As a landlord, you cannot fail to be aware of the general air of doom and gloom around the industry at the moment.  There are so many changes afoot and the general consensus seems to be that landlords and agents will be running for the hills, tails between their legs looking for alternate careers.

At Anglo American, we genuinely believe that these fears are completely unfounded. Indeed, if many do leave the industry, remaining in a less competitive market will be a very good place to be, after all, there will still be tenants needing homes and one thing the government are not doing is seriously dealing with the shortfall of affordable housing stock!

This negativity is being driven by those who have always relied on fees from tenants as a source of income and their landlords have often been left in the dark about just how much money was flowing from the tenant directly into the pockets of agents…. Because of this there will be many agents who will be struggling and in order to keep their business afloat will look to make up the inevitable shortfall in income from landlords, this forced, big shift in their business model will undoubtedly cause distress for their landlords. Many landlords will notice that their maintenance costs are increasing, new charges appear, maybe your monthly commission will even increase?

But how should agents who have always looked after the best interest of both their landlords and tenants proceed?

Keep the business model simple, charge your landlord an agreed fair monthly commission and the only other cost levied should be maintenance, which again should be charged at cost with no markup or kick back, another favourite way less transparent agents make money that provides no value to either the tenant or landlord.

The great news is, our business model has always operated in this simple but effective way. Until now we have been in the minority, but it has been successful for 20 years and we have landlords who have been with us for nearly as long.  Our monthly deductions cover everything we do, from advertising and securing your tenant, dealing with and organizing any repairs needed to move the tenant out at the end of their tenancy, or in the worst scenario if things go wrong, dealing with the courts and eviction process on your behalf.

But the biggest benefit of our service to a landlord is compliance. Over the past 10 years, we have seen a huge increase in the number of areas a landlord must be compliant and the rules that govern the relationship between agent and tenant. This increase is set to continue as successive governments wrestle to show voters that they can control the market.

So, we would say, being a landlord is still a great thing to be, just choose your agent carefully!