RESIDENTIALlettings
Outsourcing can save agencies time, money, staff and stress...”
business.” Fine-tuning so that every process is in place, ensuring nothing is missed out. Bespoke, as every agency does things a little differently. But he points out that lettings is also a people business; “Agencies don’t communicate with their landlords and tenants enough.” They need to get the right staff, only half
have experience in lettings, in fact it can take longer to retrain someone away from bad habits they got in a lettings agency than to train someone with no experience at all. “Property managers have got to be strong people and able to stand up for themselves.” It can be white label – but only for five
per cent of clients, most agents are happy for the arrangement to be transparent to landlord and tenant, and indeed make it a selling point that they have appointed a specialist in the field. Most outsourcing companies operate
a mixture of monthly fees with per- transaction pricing. For instance The Letting Bureau charges £10 a month per user for its Lettings Genie software, plus £4 for the creation of a tenancy and 25p or £1.50 for handling a rent payment (depending on whether the agency or the Bureau handle it). All letters and other actions (except credit referencing) are free, “We are extremely transparent,” Jenny Markham says. But it’s not the cost so much as the
savings that should occupy agents’ minds. ARPM gives a typical savings scenario; 50 properties under management, an agency carrying out all its property management in-house might have £50,000 of in-house costs, including accounting and banking fees as well as salaries, accommodation and company cars; ARPM could provide an outsourced service for £30,000. The cost saving is not the only benefit that an outsourcer can bring to the table.
Simon Duce points out that ARPM manages to best practice ARLA guidelines, and has ARLA bonding, as well as belonging to other professional organisations and to TDS. 60-70 per cent of ARPM’s management staff are ARLA trained, something agencies would find difficult to replicate. He believes good outsourcing companies
can increase the professionalism of the industry. “We end up cleaning some agents up completely,” he says. “They come to us with no gas certificates in place, for instance. We get those in place right away!” Many outsourced property management
companies have vast amounts of experience and expertise. Long established Rushbrook & Rathbone has worked with hundreds of clients, consequentially there are very few challenges they haven’t come across before; the main motive behind business process outsourcing is to allow a company to invest more time, money and resources in core active items – without losing quality and name. Cost advantages together with the
increased ability to focus on core competencies is the major driving factor.
Joanna Wells: “The hassle was too much.”
software package, head-hunt staff, and set up a new office, new entrants to the sector can take a pay-as-you-go contract. Simon Duce says, “We don’t hold things up, if the deal doesn’t complete, we don’t get paid!” You’d expect to hear about these benefits
from the lettings companies. But what do clients have to say about them? Joanna Wells, at Andrew Milsom
Lettings, originally decided to use The Letting Bureau because she was starting up on her own, “About five years ago,” she says, “I decided to set up my own business and it made sense to use a company that could do not just my tenant references, but my accounting and all the money side of my business. That was huge amounts of hassle that was just too much for me when I was on my own.” Now that she’s grown the business could
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probably afford to employ her own back office staff. But she doesn’t feel that she needs to. “I don’t think I could find the right person, and I would need someone I could trust,” she says. “I know with The Letting Bureau that they’re bonded and they’re secure, and it gives me and my landlords that extra peace of mind.” She estimates that she would need two
extra people in the office, and that would cost her twice what she’s currently paying The Letting Bureau.
PROPERTYdrum JANUARY 2011 59
The partner in an agency who recognises that by outsourcing his company’s non- core activities, not only are costs minimized and efficiencies improved; but the overall business improves because of the shift in focus to the key growth area of the business activity. Choosing the ideal provider to partner with is a little like choosing a ‘best friend’ says Sarah Rushbrook; compatibility, culture, objectives, experience, communication skills and working style are all there in the pot for an agent to consider. Outsourcing also saves agencies
spending large amounts of money up-front on systems. Instead of having to buy a
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