Agents accused of failing to communicate effectively ...

A new survey of some 2,000 tenants claims to show a significant level of dissatisfaction over communications with letting agents.

The study of over 2,000 UK-based tenants found that 31 per cent of those who tried to contact their letting agency with an out-of-hours emergency didn’t receive a prompt response - although the study does not define what ‘prompt’ means.

And 29 per cent of tenants said their letting agency didn’t respond to their queries at all.

Some 84 per cent of respondents said they would rather speak to a real person than an automated bot. And despite advances in technology, phone remains the most popular means of contacting agencies, with 49 per cent citing this as their preferred means of contact.

It may be worth bearing in mind that the study comes from an answering service - AnswerConnect - which says the three biggest sources of irritation for tenants in the survey were that problems did not get solved, that they didn’t hear back from agents, and that they had to repeat details of their issues multiple times.

On average, respondents claimed that they would wait 7.9 minutes on hold before hanging up.

Tenants in London contacted their letting agent more than tenants elsewhere and claimed to also spend the longest on hold (up to 30 minutes) and receive the worst service.

A spokesperson for the company behind the survey says: “The increasing cost of renting, combined with slow responses and lack of assistance from letting agencies is leaving UK tenants more and more frustrated.

“Property management is a ‘people job’ and tenants are keen to speak with a real person instead of receiving automated responses. As our research demonstrates, effective communication creates a better experience for both tenants and landlords. Be it timely responses or availability, exceptional customer service is ultimately about being there when tenants need it most.”