Choosing A Lettings Agent in London

With fewer "blue chip" corporate tenants landlords need to be even more cautious to ensure tenants actually have the means to pay when renting property in London.

Many lettings agents in London still insist upon taking a year's - even two or three years' worth of commission up front. This is great for the agent's cash flow, yet it leaves the landlord at a distinct disadvantage in several respects.

Firstly, should the tenants fail to pay rent or simply "vanish" landlords have the job of recovering fees from agents. Let's hope that they are around in a year's time! Furthermore the agent who has already collected their fees in advance has little incentive to ensure that the in-going tenants are in bank parlance "good for figure and purpose". And not least of all, it causes severe disruption to landlords' cash flow to lose a huge chunk of money at the start of a new tenancy - often at the very time when he or she may have had a void period to finance on top of bills for preparing the property to re-let, such as decorating expenses and so on.

Chard London lettings does not charge landlords a premium for rent collection and where we collect rent we generally take our fees quarterly in advance. The benefits to landlords are clear - Improved cash flow and the reassurance that we, like the landlord, only want to deal with tenants likely to stay the course.