The letting agent alternative
for self-managing landlords
Letted is an AI property management platform for UK landlords — the middle path between paying an agent 10–15% of your rent and doing everything yourself.
Can I manage my property without a letting agent?
Yes. There’s no legal requirement to use a letting agent in the UK, and self-managing is common — the legal obligations already sit with you as the landlord either way. The real questions are time and risk: tenant messages at 9pm, contractors to chase, and a growing stack of compliance deadlines where a miss can cost thousands.
Until recently you had three options: pay an agent 10–15% of your rent (plus VAT) to carry it, carry it all yourself for free, or buy conventional software that organises the work but still leaves it with you. AI property management adds a fourth: software that actually performs the admin, for a flat fee. Here’s the honest comparison.
Four ways to run a rental
| Traditional agent | Pure self-management | Conventional software | Letted | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual cost* | ≈ £1,700–2,600 (10–15% of rent + VAT) | £0 | ≈ £96–840 in subscriptions | £240 (flat £20/mo) |
| Your time | Low — the agent handles the day-to-day | High — around 8–10 hours a month, plus every emergency | Medium — better organised, but the work is still yours | Low — minutes a week, mostly approvals |
| Tenant communication | Office hours, via the agent | You, at all hours | You, with templates and logs | AI answers instantly, around the clock |
| Repairs | Agent coordinates, often with contractor markups | You find, chase and book every trade | You do the work; the software tracks it | AI sources quotes and books work you approve |
| Compliance risk | Low-ish — but legal responsibility stays with you | Highest — deadlines live in your head | Lower — reminders help, if you act on them | Low — tracked per property, renewals started for you |
| Who's in control | The agent, day to day | You, entirely | You, entirely | You — the AI asks before anything is booked or spent |
*Illustrative annual cost on a £1,200/month rental. Agent fees and software pricing from public sources, August 2026.
Want the agent column in more detail — fees, client accounts, contract lock-ins? See Letted vs a letting agent.
The same property, three prices
One £1,200-a-month rental, over a year.
£2,074
Agent at 12% + VAT
£0 + your Sundays
Pure self-management
£240
Letted, flat £20/mo
Leaving your agent, step by step
It's a handover, not a leap. Most landlords complete it inside their notice period.
Check your agency agreement
Most full-management contracts need one to three months' notice, and some charge an exit fee — check for renewal-commission clauses too. Time your switch to the end of a tenancy if you can, but it isn't required.
Collect the paperwork
Ask the agent for the tenancy agreement, deposit protection details, gas safety and electrical certificates, EPC, inventory and the tenants' contact details. You're entitled to all of it.
Tell your tenants
A short note with your (or Letted's) contact details is all it takes. Tenants mostly care that repairs get handled and questions get answered — which is about to get faster.
Let the software carry the admin
Add the properties to Letted and it verifies the documents, flags any compliance gaps, and picks up tenant messages, repairs and rent tracking from day one.
Common questions
Yes. There is no legal requirement to use a letting agent in the UK, and self-managing is common. The legal responsibilities — gas safety, electrical checks, deposit protection, Right to Rent, licensing — already sit with you as the landlord, even when an agent is instructed. The real question isn't permission; it's time and compliance risk. That's the gap modern software fills: conventional tools help you keep records, while an AI platform like Letted actually performs the admin — answering tenants, coordinating repairs, tracking rent and starting compliance renewals.
The big three are missed compliance deadlines (an expired gas certificate or unprotected deposit can mean fines, a 1–3x deposit penalty, or losing the ability to regain possession), slow responses to repairs (which under Awaab's Law-style rules increasingly carry legal timescales), and burnout — tenant messages don't keep office hours. All three are administrative problems, which is why they're the exact things Letted's AI takes on.
Check your agreement's notice period and any exit fees, give notice in writing, and collect your documents: tenancy agreement, deposit details, certificates, inventory and tenant contacts. Then tell your tenants who to contact from the switch date. Most landlords can complete the whole handover inside their notice period — see the step-by-step section above.
Letted doesn't do physical viewings or in-person inspections — you or a local service handle those few hours per tenancy. And it doesn't hold your money: rent goes straight into your bank account, with Letted tracking it through a direct bank connection, so there's no client account and no delay. Everything administrative in between — tenant messages, repairs, rent monitoring, compliance — is what it's built for.
New to the category? Start with what AI property management software actually is.
2026 is not the year
to figure this out later
Add one property, see how it works, and take it from there.
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