Almost three-quarters of lettings professionals say the Renters’ Rights Act has increased their administrative workload, according to new research.
A survey by Propoly found 73% of property professionals have experienced more administration since the legislation came into force on 1 May.
A quarter described the impact on their business as significant.
Compliance and record keeping emerged as the biggest source of extra work, cited by 18% of respondents.
Rent reviews followed at 16%, while 14% pointed to possessions and tenancy endings.
The changes are also affecting how agency teams operate. Half of respondents said lettings and property management staff now need to work much more closely together.
Disconnected systems add to workload
Technology appears to be adding to the administrative burden for some agents.
Only 17% of businesses use one main technology system to manage the additional work created by the Renters’ Rights Act.
Two-thirds use several disconnected systems. Another 17% still rely heavily on emails, spreadsheets and other separate processes.
This can result in staff handling the same information several times.
Some 61% of respondents said employees have to transfer, re-enter or duplicate information between systems during a tenancy.
More than half (52%) believe better links between their systems would improve efficiency.
Respondents identified landlord communication and decision-making as the area that could benefit most from better integration.
Tenant referencing, compliance and tenant communications also ranked highly.
Compliance remains key concern
Compliance looks set to remain a major challenge for letting agents.
Some 28% of respondents expect keeping up with compliance requirements to become their biggest operational challenge under the Renters’ Rights Act.
Another 21% identified maintaining profitability while dealing with the additional work.
A further 16% pointed to managing the overall administrative burden.
Sim Sekhon, group chief executive officer at Propoly, commented: “More than 100 days on from the introduction of the Renters’ Rights Act, it is clear that the impact is being felt not only in terms of the additional work required, but also in the way lettings businesses need to organise their people, processes and technology.
“The challenge for the sector is not simply dealing with more administration. It is making sure that information can move efficiently between the teams and systems involved in managing a tenancy, without creating unnecessary duplication or additional manual work.
“As the new requirements become embedded into day-to-day operations, businesses will be looking for ways to manage compliance and service delivery efficiently while maintaining profitability. Technology has an important role to play, but the value comes from reducing fragmentation rather than simply adding another platform to an already crowded process.”
Comments (1)
and an end to fees paid to agents to renew the fixed term!!