What’s the difference between using a traditional letting agent and rent to rent?

Rent to rent is a different way of delegating the management of a rental property to the traditional agency arrangement.

CHAPTER ONE

What’s the difference between using a traditional letting agent and rent to rent?

With rent to rent the property is rented from the landlord by the rent to renter, who in turn sublets to an occupier tenant. The rent to renter has no capital outlay and simply makes money collecting the difference between what is paid to the landlord as guaranteed rent and what is received in rent from the occupier tenant or tenants.

Rent to rent is a different way of delegating the management of a rental property to the traditional agency arrangement. An agent generally agrees to a let only, or a let and manage service on the landlord’s behalf, in return for a commission – a proportion of the rental income which is typically around 15% for full management.

By law, an agent is under a high duty of care to the landlord which obliges the agent to act in the landlord’s best interests at all times. With rent to rent there is no such obligation as the rent to renter, having obtained a legal interest in the property by virtue of the lease, can act solely in their own interests.