Most landlords do not decide to hand over every part of running a rental property at once. It usually starts with one thing becoming too much: a repair that took three phone calls to sort, a boiler service that got forgotten, a tenant who could not get an answer. This article sets out where the line naturally sits between the maintenance side of a tenancy and the tenancy itself, so you can hand over the part that is eating your time without handing over more than you meant to.
Two different jobs wearing one name
“Managing a rental property” covers two genuinely separate jobs. One is the tenancy itself: finding a tenant, referencing them, agreeing and renewing the tenancy agreement, collecting rent, holding and returning the deposit, and dealing with anything that touches the legal relationship between landlord and tenant. The other is the physical property: repairs, servicing, condition, and the trades needed to keep it in good order.
A letting agent typically does the first job. Systasis Properties does the second. We do not collect rent, we do not hold deposits, we do not find or vet tenants, and we do not negotiate tenancies or serve notices. What we take on is the building: the fault reported once and closed out, the servicing booked before something fails, and a written record of what was done and what it cost, kept per property so you can see what each one has cost across the year.
What can move across cleanly
- Reactive repairs: leaks, blockages, heating faults, doors, locks and windows
- Planned and seasonal maintenance: gutter clearance, servicing dates, redecoration cycles
- Arranging access with the tenant for any of the above
- Keeping a written history against the property for your own records or for a lender
- Larger works: a kitchen or bathroom refit, or a full refurbishment between tenancies
All of it is quoted in writing before anything is instructed, so you can approve it by email rather than by phone. For a portfolio rather than a single flat, the reporting stays separate per property, so nothing gets blended into one number you cannot break back down.
What stays with you, or with a letting agent
Rent collection, deposit protection, referencing, tenancy agreements, rent reviews, notices and anything that could end up in front of a court or a tribunal: none of that runs through us. If you do not already have a letting agent for that side, you either run it yourself or appoint one separately. Many landlords run both in parallel, an agent for the tenancy and Systasis for the fabric behind it, and where an agent already holds the client relationship we can act as the maintenance contractor behind it, with reporting shaped to suit their own records rather than ours.
Occupier access is worth a specific mention. We arrange it directly with the tenant unless you would rather do it yourself, and we only use their contact details to arrange the works, nothing else.
Running this across more than one property
The arrangement scales the same way whether it is one flat or a spread of properties across several boroughs. Reporting is kept per property specifically so a portfolio stays legible unit by unit, and so you are not trying to reconstruct what one flat cost from a combined invoice at the end of the year.
If part of what you are weighing up is a single larger project rather than ongoing upkeep, a full renovation between tenancies for example, that is a different shape of job and worth reading separately. See our article on planning a London flat renovation for how sequencing, access and permissions affect a project like that, and see project management for landlords and investors for how we run a one-off job end to end rather than as an ongoing arrangement.
How the maintenance side is priced
Most jobs are quoted as a fixed price after the site visit. Where a scope genuinely cannot be pinned down in advance, we say so at the visit and agree in writing how it will be charged before any work starts. There is no standing monthly fee required to use us for the reactive and planned side: work is quoted and invoiced as it arises, and where you want a set programme of planned visits across a portfolio, that programme is quoted in advance as its own scope. We go through what makes a job genuinely fixable at fixed price in fixed price property maintenance, which is worth a read before you compare quotes from more than one contractor.
If the wider point here is the boundary between us and a letting agent, our article on property management in central London covers the same distinction from the property manager’s side rather than the landlord’s.
Talk to us about your rental property
The consultation, the site visit and the written quote are free and carry no obligation. See the full detail on our project management for landlords and investors page, or go straight to request a free quote and describe the property and what needs doing.