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Dealing with lettings response - James Davis, Upad.co.uk

How to deal with the response to your lettings ad

Some recent experiments by property web sites found that 8 out of 11 "mystery shopper" enquiries to lettings adverts received no response at all. That's an awful lot of wasted business: no wonder some landlords have their properties sitting void for weeks at a time!

There's no doubt that a quick response to tenant enquiries is essential: the average tenant will look at between three and six properties before they find the one they want to rent, so getting your rental in amongst the first few is essential: if you always take a week to respond to your email, everyone will have moved on somewhere else before they hear back.

But life as a landlord can take some juggling: answering the mobile to deal with queries from a potential tenant isn't easy when you're in the supermarket with the kids, or trying to have a relaxing drink on Friday night.

Be available at popular times
Looking at Upad's tenant enquiries over the last four months, we see that the most popular times are Monday and Tuesday afternoons. While a fair number of tenants respond to ads on Saturdays, fewer do so on Sundays – and the vast majority call during the working day: after 6.30pm, calls drop to around a quarter of what they were earlier in the day.

Sadly this doesn't quite mean you can switch your phone off at 6.45pm if you have somewhere you need to let. And mostly, it's common sense: don't book a long lunchtime meeting, or a weekend away, if you've just advertised a property.

Remember, you're competing with professional lettings agents who have office staff available to deal with enquiries in a matter of minutes: you need to make sure you can do the same, or you're going to lose out.

Phone is better than email but...
If you have a phone number from your potential tenant, it's always better to respond by phone than by email. Phoning is quicker and more direct, it gets questions answered straight away, and it adds a personal touch that can be lacking with email. But be sensitive: many people won't answer their mobile phone to someone whose number they don't recognise. Sending a text first to introduce yourself can overcome that problem.

Be prepared
Have details available and to hand whenever you might get a call about a property you have advertised. Save extra photos on your phone so that you can quickly supplement the ones on your rental listing. Tenants will often make basic enquiries on the phone – what council tax band you’re in or the availability of broadband in the area – before deciding if it’s worth viewing or not. If you can respond to these questions immediately, you have more of a chance of letting the property quickly and also you’ll avoid wasted viewings with people who turn out not to be interested.

It really only takes a little preparation to make sure that your rental advert is a success.

James Davis

James is CEO of Upad.co.uk. A residential landlord for over 12 years with an established portfolio and an active long term investor. Previously Sales Director for First Radio Sales and successful floatation of AIM listed Campus Media.

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