As we step into 2025, the landscape of property management and lettings in the UK is evolving rapidly.
With ever-increasing pressure from stakeholders, busy lettings agents and property managers managing large numbers of properties MUST leverage technology to streamline operations and enhance efficiency. Automation is no longer a luxury; it’s a necessity.
This blog post explores key areas where lettings agents should focus their automation efforts to unlock efficiency – saving time, money and hassle – and improve service delivery. Lettings agents can maximise automation and minimise tedious admin by using specialist software, which can automate thousands of tasks at every stage of the lettings and property management lifecycle.
Here are some of the processes that agents NEED to be automating in 2025.
1. Arrears Chasing
The Challenge:
Managing rent arrears is a significant pain point for lettings agents. The manual process of chasing tenants for overdue payments can be time-consuming and often leads to strained tenant relationships.
Automation Solutions:
Automated Reminders: Implementing automated email or SMS reminders can help tenants stay informed about upcoming and overdue payments. Customisable templates can make these communications more personal.
Payment Plans: Automation can facilitate the creation of flexible payment plans for tenants struggling with arrears. This not only helps in recovering outstanding rent but also fosters better relationships with tenants.
Reporting Tools: Automated reporting provides real-time insights into arrears, enabling agents to prioritise follow-ups and manage their time more effectively. The best lettings software covers every stage of the property management lifecycle, linking client accounting to tenant and landlord accounts in real-time, ensuring agents always have up-to-date information when tackling arrears.
2. Rent Reviews
The Challenge:
Conducting rent reviews can be a labour-intensive process, requiring extensive market research and communication with landlords and tenants.
Automation Solutions:
Market Analysis Tools: Automated market analysis tools streamline the process of gathering data on comparable rental properties. This allows agents to make informed recommendations without extensive manual research.
Automated Notifications: Setting up alerts for upcoming rent reviews ensures that agents never miss a deadline. Automated notifications can also remind landlords of their responsibilities regarding rent reviews.
Document Generation: Automation can simplify the creation of rent review documentation, ensuring compliance and reducing the risk of errors.
3. Maintenance Management
The Challenge:
Maintenance requests can easily overwhelm property managers with a busy portfolio, leading to delays and dissatisfaction among tenants. Trying to balance the demands of tenants, landlords and contractors in a high-stress situation can feel almost impossible. Harnessing the power of technology to automate the process for every stakeholder is the solution, slashing the time taken to manage repairs, from beginning to end.
Automation Solutions:
Online Portals: Self-service portals enable tenants to submit maintenance requests directly, landlords to view or approve quotations and pay invoices and contractors to submit quotations or invoices, at their convenience, 24/7. Automated ticketing systems can prioritise requests based on urgency.
Scheduled Maintenance: Automation can help schedule routine maintenance tasks, ensuring properties remain compliant, in good condition and less likely to need emergency repairs.
Contractor Management: Automated systems can manage contractor relationships, track performance and streamline communication for maintenance tasks.
4. Tenant Onboarding
The Challenge:
The tenant onboarding process involves multiple steps, including background checks, referencing and document creation, which can be both boring and time-consuming. However, a rigorous approach to tenant onboarding is vital to meet Right To Rent legislation. That’s why automating the process is essential, making it transparent and cutting the admin time needed for tenant onboarding in half, in the case of the market-leading software.
Automation Solutions:
Digital Applications: Allowing tenants to complete applications and submit documents online 24/7 can significantly speed up the onboarding process. Automated systems can verify documents and conduct background checks in real-time.
E-signatures: Implementing e-signature solutions can speed up the signing of tenancy agreements and other documents, reducing the time spent on paperwork.
Welcome Communications: Automated welcome emails can provide new tenants with essential information about their new home, including utilities, local amenities and maintenance procedures.
5. Regulatory Compliance
The Challenge:
Navigating the complex and constantly evolving landscape of regulatory compliance can be daunting for lettings agents, especially with frequent changes in legislation.
Automation Solutions:
Compliance Checklists and notifications: Automated compliance checklists can ensure that all necessary documentation and processes are followed, reducing the risk of oversight. When required certifications are needed, like annual gas safety checks or EPCs, automated notifications ensure that nothing is missed.
Regulatory Updates: Cutting edge lettings platforms automatically update clients about changes and keep them informed and compliant without the need for constant manual monitoring.
Audit Trails: Automated record-keeping can create an audit trail for compliance purposes, making it easier to prove adherence to regulations during inspections or audits.
6. Lead Management
The Challenge:
In a competitive market, effective lead management is crucial for lettings agents to convert enquiries into tenancies. But with so many channels bringing in leads these days, it’s hard to ensure that none have been missed. Automated solutions offer an easy way to make sure that every lead is actioned, giving agents the best chance of securing new clients.
Automation Solutions:
CRM Systems: Implementing a Customer Relationship Management system automates lead tracking, follow-ups and nurturing processes. Automated workflows can ensure timely responses to enquiries.
Lead Scoring: Automated lead scoring can help to prioritise leads based on their likelihood to convert, allowing agents to focus their efforts on the most promising prospects.
Marketing Automation: Marketing automation tools can streamline email campaigns and social media outreach, ensuring consistent communication with potential tenants.
Conclusion
For lettings managers and property managers at large estate agency firms, it looks like 2025 is going to see intensifying pressure from stakeholders. By embracing automation in key areas such as arrears chasing, rent reviews, maintenance management, tenant onboarding, regulatory compliance and lead management, agents can unlock significant efficiency gains. Not only does automation help agents to slash the time taken on boring admin work, but it also reduces the capacity for human error, enhancing compliance and service levels.
Automation not only enhances operational efficiency but also improves tenant satisfaction and strengthens relationships with landlords. In a fast-paced industry, those who adapt and leverage technology will be far better positioned to succeed and thrive in the ever-evolving landscape of property management.
Investing in automation is not just about keeping up; it’s about staying ahead. Lettings agents who embrace cutting-edge technology will find themselves not only surviving, but thriving in 2025 and beyond, no matter what comes their way.
