What do you pay your BTL agent?

[mattfx]

I've only ever used tenant find services from agents, I've self managed from there and saved myself the fees. Sometimes it can be frustrating but, for the sake of 5-10 hours of effort per property per year, I think the extra cash in the bank is worth the effort.

[Scruff]

I pay my Rental Agents 7.5% for a fully managed service (Surrey for the last 7 years). There isn't a lot to manage, since if something goes titsup, I get to use "my people" as opposed to the weighted charges that their tradesmen charge.

[Eirikur]

My BLT agent normally asks £2.50 for a baguette

[Old Greg]

I own 2 BTLs managed by different agencies in different parts of the country. Both provide 'full service' management i.e. they find and vet tenants, handle small repairs, etc - I do virtually nothing.

Both have headline fees of 10% (+VAT) which seems quite standard. Both charge some fixed fee for new tenancy agreements. Maybe about £200, not certain.
On property A, that's it.
On property B, they also charge me monthly for:
"Gross rental information to HMRC" @ £15+VAT pcm
"Landlord regulation checks" @ £10+VAT pcm

Tot it all up and I'm probably getting about 80% of the rent if you reckon on a new tenant about once a year. Seems a lot of fees.

What do you pay your agents and what individual service fees are they charging? Why is my agent charging me to send information to HMRC for instance?
The current FTC is coming to an end and I'm wondering about trying to push back, but no idea how much leverage I've got.

Does your agent include murder victim corpse removal in those costs?

[d000hg]

Does your agent include murder victim corpse removal in those costs?

It wasn't in my flat, but I think they include a professional Not Mentioning The Disembodied Corpse Downstairs service in the fees.

[Old Greg]

It wasn't in my flat, but I think they include a professional Not Mentioning The Disembodied Corpse Downstairs service in the fees.

Sweet.

[NowPermOutsideUK]

Finding tennants is easy via openrent directly. I never use them as agents simply just act as interesting busybodies

Agents are useful when you come to sell as they can really squeeze the lemon and make sure all offers are submitted and persuade the buyer they are getting good value

Other then that best avoided. The worst of them by far is Foxtons. Tenancy fees for landlords and tenants and markup on tradesmen calling out

[Andy2]

I pay my Rental Agents 7.5% for a fully managed service (Surrey for the last 7 years). There isn't a lot to manage, since if something goes titsup, I get to use "my people" as opposed to the weighted charges that their tradesmen charge.

Then why are you paying them 7.5% if you do maintenance yourself , only to find tenants ?

[rootsnall]

Then why are you paying them 7.5% if you do maintenance yourself , only to find tenants ?

WHS. You are paying a lot of money for a phone answering service. Finding good tenants is the hardest bit, painful at the time to DIY but the best investment of your own time.

[TheGreenBastard]

You guys don't use agents' guaranteed rent for tenant rent delinquency, preferring to cover yourselves via insurance?