Landlords could be offered more compliance support and a wider choice of paid services as letting agents respond to the Renters' Rights Act, a leading expert has stated. Sally Lawson of the training organisation Agent Rainmaker, suggests that agents need to rebuild their managed stock following losses across the sector.
Ms Lawson proposes a three-part strategy to replace lost instructions and provide landlords with more reasons to use an agent. She argues that agencies have spent much of the past year focusing on adapting to changes, which has diverted attention from other business areas.
The strategy includes agency acquisitions, with Ms Lawson suggesting that firms with weak instruction pipelines could consider purchasing another agency's managed book. Lead generation forms the second part, encouraging agents to highlight how their compliance knowledge can assist landlords with new obligations.
The third part involves creating new paid services for work that firms might have previously included within their standard management offer. Ms Lawson notes that some agents now provide as many as 16 services, supported by 53 separate charging points from which landlords can choose.