Home Rental Property Management Comparison
Compare property management quotes side by side: annual cost, share of rent, net income and yield.
Calculator Inputs
Option A — Full management
A recurring percentage of the rent, or a fixed monthly price. Enter the one-off charges the agent listed separately.
Option B — Let-only / tenant find
Usually a one-off charge per tenancy rather than a monthly fee, which is what the one-off field is for.
Option C — Self-managed
Leave every fee at zero to price doing the work yourself, then read what your own time is worth in the insights.
Side-by-Side Breakdown
| Line | Full management | Let-only | Self-managed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | - | - | - |
Scenario Analysis
| Scenario | Cheapest Route | Dearest Route | Gap a Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| As entered | - | - | - |
Changing Manager Timeline
Collect the quotes in writingAsk each agent for the fee basis, whether VAT is included, and every one-off charge. A verbal "about 10%" is not a quote.
Check what the fee actually includesInventories, renewals, check-outs, eviction administration and emergency call-outs are frequently billed on top of the headline percentage.
Read your current management agreementNotice periods and any exit or renewal terms are in the contract itself. Compare the new quote against what the current arrangement really costs you.
Agree the fee basis in writingFixed monthly price, percentage of rent, or one-off per tenancy — and what happens to the fee if the property sits empty.
Hand over the compliance paperworkYour agent must belong to a redress scheme and, if they hold client money, to Client Money Protection. Deposits still have to be protected within 30 days.
Review after the first yearEnter the fee you actually paid and the hours you actually spent, then run the comparison again against the quote you would renew on.
What Property Management Fees Cost In The UK
A full-management fee runs 8% to 20% of the monthly rent (LettingaProperty, checked 17 October 2026), and MoneySupermarket's letting-agent guidance puts typical full management at 10% to 15% of monthly rent. Rent collection on its own is cheaper at roughly 3% to 12% of monthly rent, while a let-only or tenant-find service is usually a one-off charge of 8% to 12% of a whole year's rent, or one month's rent. On a £14,400 annual rent, 10% of annual rent is £1,440 and 12% of monthly rent is £1,728 — a £288 a year difference for a very different amount of work. One comparison service reports landlords saving up to £1,966 a year by shopping fees around, which is more than the whole of a 12%-of-annual-rent let-only charge.
Published fee tables are not always on the same basis as a private quote. A widely used example was published at £1,398 a month of rent with fees shown inclusive of VAT as of 7 August 2025, so ask whether a quote excludes VAT before you put two numbers next to each other. Enter both quotes on the same basis and the comparison below does the rest.
How To Read A Letting Agent Quote
A headline percentage is not the price. Renewal fees, inventories, check-outs, eviction administration and emergency call-outs are frequently listed as separate charges, so enter them as the one-off fee per tenancy and set the turnover field honestly. A £180 inventory charged on each of two tenancies a year is £360, not £180, and a tool that charges it once quietly understates the agent by £180.
Fixed-fee management exists because percentage fees get expensive on high-rent property. At £2,000 a month a 12% charge is £2,880 a year and a £150 a month fixed price is £1,800 — £1,080 cheaper for the same job. Below about £1,250 a month the ranking reverses and 12% beats £150 a month, which is the crossover the insights on this page calculate for you. Ask for the figure in writing and ask what happens to the fee if the property sits empty, since a percentage of no rent is nothing.
What The Tenant Fees Act 2019 Does And Does Not Cap
The Tenant Fees Act 2019 caps what a tenant can be asked to pay in England: a refundable deposit of 5 weeks' rent where annual rent is below £50,000 and 6 weeks between £50,000 and £100,000, a holding deposit of at most 1 week's rent held for at most 15 days, £50 for a tenancy change unless a higher cost is proved, and default charges only for late rent after 2 weeks of arrears at no more than 3% above the Bank of England base rate (GOV.UK, guidance last updated 7 July 2026). None of that caps your management fee: the Act regulates tenant payments, so the 8% to 20% you pay an agent stays a market negotiation you have to conduct yourself.
The same guidance makes "landlord" cover a letting agent, estate agent or building management organisation, and a prohibited payment can be reported to your local council, which can recover the money and fine the agent. In England an agent must belong to a redress scheme such as The Property Ombudsman and to Client Money Protection if they hold client money; in Wales it is Rent Smart Wales and in Scotland the Scottish Letting Agent Register. Ask for the scheme name before you hand over a rent cheque.
