If you’ve invested in a buy-to-let property, you’ll be wanting to maximise your return – it stands to reason. But having your investment property managed by an estate agent can often be cheaper in the long run. Choose the fully-managed option and tap into a wealth of knowledge, experience and efficiency, providing value for money and a lot less stress.

What do estate agents do to help landlords?

A lot! Above all, we have a great deal of experience and we spend every working day managing property. This means that it’s all second nature to us. What might be a hassle (or a complete disruption!) to you is straightforward to a property manager.

Most landlords see the real benefit of letting through an estate agent when it comes rent and tenants, two areas where a good understanding of property law is essential for smooth sailing.

How do estate agents help with rent matters?

Property experts understand the market and what features increase or decrease rents. Using this knowledge, we can set an appropriate rent for your house or apartment, ensuring that you attract the right sort of tenants and get the best value from your investment property.

Having your property managed by an estate agent also means that you benefit from their regular rent collection services. Our standardised systems mean that rent is collected from tenants on an agreed date and passed onto landlords promptly. With these systems, it is difficult for rent to slip. If it does, we have standard procedures to chase tenants for rent – you can leave the biggest headache in letting to us!

Estate agents also best placed to raise rents by a percentage every year in line with inflation and market trends, and communicate this to tenants. Few landlords relish the idea of contacting a tenant to say the rent is going up – again, you can avoid the hassle by simply leaving it to us.

How do estate agents help with tenants?

Property managers are often in a better position than individual landlords to find good tenants and carry out tenant checks. Working with credit checking companies we can be sure that potential tenants can cover the rent. We also have tried-and-tested referencing systems so we know if tenants are going to be reliable about the upkeep of the property and treat it as if it were their own.

When the tenancy comes to an end, it is the property manager’s job to inspect the property, deal with any repairs and handle the return (or not) of the deposit.

While it rarely happens with Dockleys rentals, tenancies do sometimes end with eviction. When this happens, we have the knowledge and experience to take it forward. We give appropriate warnings and serve notices in line with standard procedure. This protects landlords against any comeback from tenants and ensures that your property is ready to re-let as quickly as possible.

Let your East London property with Dockleys

For most landlords, their investment properties are part of their overall business plan. Instead of getting emotionally involved with chasing rent, or losing a day’s work so you can screen new tenants, let your estate agent do it for you.

To find out how Dockleys can let, partly manage or fully manage your East London rental property, give me, Adam Dockley, a call today on 020 3633 4440.