A Guide to Renting From a Private Landlord
The current UK housing market has made renting property an ever more important part of our daily lives.
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The exponential growth of house prices, especially around London, have far outstripped the growth of wages, which has made it increasingly more challenging to own a home and get a foothold on the property ladder. Consequently, renting is even more appealing and seemingly the best option for many looking for independent living.
Letting agent or private landlord?
When renting a property, you will usually have two options: renting through a letting agency or directly from a private landlord. Although traditionally renting through a letting agency was considered a foolproof, secure way of renting property for both tenants and landlords, the recent rapid growth of online rental platforms, including Mashroom, has reduced the need for an intermediary transactor (i.e. the letting agency and agent).
There are a number of reasons why renting through a letting agent is becoming less appealing and a cause of more problems, rather than a solution to a tenant’s needs. If you have gone through the experience of a letting agent, you will know that for the most part (there are of course the pleasant exceptions) letting agents are complicated to deal with and will act as a barrier to direct communication with the landlord, when really their role is to act as a facilitator for your interactions with the renter.
The rise of online rental platforms
Using a landlord directly is on the rise, and the primary reason is the development of online rental platforms like Mashroom that connect the tenant and landlord directly. The ease of use of the platform makes it a no-brainer for many prospective tenants and landlords who are looking for efficient communication, no additional service fees or commission.
Direct communication with a private landlord is quicker
Being directly in contract with your landlord has numerous practical advantages. With repairs around the property, for instance, a direct phone call to the landlord will be much quicker than having to go through an agent who will no doubt have to arrange a time-consuming report and form for repairs.
Furthermore, being in direct contact with the landlord will give you the opportunity to build a good relationship with them, which is always useful for future negotiations and the landlord will be more likely to attend to your problems and repairs more quickly.
If you do encounter problems at a property that is run by an agency, you may never get the chance to ask the landlord directly, which is likely to bring about miscommunication and impractical solutions to your problems.
Renting directly from a private landlord can be cheaper
By cutting out the middle man, the letting agent, there’s a reduction in fees – both for the landlord and the tenant. This can result in lower costs for the tenant when moving into the property, along with reduced rent costs that are passed on by the landlord.
With the help of platforms such as Mashroom, you, as a tenant, are provided with a one-stop service that simplifies the rental search process, which makes finding your ideal home that much more convenient.
Overall, besides the efficacy of the online rental market itself, one of the reasons for the success and prevalence of the platform is the experience of renting directly from the private landlord and not through an agent, which is in part what makes Mashroom so convenient for tenants and landlords alike.
