Is it worth paying for a management service on a rental?

waste of money

just sell it now. Has is appreciated in value since you bought it? If so and you rent it out. You’ll be liable for CGT when you do sell it.

I'm sure you can write it off against tax so it won't actually cost the OP anything.

I'd agree here, wouldn't get into renting if there's a set date not too far off in the future where you need it vacant to sell, not worth the risk.

Do you want to live there? Is there a reason you can't live there now?

If it's a house you want to live in then hold onto it. If not then sell it.

Renting is really more an investment game, I wouldn't play with your actual PP residence when it comes to it.

If that were me I'd sell and take a cool 100k to put into my next property. Seems like a bit of a no brainer! ;)

You'd get an invoice for the plumber like you would if you were getting work on your own house.

My guys have always asked for the go ahead before getting work done to see if I'm happy with the price. I'd imagine any decent letting agency would too.

OP, I've used agencies for multiple properties, and also did it myself for multiples units back in the day.

My experience is that people who have bad experiences with agencies tend to have chosen bad agencies. Agencies who call you saying "they say the boiler's broken, who serviced your boiler" or "the front door lock is jammed, do you happen to have another key we could try".

If you choose a good agent who deals with tenant issues promptly and professionally (i.e. so the tenant doesn't have your contact details at all) then I believe it is money very well spent. It seems like a waste until you get a call on a Sunday night that the heating is not working, or the water pressure is low, or the lock is jammed… and then what do you do? A good landlord will be straight out there, taking care of it. I love the fact that I never, ever, ever have to deal with or meet tenants or even visit my property, but I also love knowing that if my tenants have a problem, it is taken seriously and dealt with.

If you live nearby, and are fairly handy, then by all means try it yourself. I used to have a landlord on the IOM who had five places and dealt with everything himself, he was great, and very professional.

If you travel a lot, are not so handy, and value your time at all, then get a good agent. I had a landlord in Dublin many years ago who said "can you not wait till after the Xmas, sure you are probably out a lot" when the heating packed in the week before Xmas. This was a guy with 10+ units and a well known pub in south Dublin.

"They fail to answer tenants queries. They don't have emergency contacts for tenants. Their supply of professionals to fix issues are poor."

• There are loads and loads of **** agents out there (mostly letting agents who do management as a sideline), but there are plenty of good ones. I always recommend ones that are (a) local and (b) have an office.

You don't write it off against the tax liability, its against the taxable income so not no cost. Assuming the OP is a higher rate taxpayer that will approximately halve the net after tax cost to them (which will possibly make the benefits others have given for the service more attractive versus their reduced cost).

Beaten to it by 7 minutes.

It's questions like this which is why I have a tax adviser.

A management service doesn't really provide you any protection, per se. At best, a good one will take some of the administrative hassle of letting a property off your hands, but you are still the landlord at the end of the day and are still fully responsible for everything yourself; the buck stops with you. You'll still have to instruct the agency, as their client, and if the agency screws something up (issuing invalid notices, failing to handle repairs in a timely manner, failing to remit your taxes properly if you have them handling that, etc.), you're the one who will be penalised for it, and you'd then have to take your own legal action against your agent for their negligence or breach in turn. As others have noted, a management agency also doesn't protect you from bad tenants in any way; even if they try to do a decent job at vetting prospective tenants, that doesn't mean much.