The property market needed a unique business offering landlords an alternative to doing it themselves or using letting agents — they both have drawbacks.
I owned one property and had a very easy tenant for four years. One day, I received a renewal fee from the agent and just thought, ‘why am I paying him eight per cent plus VAT?’.
I decided to set up The Happy Tenant Company for people like me because agents offer limited options.
It can depend on whether the agent is a big chain or a high-street shop, but they are often overwhelmed with work, understaffed and contract out their responsibilities to make a marginal profit.
The landlord just doesn’t get the property management service they have paid for.
They are not great for the tenant either because they are also stuffed with regulation fees and asked to fill out forms they don’t understand.
We offer an alternative. We specialise in managing the landlord’s responsibilities for a one-off fee.
It’s better than doing it yourself if you have a job and are a landlord. Let’s face it, everyone knows that 99 per cent of phone calls from tenants will be complaints — we deal with that and take away the hassle.
Landlords can save around 20 per cent of their annual income — we increase their revenue via their assetsby handholding the landlord through the process.
We just ask is the landlord to act like a mensch. If the boiler is broken, fix it.
If you have a happy tenant — then you have a happy landlord.
We are growing rapidly and now have around 350 tenants under the scheme and deal with half a billion pounds worth of property in London. The property market is very different outside of London so for now we’re focusing on the capital.
I’ve got two kids and still practice law in music and media. I use those negotiating skills to get the best deal for the landlord.
