1. What are some of the pitfalls of letting agents that Happy Tenant aims to improve upon?
Firstly, The Happy Tenant Company has established a vast panel of letting agents to secure tenants for our landlords – none of whom charge any renewal fees. We have the sort of buying power that enables us to achieve such economies of scale in our clients favour.
Secondly we do not charge administration fees for printing tenancy agreements or arranging maintenance works etc. It is all covered by our annual management fee so there is no additional cost to the landlord for actually “managing.”
Thirdly The Happy Tenant Company never makes any commissions from third party contractors so our clients are not subject to any hike in the end cost for works carried out at our landlord’s properties. In fact, as our group buying power secures favourable rates and actively drives the contractors’ prices down, we pass the entire benefit to our clients and so they see an increase in their bottom line.
We are also championing transparency in the lettings sector. For example, our landlords see all original invoices the contractors and our members can see exactly what is happening with their property at any given time.
Finally we pride ourselves on our mission to deliver a premium service in all areas. It is, after all, our aim to keep the tenant happy so that they stay longer, look after the property better and the landlord makes the most benefit from the lack of renewal fees.
2. Firms like emoov are suggesting that the ‘high street is dead’, would you agree?
All online agents’ providers say this, however, the fact remains that they presently have a small share of the market. The Happy Tenant Company is always looking to technology to improve services however management will always require experienced property managers to deal with the numerous and diverse day-to-day issues that accompany the complexity of managing property and tenants.
Despite the fact that a huge percentage of property is found online, it is still mainly through the high street agent that tenants and landlords first properly interact with their property, and while this may change faster than we think, we believe that agents with local knowledge still provide the best tenant finding service.
3. Do you think the softer, more ethical approach to property lettings is something that will be adopted by the industry as a whole?
The increased size of the private rented sector is one the most significant changes to the property market over the last decade and all the indicators suggest that this will continue for the foreseeable future. It would therefore seem inevitable that the industry will need to change and that management of residential property will need to fall into line with the ethics imposed on the managers of any other asset class.
Moreover, I think customers will vote with their feet. Landlords already find that the practices of unregulated letting agents are reducing their returns to uneconomical levels. We will certainly benefit from this as our cost, transparency and integrity attract more and more landlords who are looking for an alternative way to manage their investment.
4. What are your predictions for the property market over the next six months?
We are already seeing a significant shift of landlord investment out of London towards UK cities that give higher returns. This is not just true for British landlords, but for foreign investors as well. Within the capital, even those who chose to only invest in Central London are looking to the outer zones for more profitable returns. That said, there is still an immense and ever-growing population within the M25 which one would expect will keep property prices healthy.
