Are you going to rent out a property? Then it is advisable to look for a suitable rental agent. A rental agent is a personal advisor and mediator who can help you rent out your property. A rental agent can help and support you in finding a reliable new tenant for your vacant property as quickly as possible. Selecting and screening new tenants is generally faster via a rental agent than when you, as a (private) investor, do it yourself.

What does a rental agent do?

The rental agent will begin with a recording of the home. During this recording, the rental agent will look at the condition of the home and professional photos will also be taken for the rental advertisement. The rental price will often be determined by mutual agreement. The rental agent can give you good advice on a rental price in line with the market and in some cases can also draw up a rental price recommendation.

Once the rental price has been determined and professional photos have been taken, the rental advertisement can be prepared by the rental agent. This advertisement will then be published via different platforms. With City Estate we are connected to 20+ platforms, including Funda.nl, Kamernet.nl and Pararius.nl. The number of affiliated platforms may vary considerably per rental agency.

Following the rental advertisement, often dozens of responses from interested tenants will be received by the rental agent. The rental agent makes a selection from these responses and a viewing can be scheduled with the potential tenants who meet all the requirements. During the viewing round, the rental agent can answer questions from tenants and also assess who is interested in and actually suitable to rent the property.
The tenant ultimately selected will then undergo a screening process. How extensive this screening is varies by rental agency. It is important to ask in advance to avoid ambiguity. With City Estate we use an extensive screening in which we cooperate with BKR and Huurcheck Nederland.

Once all the information is correct and the tenant is found to be positive as a result of the screening, the lease can be drawn up. The rental agreement must be legally sound. Once the lease is signed by all parties, the key transfer and check-in can take place. Most rental brokers, including City Estate, will take care of this last part of the process.

Outsource property management

After the key exchange, the rental period begins for the selected tenant. During the rental period, there are a number of issues to be taken care of and the tenant may also come up with questions on repair requests. Many property owners therefore also choose to outsource the daily property management. Depending on your situation and requirements, this may be a good solution for you as well. The activities and tasks that a good property management company will take over for you as a property owner include:

• Collecting rent monthly;
• If necessary, proactive debtor management;
• First point of contact for tenants;
• Taking and handling repair requests;
• If necessary, a 24/7 breakdown service for evenings and weekends;
• Annual rent adjustment;
• Periodic home inspections.