Nowadays, the relationships between millennials and letting agents leave a lot to be desired. There’s a lot of negativity, mistrust and miscommunication between millennials and letting agents that stunts the process of young people getting homes and letting agents getting their income.
But why has this negative relationship come about? Well, many letting agents are not as honest with millennials as their shop-front and business message makes them out to be, often sneaking in hidden fees that leave millennials shaken and enraged.
We’re here to highlight some of the key reasons why millennials hate most letting agents but to also reassure millennials and young people in the housing market that there is hope! (Not all letting agents are crooks, you’ll see!)
Unregulated Letting Agents
It is actually surprisingly easy for anyone to set themselves up as a letting agent. As a professional letting agents, we see this all the time. All kinds of unregulated letting agents pop up, offering services that they can’t promise or guarantee.
This means that there are people with no training, no experience and no knowledge in the property market trying to sell and advertise houses. This ultimately means that they can potentially mislead millennials who are in the house hunting process and take them down a long, winding and complicated road. This can be incredibly frustrating and a huge waste of time and money.
This is why it’s always important to seek advice from a genuine letting and property agents who have the experience, time and quality service you need in order to successfully find or sell a house.
Hidden fees
This is a tactic that many unregulated letting agents use that can catch out unsuspecting millennials. For example, the letting agent may take said millennial through a whole process, without being completely honest about any fees, then drop a £500 admin fee on them without warning. This is extremely poor practice, as everything should be kept above the surface to provide a smooth and enjoyable experience for both parties.
Young people looking to buy or rent their first property are often seen as easy targets for low-quality letting agents. Since young people may be entering onto the property ladder for the first time, they wouldn’t know to check the fine print and ask certain questions to save them being slapped with an unsuspected fee.
As well as hidden fees, untrustworthy letting agents also try and get as much money from millennials as possible as soon as possible. For example, they may demand that you not only pay one months rent in advance but that you also pay a deposit AND an admin fee on top of this. As on June 2019, admin fees are illegal, so you can be sure you won’t be affected by this. If your estate agent tells you something different, stay away!
This is an incredibly poor practice and is a huge contributing factor to the poor relationship between millennials and letting agents. There’s little wonder that millennials are losing faith in letting agents, and that genuine letting agents in Leicester are suffering due to the bad press that is associated with letting agents.
Poor Communication and Management
For many letting agents, it’s all about that quick sale and getting the commission through. This means that they compromise on quality and communication with millennials, leaving them feeling deflated, ignored and totally disrespected.
Buying a house, or even renting one, is a huge decision and needs to be handled with the utmost care and respect. However, sketchy letting agents will often rush you through the process without providing you with the necessary information and communication touch points you need to feel reassured.
Worried you’re using a poor quality lettings agents in Leicester? Here’s what to look out for in regards to poor communication:
- Repeatedly ignoring your calls
- Failing to answer your questions
- Refusing to have any meetings with you
- Skipping over important information in meetings
- Rushing through documents or phone calls, leaving you flustered
- Blanking you when you enter the office
Lack of Transparency
Linking on to poor communication, sketchy letting agents are also dishonest when it comes to buyers and tenants feedback. Instead of being truthful, they will often just tell you exactly what you want to hear instead of providing genuine feedback and information. This tactic is often used by poor quality letting agents to push quicker sales and to avoid having to communicate properly with their customers.
Pushing Other Unnecessary Services
As previously mentioned, some letting agents like to take advantage of first-time buyers with no experience in buying, selling or renting a property. This means they find millennials susceptible to dodgy marketing ploys whilst trying to sell them a house. For example, the letting agents may try to push unwanted and often, completely unnecessary services onto millennials whilst implying that if they don’t pay for these services, they may not get the same treatment as other customers.
This is referred to as pressure techniques, leaving millennials feeling forced into making financial decisions, often on the spot, that’ll leave them out of pocket. We at Open House Leicester strongly disagree with these marketing ploys and tactics. We treat all of our clients with equal respect and will always ensure quality services.
Why Open House Leicester are Different
Open House Leicester have years of experience in the letting, selling and renting market. We pride ourselves in being open, honest and providing genuine advice, either for first-time homeowners looking to find their ideal first home in the Leicester area or to help landlords find their perfect tenants.
Due to our amazing reputation with both homeowners and landlords, we’re able to get properties listed on some of the biggest and main property listing sites. Better yet, we don’t hide anything. We want this process to be as smooth and as simple for both homeowners and home sellers/landlords, which is why we keep everything above the surface so nothing ever comes as a surprise.
If you’re looking to find a genuine, trustworthy letting agents in Leicester to find your perfect property, get in touch with the team today. With honest and expert advice, we’ll be able to help you get your foot in the property ladder.
