How to hire
Match the service to your situation first. Tenant-find covers marketing, viewings, referencing and the tenancy agreement, then hands the running of the let back to you; rent collection adds monthly processing, statements and arrears chasing; full management adds repairs coordination, inspections and end-of-tenancy handling; and some firms sell tiered packages above that [6]. A single flat you can reach quickly suits lighter cover than a small portfolio spread across the county. Say how many doors you hold, where they are and how hands-on you want to be in your first enquiry.
Check redress before you check anything else. Letting agents must belong to an approved redress scheme, and you can search the Property Ombudsman register by business name to confirm the firm you are hiring is listed [1]. Membership must cover lettings as well as sales, and the name on the register should match the name on your quote. One Telford agent we researched states no redress membership at all, which is why it sits outside our table. If a firm is absent from the register you search, ask which scheme it belongs to and check that one too.
Follow the rent next. Firms that handle client money must belong to a client money protection scheme by law, which pays landlords and tenants back if their money is misappropriated [3]. Look for cover through Propertymark, safeagent, RICS or another approved scheme, stated on the firm's own site or certificate [2] [3] [4]. Ask where your rent will sit between collection and payout: the strongest firms keep it in a separate protected account. Get the scheme name in writing on the agreement.
Get the whole price on paper before you agree anything. Your quote should state the management percentage, whether VAT is added on top, the set-up and tenancy charges, what renewals cost, how inspections and inventories are billed, and how repairs are handled and marked up [6] [7]. Compare two or three quotes on the same written scope, because a low headline rate with heavy extras can cost more than a higher all-in one. Treat any fee you cannot find on the page as a question for the first call, not a detail for later.
A typical instruction runs the same course. You send two or three agents the address, the bedroom count, whether it is empty or tenanted, and the service level you want, then each values the rent and quotes in writing. You compare the quotes against one written scope, meet the person who would actually manage your property, and study the agreement's small print. Only then do you sign, hand over keys with a dated photo record, and fix the dates of the first inspection and statement.
Telford's mix shapes the job. The borough holds eight conservation areas, including the Severn Gorge and Wellington, where alterations can need permission unneeded elsewhere, and the Gorge's World Heritage status brings an Article 4 Direction removing some permitted development rights, with a guide and planning surgeries to help [8] [9]. Wellington's market-town streets, the old townships around Dawley and Madeley, and newer estates such as Lawley Village bring different repair profiles, so describe the property's age and street in your first enquiry [10] [11] [12], and check the licensing position with the council if the let is a shared house.
Judge the paperwork in two passes. The quote should read as one price: the management percentage with the VAT position, set-up and tenancy charges, renewal terms, how inspections and inventories are billed, and how repairs are authorised and marked up [6] [7]. The closing file should hold the signed agreement, every quote and invoice, dated inspection reports, safety certificates, and the deposit registration, kept ready for sale or re-let. Read the first monthly statement against the quote before you file it, and chase anything unexplained with one prompt email.
Agree who does the landlord paperwork. You remain responsible for keeping the property safe, maintaining gas and electrical installations, providing an energy certificate, protecting the deposit in an approved scheme and checking right to rent [5]. A good manager takes most of this off your desk: arranging certificates, registering the deposit, logging alarms and inspections. The agreement should name each duty and who owns it, so read it end to end, including notice periods and termination fees, before you hand over any keys.
Settle the day-to-day before you sign. Ask how often inspections happen and what the report looks like, when statements and payouts land, how arrears are chased and who your contact is when things go wrong. Agree what the file looks like at the end: the signed agreement, every quote and invoice, inspection reports, certificates and the deposit paperwork kept where you can find them at sale or re-let. If the answers are vague now, expect vaguer answers later.
Pricing
As of summer 2026, rough UK ranges run like this: full management between 8% and 15% of monthly rent, averaging around 10% plus VAT for an effective rate near 12%, with the Midlands typically at the lower end of the band [6]. Tenant-find only costs a one-off of roughly 4% to 8% of the first year's rent, and rent collection sits around 8% to 10% of monthly rent [6]. Telford usually lands below London and South East prices [6].
The headline rate is only the start. Set-up and tenancy charges, renewal fees of roughly a quarter to a half of a month's rent, separately billed inventories and check-in reports, and admin fees or mark-ups on arranged repairs routinely add several hundred pounds a year on top [7]. Ask for the all-in first-year cost in pounds on your rent, not just the percentage.
Tenant-find quotes move with the marketing behind them: professional photos and floor plans, accompanied viewings, and the depth of referencing each push the one-off charge up or down [6]. A sharp empty flat near the town centre that lets in a week costs the agent less than a cottage needing repeated viewings, so ask what happens to the fee if the first tenant falls through. Rent collection adds its own variables: the monthly rate, arrears chasing, and whether renewals are billed as extras [7].
Full management moves with the property and the portfolio. Older Gorge and township terraces tend to need repairmen more often than newer estate houses, and several doors with one agent deserve an explicit multi-property discussion [9] [12]. Distance matters too: a distant landlord leans on inspections and call-outs harder than one nearby. None of this shows in the headline percentage, so get the yearly total in pounds, with VAT on every line, named in the agreement before you sign.
VAT decides the real comparison. Most established agents are VAT-registered, so add a fifth to any rate quoted excluding VAT: a 10% fee takes 12% of your rent, and the same uplift applies to set-up and renewal charges [6]. What moves the price is the service tier first, then the rent level, the area, and whether you hand over several properties at once, which is worth an explicit ask about multi-property terms.
Get the scope in writing before anything is signed: the full fee list with the VAT position on each line, exactly what is included and excluded, how renewals and inventories are charged, the notice period and what ending the agreement costs [6]. Keep every quote, the signed agreement and each monthly statement together, and query the first statement line by line.
Red flags
No redress scheme membership you can find on a register when you search the business name [1].
No client money protection scheme stated anywhere on the site or in the agreement [3].
A headline percentage with no VAT position and no published list of set-up, renewal and inventory charges [6].
Reluctance to put the full fee list, the service level and the notice period into one written agreement.
Rent paid into an ordinary account with no separate client account named [3].
Pressure to sign at the valuation visit before you have compared a second quote.
No named contact, no inspection routine and no written arrears process when you ask how management works day to day.
A valuation visit that turns into a same-day discount for signing before the agent leaves the room.
Inspection reports that arrive as a few phone photos with no written notes, dates or follow-up actions.