ok, we lied; it might have been a bit sales-y)

 

 

Alex Evans

You May Also Enjoy

Estate Agent Talk

Why Cases Stall in Summer and What Agents Can Do About It

By Cara Stanbridge, Head of Relationship Management at Nova Conveyancing Every year, we hear talk of the summer slowdown. But from what I see working closely with agents, conveyancers and clients, the issue isn’t usually a lack of activity. More often, it’s keeping transactions moving when everyone involved is juggling higher workloads, holidays and competing…
Read More
small house bird box
Breaking News

Britain’s property hotspots revealed

The Scottish city where houses sell fastest – and the town where it takes SIX TIMES as long to sell your home Homes in Glasgow sell three times faster than the UK average – making the Scottish city the fastest selling in Britain Wakefield is the slowest-selling city in Britain, with homes spending twice as…
Read More
Breaking News

Breaking Property News 13/8/26

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   The average age of tenants living in shared houses in the UK is now 35   Thought leadership by Adam Pigott CEO of tlyfe (Openbrix)   “The headline figure that tenants are now in their mid 30’s and still have to share facilities, not even have the…
Read More
Breaking News

Stamp Duty receipts remain above pre-pandemic norms

The latest research from Yopa has revealed that, despite continued speculation surrounding a slowdown in the housing market, Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) receipts remain comfortably above pre-pandemic levels, demonstrating the resilience of buyer activity in recent years. Yopa analysed monthly Stamp Duty Land Tax receipts published by HM Revenue & Customs between January 2018 and…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

The summer improvements that could add value to your house

The latest research from Yopa has revealed which summer-inspired home improvements could add the most value to your property once the cost of carrying out the work itself has been taken into account, with a summer house potentially boosting the value of the average UK home by almost £8,000. Yopa analysed a range of popular…
Read More
AI in estate agency letting agency property
Estate Agent Talk

Turning anxiety into advantage: how SMEs can make AI work for them

By Johann Aguirre, founder of Cachi AI   According to the Office for National Statistics, AI adoption among UK businesses has risen from approximately 12% to around 35% since late 2023. However, adoption levels differ considerably depending on the size of a business and the sector in which it operates. Larger, established organisations may be…
Read More