The 9pm Thursday Phone Call. And Why It Changed Everything.
A late-night maintenance emergency showed Claire that the real cost of self-managing wasn't just the repair bill. In this week's article, Katie explores the hidden cost of let-only management, why full management offers more than convenience, and why so many landlords wish they'd made the switch sooner.
Claire got the call at nine in the evening on a Thursday.
Her tenant had come home to find the kitchen flooded. A pipe had failed under the sink. Water was through the floor and into the cupboard below.
Claire was on a let-only arrangement. Which meant the call was hers to sort.
She did not have an emergency plumber on speed dial. She spent the best part of forty minutes searching online and calling numbers. Two did not pick up. One quoted her a call-out rate that made her wince a bit.
By the time someone arrived it was nearly midnight. The repair was over £350. The follow-up work to dry out and sort the floor added another couple of hundred on top.
She handled it. But the evening was gone, she had not slept well and she spent the following week worrying about whether there was any damage she had not spotted yet.
That is the version of property management that does not appear in the fee comparison spreadsheet.
What full management means for situations like this
When Harrisons manages a property, this call does not go to the landlord.
It comes to us. We have a maintenance team and a trusted network of local contractors. We triage the problem, get the right person out, manage the repair and sort the paperwork. The landlord gets a notification and an invoice.
No searching for plumbers at nine at night. No wondering whether the call-out rate was fair. No lying awake thinking about what else might be lurking.
The peace of mind thing is real. It is one of the most consistent things our landlords mention when I ask them what they value most about full management.
What Claire did
She came to see us the following month. Three properties, all on let-only for the whole time she had been a landlord.
She switched all three to full management.
I had not realised how much of my headspace those properties were taking up, she said. Not because things were constantly going wrong. Just because I always knew they could. And I knew when they did it was coming straight to me.
Your action point this week
Think about the last time you had to deal with a maintenance issue on a property you manage.
How long did it take? How much of your evening or weekend did it eat? Did you feel genuinely confident it was handled well and at a fair price?
If the honest answer to any of those is not great, it is worth a chat.
If you are on a let-only arrangement and you are starting to wonder whether it is actually working for you, come and talk to us. Switching to full management is a lot simpler than most landlords expect, and we will walk you through exactly what it involves. Call us on 01204 659670, email katie@harrisonsnet.co.uk or visit harrisonsnet.co.uk.
Here's to your property success!
Katie
Harrisons Estate Agents
01204 659670 | katie@harrisonsnet.co.uk | harrisonsnet.co.uk