What is the difference between let only and fully managed?

The three service levels

Almost every agency offers the same three tiers under different names.

What each actually costs

From tariffs agencies publish, collected across five cities.

• Let only: from about five hundred pounds plus VAT as a flat fee, or as a percentage of the first month, commonly seventy five to one hundred and twenty percent. Jordan Fishwick in Manchester caps its letting fee at one hundred and twenty percent of one month, and Northwood South Manchester charges seventy five percent with a four hundred and twenty pound minimum.
• Rent collection: six to eight percent plus VAT, so roughly seven point two to nine point six percent including VAT.
• Fully managed: ten point eight to fifteen point six percent including VAT, plus a set up charge.

On a property let at one thousand pounds a month over a two year tenancy, let only at one month's rent costs about one thousand two hundred pounds including VAT in total. Fully managed at twelve percent including VAT costs two thousand eight hundred and eighty pounds in fees plus a set up charge. Call the difference roughly two thousand pounds across two years, or eighty three pounds a month.

What let only hands back

This is the part worth being honest about, because it is not a short list. From the day the tenant moves in, you are responsible for:

• The compliance calendar. Gas safety renewed annually and the record given to the tenant within twenty eight days, the electrical report every five years, alarms tested.
• All repairs, including out of hours, and finding contractors you trust.
• Inspections, with proper notice and a written report that will matter at the end of the tenancy.
• Rent monitoring and arrears chasing.
• Rent increases through the correct statutory process, which differs by country.
• Serving notice correctly if things go wrong, which in England now means establishing a statutory ground rather than serving a no fault notice.
• Deposit return and any dispute at the end.

Confirm one thing before you sign a let only agreement: whether the agency protects the deposit and serves the prescribed information, or whether that is yours from day one. Getting it wrong costs up to three times the deposit.

Which suits whom

Let only works if you live near the property, have time during working hours, have a contractor you trust, and will keep up with legislation that changed substantially in England in May 2026. One property, locally, with a practical owner is the classic fit.

Fully managed works if you live far away, travel, have several properties, own a house in multiple occupation with licence conditions, or simply do not want the phone to ring at nine on a Sunday. It is also the better choice for a first time landlord, because the first tenancy is where the expensive mistakes get made.

The part that never transfers

Whichever you choose, the legal responsibility stays with you. An agent can be instructed to arrange the gas safety check, protect the deposit and serve notices, and a good one will. If it does not happen, you are the person prosecuted, fined or subject to a rent repayment order. You may then have a claim against the agent, which is slower and less certain than the enforcement running against you.

That asymmetry is the real argument for weighing the agency more heavily than the service tier. Our city rankings check registration, accreditation and client money protection for every agency, and state plainly what could not be verified.