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The self-manage-or-not decision is a cost comparison that most landlords run with one side missing. The agent's side is easy to see: a fee of 7-12% of the rent collected, plus the letting, advertising and renewal charges that ride along. The DIY side is usually invisible, because landlords forget to price their own hours — the advertising, viewings, applications, calls, inspections, arrears chasing and paperwork that easily run five to ten hours a month. This calculator puts both sides in dollars: the agent's yearly fee against your hours multiplied by a fair hourly value, with the honest caveat that DIY also means carrying the compliance risk — missed notice deadlines, illegal clauses and dispute paperwork become your professional exposure rather than the agent's.
Compare the yearly cost of an agent against managing yourself — the fees you would pay, the hours you would spend, and the honest value of what an agent absorbs.
The tenant search and vetting, lease paperwork, routine inspections, rent collection and arrears chasing, repairs coordination, notice handling and tribunal appearances. The fee buys the work plus the professional exposure when something is done wrong — which is real value if your time is worth anything.
A typical month runs five to ten hours once you include advertising and viewings during turnovers, inspections, calls and paperwork — and double that in a bad month with an arrears or repair issue. The calculator prices your honest monthly figure, not your best month.
Yes — many landlords use an agent for the tenant search only and manage the ongoing tenancy themselves, or self-manage with good software and a property lawyer on call. The all-or-nothing choice is rarely the only one.
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