Large letting agencies in the United Kingdom face considerable organisational challenges following the introduction of the new national landlord register. Calculations presented to members of the British Parliament illustrate the immense amount of time involved in data collection for larger property managers.
For an agency with a portfolio of around 10,000 rental properties, uploading the required datasets could take up to 714 working days. The model calculation is based on an estimated time of 30 minutes per property. A decisive factor for this time requirement is the stipulation that a total of 70 individual data points must be entered manually for each registered unit.
Lack of interfaces demands substantial manual effort
A central aspect of the submitted analysis concerns the technical implementation of the platform. At present, there is no interface for bulk uploads, meaning there is no way to feed portfolio data in batches and automatically from existing management software into the national register. Every entry would therefore have to be processed individually.
- —10,000 rental properties as a calculation basis for large agencies
- —70 required data points per submission
- —30 minutes processing time per property entry
- —714 working days of total effort due to the lack of bulk transfer capabilities
Parliamentary debate over feasibility
In practice, an effort of 714 working days equates to almost three full working years for a single specialist. For large portfolio managers, this would tie up considerable existing staff capacity or necessitate additional recruitment to comply with the forthcoming rules.
The calculations submitted to Members of Parliament are intended to demonstrate the logistical consequences the new regulation entails for the operational running of property agencies, unless the system is expanded to include automated import functions.
