Plenty of landlords stay with a letting agent they are unhappy with because they assume leaving is complicated, or that they are tied in. Usually you are not, but there are two things that trip people up: a notice period buried in the contract, and a "continuing commission" clause that can follow you for the life of the tenancy. Get those right and the rest is a clean handover.
This guide covers how to leave or switch your letting agent without losing money or dropping a compliance obligation — whether you are moving to a new agent or taking the property on yourself.
Guidance, not legal advice — your agency agreement governs the specifics, so read it first.
Step 1 — Read the agency agreement before you do anything
Everything starts with the contract you signed. Look for:
Do not give notice until you know these, or you can end up paying for months you did not need to.
Step 2 — Watch for the continuing-commission trap
This is the one that costs landlords the most. Many agency agreements say that if the agent introduced the tenant, the agent is owed commission for as long as that tenant stays: even after you have left the agency and are managing the property yourself.
Check specifically for wording about commission continuing "for the duration of the tenancy" or on "any renewal or extension". If it is there, factor it in: you may still owe the agent a percentage of the rent until that tenant leaves, regardless of who manages the property. It is often negotiable — especially if you are only leaving the management service, but you have to raise it.
Step 3 — Serve notice correctly
Give notice in writing, by the method and to the address the contract specifies, and keep proof you sent it (email plus a dated copy). State the date the agreement ends, allowing for the full notice period. Keep it professional — you will need their cooperation on the handover.
Step 4 — The handover: get everything back
This is where compliance balls get dropped. Get all of the following from the outgoing agent, in writing:
Step 5 — Tell the tenant
Write to the tenant confirming the change: who now manages the property, the new rent payment details and date, and who to contact for repairs. A clear handover email prevents a missed rent payment landing in the gap between the old and new arrangement, and reassures a good tenant you want to keep.
Step 6 — Redress scheme and Client Money Protection
A letting agent must belong to a government-approved redress scheme and, if they hold client money, to a Client Money Protection scheme. If you move to a new agent, check they are members before you sign. If you self-manage, you do not need to join a redress scheme yourself, but you take on every duty the agent was handling, so the handover checklist above becomes your compliance baseline.
Then what — new agent, or self-manage?
Leaving an agent is really two decisions: leave this agent, and then choose whether to hire another or run the let yourself. Full management typically costs 10–15% of rent plus fees, so self-managing is where the saving is — if you can cover the jobs the agent did: advertising and referencing, the tenancy and compliance, rent and arrears, notices, and tax.
That used to mean a filing cabinet and a lot of reminders. It no longer does.
Taking management back is exactly when records get lost. One place to land it all: the tenancy and its documents, the deposit position with its 30-day deadlines tracked, certificate expiry dates, rent by Direct Debit with an arrears ledger, and notices on the current forms. First property free.
The deposit is the step most likely to go wrong
Of everything in a handover, this is the item that turns an administrative change into a penalty, and it is missed constantly.
If the deposit was protected by the agent, it is registered under their membership. When it moves to you, or into a different scheme, you are holding a different registration, so you must re-protect it and re-serve the prescribed information, within 30 days, on the tenant and on any relevant person who paid it, such as a parent or guarantor.
Landlords skip this because nothing appears to change: the same money, the same tenant, the same property. But the protection that exists is the agent's, and once you are the one holding it, an unprotected or wrongly registered deposit is yours. The exposure is a penalty of one to three times the deposit, which the court cannot reduce below one times, and until it is corrected the court cannot make a Section 8 possession order.
Do three things at handover: confirm in writing which scheme holds it and under whose membership, confirm whether the money itself is transferring or staying custodial, and if anything changes, re-protect and re-serve immediately. Keep the certificate and the sent email.
Tell the tenant properly — there is a legal step here
Most guides say "let the tenant know". There is more to it than courtesy, and getting it wrong can mean the rent is not lawfully due.
Under section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 you must give the tenant an address in England or Wales at which notices can be served on you. Until you do, rent and service charges are treated as not being due: they accrue and become payable once you comply, but a tenant who stopped paying in the interim has a genuine answer, and an arrears claim built on that period is exposed.
While the agent managed the property, their address usually satisfied this. The moment you take over, it may not.
So the handover letter to the tenant should carry: your name, your address for service in England or Wales, the new payment details with the date the change takes effect, how to report repairs from now on, and confirmation that nothing about their tenancy has changed: same agreement, same rent, same deposit protection position.
Two practical points. Send it in writing and keep the copy; this is the document that proves compliance. And give the tenant proper notice before changing payment details, because a missed payment caused by your own change of bank account is an arrears problem you created.
One practical note on timing. Do the handover between rent due dates, not across one. A change of payment details mid-cycle is the single most common way a self-managed first month starts with an arrears conversation that was nobody's fault.
Frequently asked questions
Can I leave my letting agent whenever I want?
It depends on your agency agreement. Check the notice period (often one to three months) and whether there is a minimum term or tie-in before you give notice — leaving early can trigger a charge. End it in writing by the method the contract specifies, and keep proof you sent it.
Will I still have to pay the agent after I leave?
Possibly. Many agency agreements include a "continuing commission" clause: if the agent introduced the tenant, they are owed commission for as long as that tenant stays, even after you have left and are managing the property yourself. Check for wording about commission continuing "for the duration of the tenancy" or on renewals — it is often negotiable, especially if you are only ending the management service.
What must I get from my agent when I leave?
Get, in writing: the deposit (confirm the scheme and transfer protection to you — and re-serve the Prescribed Information if the scheme or protecting party changes), the tenancy agreement and inventory, in-date Gas Safety, EICR and EPC certificates, all keys, the full rent-payment history, and the tenant's contact details and data (a secure handover from agent-as-processor to you-as-controller).
Do I need a redress scheme if I self-manage?
No. Membership of a government-approved redress scheme and Client Money Protection is required of letting agents, not of a private landlord managing their own property. But when you self-manage you take on every duty the agent handled, so the handover checklist becomes your compliance baseline. If you move to a new agent instead, check they are members before you sign.