Half of all landlords are choosing to manage their own properties rather than rely on a letting agent. That’s an incredible 1.3 million landlords shunning our expertise in favour of shouldering not only the time and effort it takes to effectively look after homes and tenants – but also the sizeable risks which come with it.

There are 170 pieces of legislation associated with lettings – and these regulations are changing all the time. In all the years I’ve been leading landlord masterclasses, no attendee has been able to name more than seven.

So, why are they taking the risk of falling foul of any of the other 163 regulations which they can’t name, let alone claim to understand? Underuse of letting agents is certainly not due to the number of landlords out there, which is something I’ve heard time after time.

Over the last 20 years, the proportion of privately rented homes has doubled – now sitting at around 21% for England and 20% for the UK as a whole. With 4.5 million properties owned by 2.7 million people – there’s certainly no dearth of landlords out there.

But when so many letting agents are choosing to deal solely with ‘standard lets’, they’re all fighting for the business of a small proportion of landlords and totally ignoring many thousands of others.

Half a million properties are Homes of Multiple Occupation (HMOs), 75% of migrants are housed within the private rental sector, and half of all private renters are now partially or fully supported via housing benefit or universal credit.

Those three categories account for a huge proportion of the market, and there are many more which aren’t a ‘standard let’ i.e. a single self-funded family occupying a property.

While these more complex rental situations might take a little more work to manage, in reality that’s exactly what letting agents are there for – so why are so many shunning the opportunity to work with landlords with more diverse portfolios and instead claiming there are no landlords out there?

Because complexity is exactly what we’re here for – we’re the ones who know about those 170 pieces of legislation, and we’re trained in the time-saving technology which can assist with rent collection and repairs.

And yet some agents are struggling to find new opportunities – whether it’s because they’re ignoring a large proportion of the potential market, or because they’re not effectively communicating just how devastating it can be for landlords if the self-management route goes wrong.

Taking on a letting agent to manage properties drastically reduces the chance of fines, prosecution, and a ruined reputation. That’s why we’re such a valuable part of the property industry, and that’s what we need to be communicating to landlords – all 2.7 million of them.

Sally Lawson is a former president of ARLA and founder of Agent Rainmaker.