Let-agreed speed benchmarker

Every day it sits empty costs money. Here’s how to find the slow ones.

How to benchmark your portfolio’s letting speed – and have the pricing conversation before the void compounds.

Kieran Slinger · Propalt · For letting agents

Days-to-let is the metric landlords feel most and agents track least. Every empty day is income gone. At £1,600 a month, one needless week of void is £369. Trim the average void by four days across a ten-property book and that's nearly £15,000 a year back in the landlord's pocket.

Agents who let faster aren't just better at viewings. They're better at pricing – at spotting the property sitting at the top of its range and making the call before the void starts to compound.

What slow actually looks like in the data

The local benchmark for days-to-let varies significantly by property type, bedroom count and price band. Applying a single benchmark across a whole portfolio produces misleading signals – a three-bedroom house that lets in 22 days in a market where the average is 18 is slightly slow. A one-bedroom flat that lets in 22 days in a market where the average is 7 is significantly slow and needs attention.

That benchmarked view of a portfolio is the conversation a landlord client needs to have – not because the slow properties are being managed badly in every dimension, but because the pricing on those property types may be sitting above where the market is currently transacting. The recommendation is specific, the data is clear, and the agent is demonstrating active portfolio management rather than passive administration.

The rent adjustment conversation that landlords accept

Letting agents sometimes avoid suggesting rent reductions because they fear the landlord will perceive it as an admission of failure. The opposite is true. A landlord who receives a proactive call at day fourteen saying 'here is where comparable stock is letting, here is where yours is sitting, and here is a small adjustment that will move it in the next week' is a landlord who feels managed rather than ignored.

The conversation that does not happen is the one that allows a property to sit for six weeks before anyone mentions the price. By then the void cost has accumulated and the landlord has noticed. That is the conversation that damages relationships.

The Propalt Let-Agreed Speed Benchmarker surfaces slow-moving stock against local averages and recommends rent adjustments by property type. It turns a passive portfolio view into an active management signal – and gives the agent the data to have the pricing conversation before the problem compounds.

The landlord whose property lets in seven days doesn't ask questions. The landlord whose property sits for thirty-five does. Be proactive before day fourteen.

Benchmark every property in your portfolio against local letting speed.

Try the Let-Agreed Speed Benchmarker → propalt.ai

Days-to-let benchmarks sourced from live listing data via the Propalt intelligence layer. Market conditions vary by location and time period. This article is general information for letting professionals.