Property Management For Large Portfolio Landlord | Slater & Brandley Case Study

If you’re a landlord with a large property portfolio, it can feel as though you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to property management. Sure, you may assume that the larger corporate property management agencies have the capacity and infrastructure to manage a portfolio like yours – but communicating with them is often difficult, and landlords may worry whether their properties are getting the level of care, attention and proactive management that they deserve.

Likewise, while smaller agencies might offer more of a human touch, landlords with larger portfolios may have concerns about whether their smaller teams can manage the workload of a large portfolio.

This is the exact dilemma a large portfolio client with over 50 properties faced when they came to us several years ago. In this case study, we’ll demonstrate how we helped this client achieve their goals and continue to surpass their expectations.

The Client

The client represents a family-run property company with a portfolio of 59 properties. Initially set up in the 1930s, the company has been passed down through the generations since, with multiple family members forming the board of directors.

The company’s previous letting agent had been sold to a larger corporate agency. Shortly after the sale, they grew disillusioned with the services.

Among the problems were:

• Poor communication: The new agent was not proactive in its communications, with the caseload handled by a centralised hub rather than any individual property manager. The client would routinely have to chase up minor queries, calls and emails would go days without a response, and when properties became available to re-let, the agent was not communicating this proactively.
• Lacklustre service: Service issues began to crop up across multiple properties, with maintenance requests neglected, property inspections missed, and tenants leaving properties.
• Pricing issues: The above factors led the client to (quite understandably) believe that they were not getting sufficient value for money.

Our Goal

After the client explained their company’s needs and current pain points to us, we determined that our ‘Full Management’ service was the best fit for their needs.

This would allow the company to be as hands-on or hands-off as the directors wished, with the flexibility for them to change their level of involvement at any time.

In this case, they are almost 100% ‘hands-off’ and trust our team and our processes.

We knew that the last thing the client needed was friction in the handover. As such, our primary goal was to ensure a completely seamless transfer of the management services from the previous agent to ourselves without any disruption to the tenants, rental income or upkeep of the properties.

Once we had completed this management transfer successfully, we moved on to our secondary goal. This is the goal we continue working towards even now – to provide the very best in communication and service, earning the trust of the client and their tenants.

 

Our Solutions

Having established our goals for the client, the next thing we established was how we would achieve them. Fortunately, this was not our first time (nor our last) meeting the needs of a client with a large portfolio.

Having developed the necessary relevant systems, checklists and procedures to take on the management of a large portfolio, we knew that the key to a project like this was organisation.

Assigning a case manager

Because the client had endured such a negative experience with their previous agency, we knew that we needed to combine robust experience with that all-important personal touch.

We assigned their case to one of our most senior property managers and ensured this task would remain with them throughout, so that the client would always have a singular point of contact – a face and a voice they could trust and hold accountable.

Our senior team then supported that member of staff and audited the project throughout to ensure that everything was running smoothly and that we were doing things correctly.

Liaising with the client’s previous agent

Obviously, a seamless transition requires us to liaise with the client’s former agent throughout the process.

They did not make it easy for us.

We had to dedicate a lot of time to chasing the agent for the information we needed, requiring a lot of patience, persistence and resilience on our part to reach our end goal.

Legal and accounting compliance

Needless to say, there are a number of legal documents and legal processes that need to be followed when taking on a portfolio of this size. Fortunately, we have the systems in place to ensure that every aspect of the portfolio is legally compliant – from safety reports to tenant deposit management.

We also went through the company’s finances with a fine-toothed comb, ensuring that every penny of landlord income and expenditure was properly accounted for throughout the process, including tenant deposits (where applicable).

Keeping tenants in the loop

We knew from experience that a change in property management company can be a source of anxiety for tenants. We wanted to do all that we could to keep tenants in the loop, while also going out of our way to help them feel informed, comfortable and safe throughout.

We visited all 59 of the properties, introducing ourselves, answering questions, and carrying out up-to-date inspections. This allowed us to reassure all tenants that they had nothing to worry about and that we would move quickly to address issues that had previously gone unactioned.

Some tenants had lived in the client’s properties since the 1960s. Therefore, we felt it was especially important to make sure that they didn’t feel unsettled by the change in management.

By the time we had visited each property, we had also drawn up a full schedule of required works – helping us to ensure that relevant safety standards were adhered to.

Addressing problem tenants

Within the portfolio were some problematic tenancies that the previous agency had somewhat given up on trying to manage. We strove to rebuild the relationship with the tenants wherever possible.

In the rare instances where we could not do this, we found ways to remove problem tenants and prevent a further loss of rental income.

The Results

The company has remained our client since we first took on their case in June 2021. We identified a potential uplift in ROI of over 25%.

By managing the portfolio proactively and carrying out much-needed renovations and refurbishments, we are helping the client to achieve this while also giving tenants better value for money and peace of mind.

Still, we’d rather let their testimonial speak for itself:

“We have been working with Slater and Brandley as Managing Agents since June 2021. Their website was attractive to the company as it stresses the importance of the property owner and the tenant being satisfied with their rental arrangement.

In the time that we have been working together, they have been professional, efficient and easy to work with. They handle all the day-to-day matters; this can be quite intensive as many of our properties are of the older type.

Occupancy rates are generally higher than our previous experiences: we have had few complaints from tenants as any maintenance issues are dealt with promptly by their in-house team.”

Now, Just Imagine What Slater & Brandley Can Do For You!

If you’re a landlord with a larger portfolio who has grown disillusioned with the offerings of corporate agents, or feel you’ve outgrown your current smaller agent, we’d love to discuss what we can do for you.

At Slater & Brandley, we’re proud to offer the best of both worlds: the scale and expertise to manage your portfolio properly, with the personal service and attention to detail that only a dedicated team can provide.

Get in touch with our property management team today. Just like this large portfolio client, you’ll be glad you did!

 

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