If you are comparing letting agents in Bristol, one of the first things you probably want to know is simply: how much will it cost?
At Nook, our full management fee is 10% + VAT of the monthly rent. That is 12% including VAT.
You will find Bristol agents charging less than that and others charging 12% or more, depending on whether VAT is included and what level of service is being offered.
The important thing is to compare like with like.
We regularly speak to landlords who have called several agents and struggled to get a straight answer about fees. We find that frustrating too. A landlord should be able to understand what the service costs, what is included and what they might be charged on top.
A lower percentage does not necessarily mean a lower cost
If an agent offers full management at 6% or 8%, I would not immediately assume there is anything wrong with that. But I would ask how the service works.
The economics are fairly simple. An agency charging 6% has to manage considerably more properties than one charging 10% to generate the same management income.
That can mean a property manager looking after 100 or 120 properties rather than having the time to know each one properly.
And that matters when something goes wrong.
We recently took over a property that had been managed by another agent. There was a leak in the bathroom. A plumber was sent out and repaired the toilet, but the toilet was not the source of the leak. Someone was then sent to re-grout the tiles. Unfortunately, the wrong area was grouted, so somebody had to return again.
Three visits. Three invoices. One original problem.
We cannot claim we will diagnose every maintenance issue correctly first time. Nobody can.
But our approach would have been to get eyes on the problem before repeatedly sending contractors and charging the landlord. We know the properties we manage and, where it is useful, we will actually go and look.
For us, that is a fairly important part of the word management.
Look beyond the management percentage
The other thing landlords should ask about is additional charges.
At Nook, we do not add hidden contractor mark-ups. If a contractor charges £120, the landlord sees £120.
We are careful about who we use too. Our benchmark has always been whether Nick and I would be happy sending that contractor into one of our own properties.
That matters because a cheaper management percentage is not particularly good value if the landlord then pays more through unnecessary call-outs, contractor commissions or additional charges elsewhere.
So when you compare agents, ask:
What is the management fee including VAT?
Are there additional set-up or tenancy charges?
Is anything added to contractor invoices?
How many properties does each property manager look after?
Will anyone actually visit the property when a maintenance problem needs investigating?
Who will you speak to when you call?
Those answers tell you far more than the headline percentage.
What are you paying Nook 10% + VAT to do?
A landlord we recently started working with had originally expected to use a let-only service and manage the property themselves.
They were working full-time, getting the property ready to rent and trying to organise tradespeople around everything else. The property was intended to generate some additional income to help support their children through university.
We helped get things organised and then took over the management.
When I spoke to the landlord later about some questions we had dealt with from the tenant, they said something that stuck with me: they had not realised quite how much we had been doing behind the scenes.
What they had noticed was how much less stressed they felt.
That is really what full management should do.
You are not just paying somebody to collect the rent. You are paying them to know the property, deal with the tenant, keep on top of the legislation, manage maintenance properly and handle the hundreds of small things that otherwise come back to you.
Why we do not compete on being the cheapest
We could reduce our management percentage.
But if we did that significantly, we would either have to manage many more properties per person or change the level of service we provide.
We do not want to do either.
Nook is deliberately small. Harley and Emma know the properties they manage. If a landlord calls the office with a question, they are speaking to people who actually know what is happening with their tenancy.
That is the service we want to provide, and our fee reflects it.
So if you are comparing letting-agent fees in Bristol, do compare the percentages.
But also ask what happens after the tenant moves in.
That is normally where the difference between a cheap management service and a properly managed property starts to show.
Let’s Talk
If you are comparing letting agents in Bristol and want a clearer idea of what full management would cost for your property, we are happy to talk it through properly.
