Switching Agents – How To Guide

Notch Living • 29 August 2023

3 minute read

Regardless of how long you have been using your current agent terminating their service needs to be handled with care on both sides.

The ‘service agreement’ or ‘Terms of Business’ between a landlord and a letting agent is a legal contract, therefore you will be required to give adequate notice to terminate the arrangement. In return your agent should provide you with relevant records and documents covering the duration of their management.

This guide will provide you will practical advice and 3 quick steps to start the process:

How we can help?

Review your current agreement and advise on termination arrangements
Provide you will ongoing support in the switch over
Liaise with your agent to get the deposits and rent payments transferred over
Contact your tenants and organise the paperwork, rent payments and welcome visit.

See FAQ’S at the end of this article.

1) Check your contract

Most service agreement contracts include a ‘termination’ clause. The clause could stipulate a ‘fixed period’ within which the agreement lasts, and set out the ‘notice period’ that the agent needs you to give in order to terminate the service. E.g., anything from 1 month to 3 months.

2) Put it in writing

It is important that you keep a trail of your correspondence with the agent. We also recommend including:

A timeframe for providing records and documents (see FAQs below)
Clarifying where you would like correspondence to be sent in future
Authorising liaison with your new agent
Asking the agent to acknowledge receipt of your requests

3) Settle any outstanding fees

It is best to clarify if there would be any outstanding fees to the agents and/or their contractors covering the management period only. A decent agent should not charge you exit fees If you have complied with the termination requirements.

Once the above has been actioned we can take over liaising directly with the agency

*NO FEES APPLY*

Whatever the reason, better deal, better service or both – SWITCH and SAVE!

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Switching Agent FAQs

Can a landlord change agents’ mid tenancy?

The tenancy agreement is an agreement between the landlord and the tenant.

Even if this was arranged by the agent the tenancy agreement is separate from the service agreement you have with the agent.

The terms of the tenancy agreement will not change even if you switch agents. The tenants are still bounds by the same obligations.
Will the tenants need a new tenancy agreement?

Notch Living will sign up your tenant on a new agreement. If you are switching over from another agent then we will arrange this free of charge.
What documents do I need to collect from the agent?

It is particularly important for HMO Landlords to keep current and historic tenancy records for compliant licencing. Other HMO licence records, safety certificates and maintenance logs should be gathered where possible.

Notch Living will liaise directly with the agent to collate these and support you with commissioning new certificates where required free of charge.

For a full list of onboarding documents and to compare our fees to your current agent please contact us at hello@notchliving.co.uk or call 07852251741

What is Notch Living service agreement terms?

You won’t be tied into a fixed term contract, if you don’t need the service you can cancel with one month’s notice!

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Notch Living provide bespoke student lettings and property management services to HMO landlords across the UK who own a single property, portfolio of properties or build to rent blocks of flats. We provide HMO landlords with continuous property management support with a range of dedicated services tailored to the niche house-share market.

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