Agents advised to reduce admin workload

Glenn Seddington, Chief Sales Officer at Inchora and Managing Director at Tenant Shop has been featured in an article on Estate Agent Today talking about how agents can reduce their administrative workload.

Letting agents are being urged to consider how they can reduce their administrative workload, following huge growth in the size of the private rental sector (PRS) and ahead of next month’s tenant fees ban.

The call comes from utility management service Tenant Shop, which says agents who can reduce admin pressure on staff can continue to provide an effective service to landlords and tenants.

Two issues which agents can look to manage more effectively are notifying local councils and utility companies when tenancies change over and dealing with stray bills.

Tenant Shop says that the huge growth in the number of tenants since 2002, as demonstrated by the English Housing Survey 2017-18, has steadily increased letting agents’ workload.

“Feedback from our agents indicates that this influx of tenants has equated to a significant increase in extra work for letting agents in the form of referencing checks, inventories and drafting tenancy agreements,” says Glenn Seddington, managing director of Tenant Shop, an Inchora company.

“As a result, this means more moves in, out and within the PRS, which creates more work for agents when it comes to managing utilities in rental properties and helping landlords to deal with void periods.”

The firm says that on top of PRS growth, the ban on tenant fees coming into force on June 1 could add to the pressure on letting agents’ workloads.

“It’s widely expected that there could be a rush of tenant moves immediately after fees are banned as tenants who have delayed moving home in recent months to avoid paying fees all spring into action at once,” Seddington explains.

“A flurry of moves over the summer, when considered in the context of an already inflated tenant population and increased administrative burden, could put even more pressure on an already stretched workforce of letting agents,” he says…

To read the whole article on Letting Agent Today, click here.