Choosing a reliable property management company can pose many different advantages, whether you’re a landlord or a tenant. A property management company can offer a professional and prompt level of service, but how can it benefit you?

In this article, we analyse how the security of renting a property with a reliable property management company can benefit both tenants and landlords.

Benefits for Tenants

For tenants, it might not make much of a difference when considering whether to rent directly through a landlord or a property management company, as it’s unlikely to be a huge deciding factor. However, renting through a reliable property management company can actually pose many benefits in comparison with renting through the landlord privately.

Better Communication

From time-to-time, you’re going to need to reach out to your landlord, whether it’s a query or if issues arise. The main challenge with going directly through your landlord is that they sometimes may be hard to reach, have their mobile switched off or prefer not to be contacted at weekends. On the other hand, a property management company will be available throughout the week and potentially at weekends too. No matter where the landlord is located, the property management company will have steps in place to deal with any questions or issues you may have.

Robust Tenancy Agreement and Contract

Some prospective tenants may be put off by renting privately with concerns about the agreement not being robust, particularly when it comes to the Deposit Protection Scheme and landlords going against contracts.

Unfortunately, not many landlords are aware of their legal responsibilities, whereas a good property management company will not only be aware of the landlord’s obligations, but a regulated ARLA Propertymark Member will supply professional advice on how each clause affects both parties during a tenancy. A contract of great detail is essential to protect interests due to the legal minefield that presents itself. This may appear in issues such as no heating/hot water, outstanding arrears leading to an eviction process, concerns of sub-letting and so on.

Using a good property management company will mean that you have a robust tenancy agreement which has to be agreed by all parties prior to the tenancy commencing. This protects your money, home and prevents any disputes.

Health and Safety

A property management company will be more aware of the health and safety legislation regarding property rentals than a landlord will be, meaning that you can have peace of mind knowing that you’re living in a property safe and free from hazards.

Benefits for Landlords?

As a landlord, you’re likely to be juggling a million things at once, particularly if you own multiple properties. The more rental properties you own, the more you’re likely to benefit from a management company. Here are just a few ways in which you can benefit from the security of a reliable property management company:

They’ll Take Care of Advertising

Advertising a rental property can be time-consuming and long-winded, particularly if it’s a short-term fixed agreement. A property management company has the role of taking care of preparing the property for the market. This includes photography of the property, adding it to all property marketing channels, handling communications, viewings and applications, which would otherwise take up a significant amount of time.

Better Screening of Tenants

Accepting a tenant can sometimes be nerve-wracking as you can never be certain if the property will be taken care of and that all payments will be made on-time. This is why tenant screening is a vital process which should not be overlooked. Tenant screening could involve credit checks, employment checks and very importantly a previous tenant reference check, which will be sent to their previous landlord or property management company. Another part of the screening is the Right To Rent check which checks all prospective tenants are able to rent in the UK.

Having a tenant who looks after your property and pays their rent on time will cause you much less hassle and will save you from financial losses in the long-run, especially if you are managing multiple properties.

Awareness of Legislation

With new legislation introduced every so often, it can be difficult to keep up with safety regulations and policies, for example, the fees that should (and shouldn’t) be charged to tenants.

Before a property is let out to tenants, there will need to be safety regulations that should be met first. These safety regulations include:

• Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
• Landlord Gas Safety Inspection
• Electrical Inspection (EICR)
• Legionella Risk Assessment 
• Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Detectors

A property management company will be able to advise and complete all current safety regulations to ensure that your property is fully compliant, whilst arranging for any of the above checks to be fulfilled. Not only is this a legal requirement, but will ensure that your tenants are living in a safe environment without the risk of you receiving a fine or being sued.

Handling Queries and Issues

If you own either one or multiple properties, you may have concerns when going on holiday, taking some time off work or even if you’re busy in general, in relation to handling tenant queries and issues. Having a property management company will mean that they can act as the first port of call to any of this communication, meaning that only a small amount of communication will be passed on to yourself.

A property management company generally has a network of fully qualified and recommended tradesmen. If there are general issues with the property, for example, a boiler breaks down or there’s a roof leak, you can leave the property management company in charge to handle communications with the tenants to arrange for the tradesmen to repair these issues. 

Not only will this give you peace of mind that your tenants are happy but also that you can get on with your day without having to worry.

Maintaining the Property

To ensure that the property is maintained in perfect condition, you can rely on a property management company to execute a regular inspection as well as an inventory check prior to the tenancy commencing.

They can liaise with the tenant to agree on a date and time for the inspection, which is when the property will be assessed to ensure that there are no physical issues.

How JOHNS&CO can help you

Whether you are looking to sell, rent, buy or invest our friendly team at JOHNS&CO are on hand to help you every step of the way. Visit us at any of our offices or contact us here.