5 Signs Your Property Manager Is Costing You Money

Managing a portfolio of residential properties in Central London requires a different approach than single-unit management. Here are five signs your current arrangement may be leaking income:

1. Void periods exceeding 3 weeks

In a well-managed Central London portfolio, void periods should average under 2 weeks. If your units sit empty for longer, poor marketing, slow turnarounds, or mispriced rents are likely culprits.

2. No consolidated maintenance reporting

Without cross-portfolio visibility, you cannot spot patterns — the same contractor overcharging across multiple units, or recurring issues that need capital expenditure rather than reactive fixes.

3. Compliance certificates expiring without warning

EICR, EPC, gas safety — each unit has multiple compliance deadlines. A single missed certificate can mean fines up to £30,000.

4. No rent benchmarking against market rates

If your manager is not regularly benchmarking each unit against comparable lets, you are likely under-renting some units and over-pricing others.

5. Communication only when there is a problem

Proactive management means you hear about opportunities, not just issues. Monthly reporting should be the minimum.