This article is to be a guide uk letting agents and the role they within the industry. It’ll look at the various tasks that they perform, the types of things that they charge for and they play an important role in the property industry. It’ll also look at the benefits of using a letting agent as opposed to finding a tenant yourself.

A letting agent is the name given in the UK to a person or company whose role is to facilitate an agreement between a landlord and a tenant to rent a property. The relationship between a landlord and their tenant is made official by the signing of what is known as a Tenancy Agreement.

They are often company to estate agents but as there is such a huge demand in the UK rental market, there is a letting agent industry that is separate from the estate agent industry and there are also specific tasks and laws which apply when letting property as opposed to selling.

Due to the various different types of property that exist such as commercial and residential, letting agents often specialise in one type to ensure that they are as good as they can be at dealing with those properties. There are also different types of letting agents springing up as the industry and business itself changes and one these types are online letting agents who can offer very similar services but with less overheads and can do things such as allow potential tenants to view properties via websites from the comfort of their own home and search for specific areas in particular areas.

The main tasks that a letting agent will perform is the introduction of a landlord to a tenant which can take place, as mention above, via the web but the more traditional method is through a letting agent visiting people or calling them. Tenants are also sometimes charged an administration fee and some letting agents also collect a commission based on the rent charge of the landlord.
Some letting agent also perform a full management service which involves the daily management of a property and will, again, usually a collect a commission for this service.

As you can see, there are a lot of tasks that letting agents do to make a landlord and tenants life easier. There is so much that goes into the management of a property that having this type of service helps take away another challenging task for a landlord and they can concentrate on managing the quality of the property and ensuring it is suitable for tenants to move in.