An Evening with Landlords

Just over a week ago we were invited to attend a landlord event organised by Peter Greenwood and his team. Peter runs a lettings and sales agency, Greenwoods in Kingston-Upon-Thames and after 7 years of trading organised a “Thank the Landlords” evening which included bringing landlords present up to date on what is happening in the Private Rented Sector. As an observer, it was wonderful to see the interaction between the Greenwood team and the landlords - it is obvious that the landlords are benefitting from the personal relationship that Peter and his team offer. 

Greenwoods is not the only client we have that has taken the leap to organise this kind of event. At a time when letting agents are thinking really carefully about income, it is a bold move to take the time and energy to arrange what is in essence, a mini conference. However, now is probably the best time. With so much change and so much more to come, bringing landlords together really does make sense. 

After canapés, supplied by a local café, and prosecco, Peter gave the landlords an overview of sector changes, swiftly followed by specialist input. It is truly surprising that even some of the longer standing landlords - DIY “tenant find only” landlords - were not aware of some very key changes; the Tenant fee Ban seems to have been a hot potato! It was great to see that these landlords, for obvious reasons, were quickly converting to a fully managed service as a result of some of the discoveries made that evening. It was also positive to see tenants who had become landlords present that evening.

There is so much criticism of letting agents especially if the consultation on the Tenant Fee Ban is anything to go by, yet when you spend time with letting agents on a daily basis and then seem them work alongside their clients and tenants, it really is refreshing. We all know that the lettings process is not easy, and watching landlords and agents interact on a personal-professional level, is great because this industry is based on longevity of relationships, albeit, contractual to begin with, it is very common for landlords to stay with their agent for an average of ten years. It really is a credit to letting agents who develop these longstanding personal-professional business relationships and putting together an informal, informative evening is really beneficial to all involved.

These kinds of event, big or small, really do allow landlords to have an opportunity to network together and actually have a much better understanding of what letting agents are currently up against. Well done Greenwoods - more of the same please.