How easy is it to self-manage my property, do I really need an agent?

How easy is it to self-manage my property, do I really need an agent?

When it comes to self-managing a property, to a certain extent how easy this is will come down to your individual circumstances. Some landlords may have the time, money and resources to dedicate to this while others may not. If you're a new landlord then we would always recommend working with a managing agent at least until you understand basic compliance requirements and how to handle tenant relationships. After that it will come down to how much of the process you want to deal with alone.

Self-managing my property - considerations

• Do you understand responsibilities and legal requirements? As a landlord you will have obligations to fulfil under the tenancy agreement as well as those that are imposed by law. If you want to self-manage the property you need to be up to speed with these, from the notice you need to give to enter the property to when to carry out a Gas Safe Check.
• Are you comfortable doing inspections and maintenance? This could be going in to the property yourself or engaging trades people to do it for you.
• Do you have time to deal with tenants? There are no restrictions on how much tenants can contact their landlord (unless they're bordering on nuisance etc) so you need to be prepared to handle communication that could range from once a month to daily. Particularly if there are issues with the property tenants can be persistent and if you want to sustain the relationship you need to be responsive and proactive.

The benefits of a property management service like Storeys

• Reducing tenant turnover. A management service tends to be a smoother experience for tenants so they are less likely to want to move on.
• The pressure is off when it comes to the financials. Everything, from ensuring rent is paid on time to protecting the deposit and dealing with its return, is handled via us.
• We will deal with all the issues. When you're working with a property management service like Storeys we become the point of contact for tenants. That means no midnight broken boiler phone calls or dealing with questions you may not have an answer to. Most of the time we can handle issues without the need to involve a landlord.
• Maintenance costs can be lower. We have a team of trusted third party contractors that we've established strong relationships with over the years. They're good at what they do and cost efficient too - especially at first it's often difficult to find these resources if you're new to self-managing.
• Avoiding legal issues. Many of the biggest and most expensive problems arise for landlords as a result of inexperience and a lack of awareness of the law. Property management professionals know this inside out and can help you to avoid the biggest pitfalls.

Self-managing a property might seem like a good idea at the time. However, the reality is that it can be a lot more time consuming and expensive than working with professionals like Storeys.

Storeys provide property management in areas such as Hackney and Islington.