The management model · London & surrounding areas
Higher return.Flat fee.Never a cut.
You keep the rental contract. We place and manage the occupiers through our housing partnerships and take a flat monthly fee, agreed before you sign and unchanged for the length of the agreement. It typically returns 15–25% more than traditional letting, and everything above the fee belongs to you.
The arrangement, in short
- Rental contract
- Stays with you
- What we charge
- A flat monthly fee
- Fee as a percentage
- Never
- Typical uplift
- 15–25% above letting
- Maintenance
- Arranged by us, paid by you
- Reporting
- Monthly statement
Typical, not guaranteed. Returns depend on the property. If you want a figure that cannot move at all, that is guaranteed rent.
The part everyone gets wrong
Occupancy is effectively continuous.
“Variable income” sounds like short lets, where a quiet fortnight costs you a fortnight. That is not what this is. Our occupiers are families placed into settled accommodation through local authorities, and they stay twelve to twenty-four months. Nobody checks out on a Sunday. There is no season.
So the income does not swing the way the phrase implies. Once a family is in place, the property is occupied continuously, and what actually moves the number month to month is the length of the calendar month. A 31 day month earns more than a 30 day month. That is the variance, in practice.
It is still not a guarantee, and we will not pretend otherwise. If the property is empty, income follows occupancy. That is the honest difference between this and guaranteed rent.
How the fee works
A flat monthly fee, not a percentage.
Most agents take a cut, so the better your property performs, the more they take. Ours does not work that way.
Your management fee is a flat amount each month, agreed before you sign and unchanged for the length of the agreement. It does not move when the property earns more.
That has a consequence worth spelling out. Income follows how long the property is occupied, so a 31 day month earns more than a 30 day month, while the fee stays exactly the same. Those extra days are yours, not ours.
Everything above the fee belongs to you.
What the fee never does
- Rise as your income rises
- Change from one month to the next
- Take a share of a longer month
- Move with what is spent on repairs
The figure is agreed before you sign and stays put.
From first call to first statement
You keep the contract. We run everything behind it.
- 01
We agree the terms
Tell us about the property and we come back with what we believe it earns under this model, and the flat monthly fee we would take. If we think guaranteed rent would serve you better, we say so at that point rather than after you have signed.
- 02
We place the occupiers
Placement runs through the same local authority and supported living relationships we use across the portfolio. These are families moving into settled accommodation, not guests, and stays typically run twelve to twenty-four months.
- 03
We manage everything after that
Check-in in person, house rules, day-to-day issues, out-of-hours calls and quarterly inspections photographed room by room. Repairs are quoted, sent to you for approval, then instructed. The cost of the work is yours. The running of it is not.
- 04
You are paid, with the arithmetic shown
Income reaches us on the local authority payment cycle, in arrears. We reconcile it, deduct the agreed flat fee and pay you the balance with a statement showing both halves of the sum.
Side by side
Management against guaranteed rent.
Both are fully managed and equally hands-off. The difference is whether you want the higher ceiling or the fixed floor.
| Feature | Management | Guaranteed rent |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly income | Tracks occupancy, higher ceiling | Fixed amount, agreed in advance |
| Against market rent | Typically above open-market rent | At or slightly above market rent |
| What we charge | A flat monthly fee, never a percentage | Nothing, the agreed rent is paid in full |
| Bills and Council Tax | Handled while the property is occupied | Covered throughout, occupied or not |
| Payment schedule | On the local authority payment cycle, in arrears | Same date every month, in advance |
| If the property is empty | Income follows occupancy | Paid in full regardless |
| Maintenance costs | Arranged by us, approved by you, paid by you | Covered by us |
| Occupant management | Fully handled | Fully handled |
| Reporting | Monthly statement of income and costs | Regular inspection reports |
| Landlord involvement | Minimal | Minimal |
| Who carries the void risk | Shared with you | Entirely ours |
| Income potential | Higher, and it varies | Good, stable and predictable |
| Typical term | 3 to 5 years | 3 to 5 years |
What that comes to over a year
The same two-bed property, the same twelve months, under each arrangement.
Management
£27,000–£28,020
a year
Potential, not fixed. It moves with occupancy.
Guaranteed rent
£22,800
a year
Fixed. £1,900 every month, occupied or not.
Roughly £4,200 to £5,220 more across the year, in exchange for carrying the maintenance costs and accepting an income that moves.
Example figures, not a quote and not an offer. They illustrate one two-bed property and are not a promise of either amount for yours. The management range is a projection of potential income and is not guaranteed. Every property is assessed individually and your figures are put to you in writing before you decide. Read about guaranteed rent.
How is the fee calculated?
It is a flat amount each month, agreed before you sign and fixed for the length of the agreement. It is not a percentage, so it does not grow when the property earns more, and it does not shrink when it earns less.
So the income really does move?
It moves, but far less than the word suggests. Income follows how long the property is occupied, and our occupiers are families on placements running twelve to twenty-four months. In practice the month-to-month difference is mostly the number of days in the month.
What does paid in arrears actually mean for me?
Income reaches us on the local authority payment cycle, after the period it relates to, rather than in advance. We reconcile it, take the flat fee and pay you the balance. It is the single real trade against guaranteed rent, where the money arrives on the same date every month, up front.
Who approves what gets spent on repairs?
You do. We arrange and oversee the work, but anything chargeable is quoted and sent to you for approval before it is instructed. Under guaranteed rent that cost would be ours instead.
Can I move to guaranteed rent later?
In most cases yes. Landlords sometimes start on management for the higher ceiling and move to guaranteed rent when they want certainty instead, or the other way round. Talk to us and we will set out what changing would mean for your agreement.
Find out what your property earns
We will quote both models, and tell you which one we think suits you.
No valuation fee and no obligation. If guaranteed rent is the better fit for your circumstances we will say so, even though it is the lower number.