Are Property Management Services Value For Money?

Landlords and property investors need to think about how to get the best return on their investment. The rental yield is a handy way to calculate the return you should expect and you can see why many people use this formula before deciding whether to invest in a property. With this in mind, a lot of people are keen to keep their costs and expenses as low as they possibly can because this can provide you with a better expected rental yield. This means some people will decide that property management services are not for them, but this may be a mistake.

A great number of landlords have found that saving money in the short term will often cost a lot of money in the long term. If you have been avoiding using a property management service because you can do work yourself, you have to ask yourself if you are getting the best value for money with your actions.

If you want to make the most of the opportunity presented to you when acting as a landlord, you will need to carry out the following steps after you have bought your property:

• Promote and market the property
• Undertake viewings at the property
• Vet potential tenants
• Collect the rent on a monthly basis
• Maintain the property and undertake repair work
• Liaise with your tenants and make sure that you deal with their complaints
• Be aware of all of the rules and regulations regarding providing rental accommodation
• Staying on top of all administrative tasks when it comes to being a landlord

All of these acts require specialist skills and you should be confident for undertaking certain work.

Get value for money when hiring property management services

When it comes to determining if something is value for money, there are a number of things to consider but you should think about:

• How long it would take you to do the job or learn about the process?
• The level of difficulty or risk in the job?
• Concerns about doing something wrong in the role
• Whether you would be uncomfortable in carrying out the job yourself?

Different people have different ideas about what constitutes values for money and this is often down to the fact that different people will have different answers to those questions. The problem with being a landlord is that it is likely to be a more difficult role than you first thought.

A lot of people feel uncomfortable in vetting people’s history or asking questions about their backgrounds. There is also the fact that many people are uneasy about dealing with money, perhaps feeling unsafe or not being confident in their role in the business relationship to take money on a monthly basis.

Your nature and your personality may impact on your ability to successfully act as a landlord, and this is a big reason why you should call on a professional to manage your property.

Property management services ensure compliance

In the United Kingdom, it is vital that landlords fully understand the importance of complying with regulations. The punishments associated with failing to comply with rules and regulations can see landlords facing huge fines or even being stripped of their licence to serve as a landlord. Some of the rules and regulations landlords need to comply with include the Right To Rent checks relating to the Immigration Act and the Gas Safety Act and forthcoming electrical safety regulations. Landlords also need to make sure that they safeguard the tenant’s deposit within 30 days and since October 2015; landlords have to comply with written requests for repair and maintenance work to be carried out.

The volume of regulations that impact on a landlord and their property means that a new landlord would have to spend a considerable amount of time to stay in touch with the relevant rules and regulations. There is also the fact that these rules and regulations are being amended and updated all the time, so landlords have to stay in touch with these rules. For this reason alone, many landlords decide that enlisting the help of a property management service provider makes sense and offers tremendous value for money.

If you apply a consideration based on how much time it would take you to do something yourself to staying in touch with the full rules and regulations regarding rental property, you’ll quickly find that hiring a professional to do this work for you provides value for money.

If you would like tolearn more about our property management services, please give our team a call on 0208 743 9101.