In short: Yes, this is one of the most common frustrations landlords raise online, and it’s usually a genuine service gap rather than unreasonable expectations. Good full management should be near-silent day-to-day, surfacing only decisions that actually need you. If it isn’t, you have three real options: escalate through the agent’s formal complaints process and redress scheme, negotiate a better-defined service, or move to a different agent (or self-manage). None of these require you to just tolerate it.
You’re not imagining it
If you’re paying 10–15%+VAT of your rental income for “full management” and still fielding calls about a dripping tap or a tenant who can’t find the stopcock, the frustration is valid and widely shared. It comes up constantly in landlord communities, and the underlying cause is usually one of: no spending authorisation limit agreed at the outset, an overstretched property manager juggling too large a portfolio, or an agency that priced the service competitively without resourcing it to actually absorb decisions on your behalf.
It’s worth separating two things, though: some contact from your agent is normal and even reassuring, a call about a genuinely significant repair, a lease renewal decision, or a tenant issue with legal implications is exactly what you’re paying for. The problem is volume and triviality, not contact itself.
What genuinely good full management looks like
A strong full-management service, for the fee you’re paying, should mean:
- You’re not the first call for anything under an agreed spending limit (commonly £150–£250)
- Compliance (gas safety, EICR, EPC, smoke/CO alarms, deposit registration) is tracked and actioned proactively, not left for you to notice has lapsed
- Routine inspections happen on schedule (typically every 3–6 months) with a written report, not just a promise they happened
- Contractor relationships are established enough that repairs get scheduled quickly without three quotes being requested for a £40 job
- You get a monthly statement and a clear point of contact who actually knows your property when you call
Questions to ask before signing with any agent
- “What exactly happens without contacting me, and what’s the threshold?”, get a number, not “we’ll use our judgement”
- “How many properties does the individual property manager handle?”, a portfolio of 200+ per manager is a strong signal of thin coverage
- “What’s your average response time to a maintenance report, and to an emergency?”
- “Which redress scheme are you a member of, and what’s your written complaints procedure?”, this is a legal requirement, not optional
- “What’s included in the management fee versus charged separately?”, inventory, check-out, renewal fees and contractor markups often aren’t in the headline percentage
- “Can I see a sample inspection report and a sample monthly statement?”
Redress schemes and how to escalate a complaint
All letting agents in England must, by law, belong to one of the government-approved redress schemes: the Property Redress Scheme (PRS) or The Property Ombudsman (TPO). This is separate from, and in addition to, any trade body membership (like Propertymark/ARLA) the agent might advertise.
If you have a complaint:
- Raise it with the agent first, in writing, and ask for their formal complaints procedure. Agents belonging to TPO’s Code of Practice must acknowledge a written complaint within a set number of working days and issue a full written response (typically within around 15 working days) via their internal process.
- If unresolved (or you get no proper response), escalate to the agent’s redress scheme, PRS or TPO, whichever they belong to (check their website footer, terms of business, or the scheme’s member-lookup tool if you’re not sure).
- The scheme investigates independently and can order the agent to pay compensation, issue an apology, or take corrective action. This process is free to landlords and tenants.
- Separately, under the Renters’ Rights Act reforms taking effect from 2026, a new ombudsman framework is also being introduced to strengthen redress across the private rented sector, worth checking gov.uk for the latest position on how landlord-side complaints fit into this as it beds in.
When to switch agents or self-manage
Switching or self-managing starts to make sense when:
- You’ve had the spending-limit conversation and set clear terms, and the calls haven’t reduced
- Compliance has actually lapsed (missed gas safety renewal, for example) rather than just being managed with more communication than you’d like
- The redress scheme complaint didn’t resolve the underlying pattern, just the one incident
- You’ve done the maths and realised you’re effectively paying full-management fees for a rent-collection-only service
Before switching, check your current agreement for a minimum notice period (commonly 1–3 months) and any tie-in clause tied to the tenant they introduced (see our guide to letting agent commission protection clauses), these affect timing and cost. Self-management suits landlords with one or two properties reasonably close to home who have time to be on-call for tenants and are comfortable managing compliance directly; a portfolio landlord who feels let down by one agent is often better served by switching to a genuinely proactive one than taking everything in-house.
Related reading
Sources
This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules referenced are accurate to the best of available information as of July 2026 for England unless stated otherwise. Always check current government guidance (gov.uk) or consult a solicitor for your specific situation.
Last Updated on September 21, 2026