New legislation is attracting more landlords to use property management services

Staff from Andrews Letting and Management, letting agents, observed a significant rise in the number of private landlords who attended the West’s largest lettings event - The Landlords’ Expo 2007 last Thursday, all looking for added assistance in the wake of TDP’s - the greatest shake up the lettings industry has ever seen.

“The event has always been relatively popular but we saw in excess of 200 visitors through the doors this year. From potential investors to Landlords with over 30 properties already on their books, the majority were there to learn how best to approach the new TDP (Tenancy Deposit Protection) schemes”, said Andrews’ South West Area Manager, Debbie Vowles following the Expo held last Thursday (17th May) in Bristol.

Since the legislation was introduced on the 6th April, 2007, Landlords are no longer able to legally retain a tenant’s rental deposit in their own personal or business account(s). And whilst this does ensure tenants money is now better protected and more fairly handled once a tenancy ends, unsurprisingly, TDP’s have not been welcomed by all, leaving some a little confused.

“Andrews is built on a range of processes that ensure best practice and absolute transparency across its entire group of businesses. We are also members of a number of governing industry bodies such as ARLA (The Association of Residential Letting Agents) and NALA (The National Association of Letting Agents) which I think is why so many people felt they could come to us at the event and discuss their options given the recent change in law. A large proportion of the enquires we were receiving were from people who’ve been in the industry for years but are only now, in light of the legislation, considering the benefits of our Lettings and Management service despite their own often considerable experience”, said Debbie.

Andrews actually received 50% more applications from Landlords at the Expo than in 2006 and whilst Debbie put much of this down to TDP’s, some enquiries remained more broad:

“Buy to let is ever on the up so marketing strategies and avoiding dead periods were still very popular topics of discussion. We also spoke to many existing Landlords who are looking to get out of the flooded student market or sell up and invest in a new portfolio of more profitable properties - modern one or two bed homes with good city links”, she said.

Andrews Letting and Management invests over £1 million each year on property advertising, retaining over 15,000 tenants on its books at any one time. From marketing and rent collection to complete property management, Andrews’ full in-house service is focused on the needs of its customers. To help celebrate this fact anyone who signed up with the company at the Expo also stood to win every service at Andrews’ disposal to find a suitable tenant(s)–absolutely free of charge!

“We had a fantastic response to the competition and the winner was delighted when we called to let them know they had won” said Debbie.