Full Management, Let-Only Or Self-Managed
Full management at 12% on £1,200 a month costs £1,728 a year and covers repairs, contractors, inspections and arrears chasing. Let-only at 10% of annual rent costs £1,440 once per tenancy and leaves rent collection, renewals and repairs with you — a £288 a year saving that buys back a renewal, an inventory chase and every late-evening contractor call.
Self-management is £0 in agent fees but is not free. On this page's 100-hour estimate the £1,728 avoided is worth £17.28 an hour, which is the real exchange you are making: cash, or your evenings. Enter your own hours rather than a guess and the hourly figure tells you whether the saving clears the rate you would put on your own time.
What To Do With The Result
If the gap between routes is under £200 a year, the fee is probably not the deciding factor: inclusions, notice periods and how the agent handles arrears matter more. If the dearest route takes more than 20% of the rent, that is above the published top of the full-management range and it is worth asking what the extra buys. Take the copy of this comparison, the written quote and your current agreement to the conversation, and ask the agent to price the one-off charges separately so you can enter them here before you sign.
Then check the rest of your numbers. A fee difference of £288 a year is real, but a 4-week void on a £1,200 rent is £1,200 of missing rent, so budget for that separately and keep the fee conversation about the fee.
Method and limits
The comparison prices agent fees over a 12-month year. Annual rent is monthly rent × 12; each route is fixed fee × 12 when a fixed fee is entered, otherwise percentage ÷ 100 × monthly rent × 12, plus one-off fee × tenancy set-ups. Every share-of-rent figure is that annual cost ÷ annual rent. Using rent rather than property value as the denominator is deliberate: fee quotes are quoted against rent, and a £250,000 flat returning £14,400 has a 5.76% gross yield that no fee percentage alone can score. The 8% floor and 20% ceiling of the assessment come from the verified 8% to 20% full-management range.
- Assumes one tenancy set-up a year unless you change it. A property that turns over twice a year doubles every one-off fee, which is why the turnover field exists.
- Assumes a fixed fee replaces the percentage when both are set. No agent charges both for the same service, and the notice and the breakdown say which one was used.
- Does not model voids, arrears, maintenance, repairs commission, tax or rent rises. A 4-week void is £1,200 of missing rent on this example and dwarfs most fee differences.
- Does not model Scotland's, Wales' or Northern Ireland's regulation. The redress and register names differ by nation and the fee bands are UK market readings, not statutory caps anywhere.
- Does not read your contract. Inclusions, notice periods and exit terms need reading in the document itself.
Figures checked .
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a fixed-fee manager cheaper than a percentage fee?
It depends on the rent. £150 a month beats 12% above £1,250 a month and loses below it, because the fixed price does not move with the rent while the percentage does. Enter both in the option panel: the fixed fee is used whenever it is greater than zero, and the crossover figure appears in the insights.
Does the Tenant Fees Act cap what my agent can charge me?
No. It caps tenant payments — deposits, holding deposits, tenancy-change fees and default charges — so landlord-side management fees are uncapped and set by the market. That is why comparing quotes is the only lever you have.
Are management fees VAT inclusive?
Sometimes, and that is the trap. Published fee tables are often shown inclusive of VAT while individual quotes are not; one widely used table was published inclusive of VAT at £1,398 a month of rent as of 7 August 2025. Confirm the VAT position before comparing two numbers that are not on the same basis.
What is the difference between let-only and full management?
Let-only finds and references the tenant for a one-off charge and leaves rent collection, renewals and repairs with you. Full management adds rent collection, repairs, renewals and inspections for a recurring percentage of the rent, which is why it costs 8% to 20% rather than a single tenant-find fee.
Are letting fees tax deductible?
Fees are a cost of the letting activity, but whether they are allowable against your rental income depends on your circumstances — check with an accountant rather than relying on a figure in a comparison table.
How many hours does self-management actually take?
Enough that agents charge 8% to 20% of rent for the work. Enter your own estimate and the tool shows the hourly rate your saving implies — on the loaded example, avoiding £1,728 across 100 hours is worth £17.28 an hour — rather than quoting you a number.
Sources
- GOV.UK: Tenant Fees Act 2019 guidance for tenants (England; published 7 April 2026, last updated 7 July 2026)
- GOV.UK: private renting
- LettingaProperty: Property Management Companies — Services & Costs (fee ranges, compliance duties, redress; last modified 7 July 2026)
- MoneySupermarket: 10 tips for finding a letting agent (10% to 15% full-management reading)
Last updated: 2026-10-17. This page gives an estimate from the figures you enter and is not legal, tax, financial or investment advice.
About this tool
Created and maintained by CoryVu. Read how we check our tools and consult the sources and assumptions on this page.
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