Agents should look to the rental market to protect themselves against a drop in house sales, according to tech company PayProp.

Neil Cobbold, managing director of the automated rental payment provider, has advised that a strong lettings portfolio could make the difference between “thriving and failing” during the forecasted sales downturn.

“Having or adding a lettings department may add an edge of resilience to agents’ businesses by adding a predictable monthly income stream,” he said.

Cobbold argued that many property businesses currently focused on sales could “massively benefit” from either scaling up their lettings offering or by starting one from scratch.

“It is likely that the rental side will become even busier than it is now, because those who thought they would be able to enter the market as buyers may find their pathway blocked by high interest rates,” he said.

Cobbold acknowledged that added admin could be a potential stumbling block for agents starting or expanding a lettings offering. However, he insisted that automation has alleviated many traditionally time-consuming aspects of running a rental business.

Investment in digital processes and tools can free up agents’ time to “facilitate the provision of higher-value activities such as first-class customer service, as well as saving agents hours every week on admin”, Cobbold said.