You won’t need me to tell you how important and challenging the upcoming Renters Rights Bill is – and it looks almost certain to become law within weeks, rather than months.
As an industry we’re very familiar with its contents, and whatever one’s views on the measure as a whole it will have a transformative impact on the private rental sector thanks to the changes it brings to eviction powers, rent repayment orders, tenancy security, the standard of property to rent, and of course rent increases themselves.
But how much do your clients actually know?
What has been bread and butter in the industry press for several years may well pass by many landlords. Remember, 43% of buy to let investors have just one property and another 38% have two to four – so most of these are unlikely to be professional landlords and are therefore unlikely to know in detail what the Bill (soon to be an Act) actually contains.
That’s where you come in.
And while it’s clear from my experiences that letting agents do a great job on a day-to-day basis – handling landlord clients and managing all aspects of renting from inventories to tenant vetting and everything in between – there’s another important role which shouldn’t be ignored: educating your clients.
I know of many agents that are holding webinar and meetings with their landlords to share updates and advice on this imminent bill – but also many are not.
If you can earn credit from your landlords for helping them through what it described as a once-in-a-generation change to rental regulations, then they will thank you for the advice and explanation, you’ll justify your position as their advisor and they will talk favourably about you which in turn, could mean you retain their and potentially win more business.
Ways to update/educate your landlord clients I’d suggest five things.
1. Cover the Bill in onboarding packs for new landlords
Most agents have extraordinarily useful packs covering health and safety checks, Right to Rent checks, deposit protection and local licensing schemes – all absolutely vital for landlord clients to know about. Why not include a summary of the Bill’s changes coming up?
2. Use your website for regular updates on the Bill
Some agents send out email updates on the Bill and what its measures mean. But by putting the details on your website – and then emailing landlord clients a link to the site – you can drive traffic in your direction and have a more detailed section dedicated to the Bill and what it means in your area.
3. Workshops and webinars
Never be embarrassed at taking the lead – that’s what most landlords want from agents. A workshop could include local representatives from Propertymark and/or the National Residential Landlords Association, from Trading Standards and possibly the council. A workshop also offers you a chance to hear from landlords and lets them know of any partnerships you may have with local tradespeople, lawyers, independent financial advisers and others. In other words, it’s education for landlords – and a showcase for you!
4. One-to-One Consultations
Let’s be honest – this can be time consuming. However, it’s key that your clients know they can call on you for authoritative information. But if your time constraints make one-to-ones difficult … well, there’s the workshop idea I spoke about.
5. Partner with legal experts and IFAs
You may already have close links with one or more people from these disciplines, but if not, then the Renters Rights Bill is the ideal peg on which to create new partnerships. Mutual recommendations are often appreciated by landlords, and the Bill has significant legal issues – and might be making landlords rationalise their portfolios, so an IFA would be useful too. These partnerships can also benefit your business, long after the Bill becomes law.
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Education now will almost certainly pay time dividends later with fewer queries and, perhaps most importantly, fewer problems that uninformed landlords may stumble across which you may have to solve on their behalf!
And don’t forget the client dividend too. If a landlord feels you are the authoritative, honest, educating agent – they will stay and word will spread!
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Phil Spencer is the founder of Move iQ. Move iQ now create bespoke video content for estate and letting agents sharing local insight and personally introduced by Phil – to secure your exclusive post-code speak to Alex Wilson [email protected]
