Landlords & Tenants beware!

At cmRENT, we are having a fantastic year so far, and so are our Landlords & Tenants!

As at the date of writing this article, we have let 210 properties compared to 172 for the same period last year. That's an extra 38 happy Landlords & associated Tenants in just 6 months of 2009!

NO WONDER OTHER LETTING AGENTS ARE WORRIED!

You may have seen some agents offering cheap fees, discounts for 1 month, 2 months or even 3 months. But why would they be doing this? In our opinion, they are in trouble! So are they just trying to buy business to survive, and will they just be monkeying around by charging you peanuts?

One such 'Letting Agent' has made staff redundant during 2009 and is now targeting other agents properties with leaflets offering cheap Letting & Management fees. But they are also tying Landlords in to sole agency agreements. Is this the signs of a confident, successful Letting Agent winning business on their own merits?

Please don't be fooled by this cheap form of marketing, and don't get your fingers burnt. We receive many new instructions each year from Landlords who have been attracted by cheap fees, only to be stung by a poor service, costing them hundreds and even thousands of pounds.

At cmRENT we have worked hard to build up our reputation and we spend money on good quality advertising to attract good quality tenants to good quality properties. It's the easiest thing in the world to let someone else do all the hard work and then try to steal it from under them by doing very little. It's a bit like your colleague approaching your boss with an idea you have been working on for some time, and pretending it to be his own!... Not a very ethical way to do business.

Another note of warning... We even know of 1 National Letting Franchise who often claim to be the UK's Number 1 Letting Agent, but their offices are run by individual franchisees who, by the company's own website admission, "... most franchise owners do not have previous Letting experience..." prior to setting up as a Letting Agent. To cmRENT, this is very worrying. It was even reported in the local press recently that this franchise network have had a number of franchisees being investigated for fraud for allegedly stealing clients money. Client's money should be protected and kept in seperate client accounts and is done so with cmRENT. These accounts are independently audited annually and as an ARLA member our clients are protected by their Client Money Protection Bond Scheme.

Click here to read the 'Alleged Fraud' newspaper article

Our advice is, unless an agent has been recommended to you by a friend or you have done your own research into the quality of the service they will provide you, don't be attracted by cheap fees... it may end up costing you more than you thought you had saved!

If you pay Peanuts, you will get Monkeys!