Need for Carefully Selecting Letting Agents in the UK

When you have to rent a property, you may need the services of a letting agent. These agents work on a commission basis or a fixed fee basis. They have a primary aim of finding the tenants and secondary aim of collecting rent from those tenants. Letting agents are not the owners of the properties; they merely act as mediators in renting out the property on behalf of a landlord. There are many letting agents in oxford who provide excellent service to landlords as well as tenants. 

When the letting agent manages the property of the landlord fully, then the tenant may not be in direct touch with the landlord. However, the tenant has legal right to know who his or her landlord is. When the tenant makes a written request to the letting agent, the letting agent must give the contact details of the landlord within 21 days.  When tenants have a close look at the tenancy agreement, they will surely find detailed responsibilities of the letting agent. If there are any terms and conditions, then the tenant needs to read it very carefully. 

When you are selecting letting agents in headington, you will have to check if the agent belongs to a professional body. There are four main professional bodies in the UK. They are National Approved Lettings Scheme (NALS), Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), UK Association of Letting Agents (UKALA), and National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA). Each of these organizations lists their member letting agencies or agents on their official websites. 

So, finding a letting agent who is associated with any of these organizations is not a problem at all. Before offering you a property, the letting agency will ask you to register with that letting agency. There is no hard and fast rule that you have to register with only one letting agency. In fact, you can register with multiple letting agencies at a time. When you are registering with letting agents in wolvercote, you will have to check if the letting agent is charging you for registration. 

By and large, no letting agent charges the prospective tenant for registration. The letting agent must not charge you for giving information on properties. Remember that it is a criminal offence in the UK if the letting agent is charging you for the aforementioned services. If you have been charged for these services, then you can check with the local trading standards office for more details. In the UK being a letting agent is a tedious and serious profession. 

They are involved in many transactions and they also do checks on the tenants. They may even contact a credit reference agency to see if the tenant has had problems in paying bills in the past. Before the checks, the letting agent needs to get the respective permissions. There are some fees that the letting agent may charge for the checks. These fees are generally passed on to the landlord. Like these, there are many aspects of the letting agent that needs to be checked before selecting them. 

Author's Note

Phplettings are specialist Oxford Letting Agents who focus on bringing landlords and good tenants together. Phplettings have its services available in areas like letting agents in oxford, letting agents in headington and letting agents in wolvercote too.