A ccording to National Landlord Association research almost 60 per cent of private residential landlords employ the services of a letting agent for some, or all, of their property portfolio.

Get the right letting agent and they can offer advice and support, but how do you find the right one for you?

Well, it's a personal choice when it comes to the agent you feel most comfortable with to look after your asset but there are also some questions you should ask…

How to choose a letting agent

Trade associations

Look out for agents that are associated with a professional body. Recognised organisations include:

National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS)

The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA)

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA)

As well as providing training for members and their staff, agencies that are within these schemes will have a client money protection scheme and professional indemnity insurance.

Get local knowledge

Personal recommendation is great but if you can't get that consider joining a landlords association and attending meetings where you can gather opinions from other landlords' experiences.

Research

Don't just take other people's word for it, ask as many questions as you need to until you're sure an agent is right for you.

If you just need the basic introductory service you will need to know:

Do they deal with similar properties to yours?

Do they advertise in the local press?

Do they advertise with large property portals like FindaProperty.com and Primelocation.com to reach the largest potential number of tenants?

What kind of property do the letting agents typically advertise and how well are the properties presented? If you were a prospective tenant, would you be impressed?

Visit their offices as a 'secret shopper' to see how busy they are and how they would handle the enquiries of a prospective tenant.

Will they allow you to talk to some of their landlords?

If the agent will also collect the rent and manage the property you will need to be more thorough.