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What to look for in your lettings agent when placing your home on the market

Believe it or not, when landlords choose which agent to place their property on the market with, they do not go for those with the smallest fee. It’s a fact that thorough referencing of tenants, a fast and professional turnaround and the security of knowing the estate agency you are dealing with is qualified and fully insured are the most important considerations for landlords.

And so it should be!

The risk of placing your home on the market with a lettings agent who does not comply and is not a recognized member of ARLA or RICS means that your property and deposits are not in safe hands.

Here are a few of our top tips of what to look for when placing your most valuable asset on the market:

1. ARLA/RICS regulated lettings qualifications.
   We comply with the strict terms and conditions set out by the Association of Lettings Agents. This includes:
   a) Client Money Protection Scheme
   b) Professional Indemnity Insurance
   c) Qualified and trained lettings staff
   d) Ombudsman Services – an independent redress scheme 
2. Established and successful lettings agent
   Given that the agent is ARLA qualified, they should be established in the areas they cover. 
3. Tenant referencing
   Full credit checks on the tenants are imperative before allowing them to rent your property. At The Frost Partnership we use Keysafe to ensure our clients are protected. Rent Guarantee & Legal Protection Over and above our commitments to ARLA, we offer 6 months free rent guarantee and legal protection scheme should the tenants rent go into arrears. Please speak to us directly for the full details of how this scheme works. 
4. How does the lettings agent reach more potential tenants?
   At The Frost Partnership we cover quite a few bases on our marketing campaign:
   a) Our extensive network of offices share resources, enabling us to match the best suited tenants.
   b) We work closely with relocation agents.
   c) We send a monthly On-line property brochure to both our database and Rightmove’s localised database – of up to 30,000 tenants and buyers.
   d) Advertising in Property papers, on international websites such as Rightmove and Find-a-Property as well as our own frostweb.co.uk
   e) Weekly PR in the Informer for Middx and other major papers across our network of offices in Bucks and Berks
   f) Door drops
   g) And we have more marketing initiatives in the pipeline…

So over and above the usual property details, brochures that you would expect an agent to offer, do delve in a bit more into how the lettings company operates, how qualified they are and how much they invest into their marketing of your home. The better they are, the more you will optimise on the value of your investment.

If you are thinking of placing your home on the market and would like to have an accurate market valuation in the knowledge that you will be offered good quality tenants, please contact your local office.

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