Ask a landlord why they moved to a different letting agent and fees are rarely the first thing they mention. More often it's that statements came late, or that the tenant paid on the 1st and the money didn't reach them until the 6th, or that nobody could explain a deduction.
Those are problems with paying out, not with collecting. Yet when agencies review how they handle payments, nearly all the attention goes on getting money in. Getting it back out to landlords, contractors and departing tenants often works much as it did twenty years ago.
Money goes out as well as in
A client account has money moving in both directions. Rent, deposits, move-in money and management charges come in. Going out, there are monthly landlord remittances after fees and expenses, contractor payments for repairs, which are often frequent and small, deposit returns at the end of a tenancy, and refunds for overpayments or holding deposits.
Every one of those is a payment the agency sends, from client money, to someone who is waiting for it.
Where it slows down and goes wrong
In most agencies we speak to, remittances are exported from the property management system and uploaded to the bank as a BACS file, which takes around three working days to arrive. The tenant paid on time, and the landlord still waits.
Smaller agencies often key contractor payments into the bank portal one by one, and every payee, amount and reference typed by hand is a chance for a mistake. Where two people have to approve a payment run, the approver usually sees a list of names, amounts and account numbers in the bank portal, cut off from the ledger that explains them, so approval turns into a click.
Contractor bank details are another weak spot. A common fraud is to impersonate a supplier and ask for payment to a new account. A payment run put together from emails and spreadsheets is hard to defend against that.
Then the landlord sees one figure in their bank, another on the statement, and picks up the phone.
A better way to pay out
We apply the same thinking to payouts as to collection. The system that knows why money is moving should be the one that moves it, with the details attached.
With open banking bulk payments, the payment run comes straight from the ledger and is approved once, with the detail visible to whoever approves it. Payments go over Faster Payments rather than BACS, so landlords and contractors are paid in seconds or minutes, and remittances can go out on rent day as soon as the rent has cleared. Where a landlord or contractor has verified their account through open banking, the agency knows it belongs to them, and deposits can go back to the same verified account the tenant paid from. Each payment carries a reference the landlord can match to their statement. And because collection is instant too, payouts can be made only against money that has actually arrived, which keeps client ledgers out of the red.
Why landlords will notice more from now on
Since April 2026, landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 have had to report to HMRC every quarter under Making Tax Digital. That falls to £30,000 in April 2027 and to £20,000 in April 2028.
A late statement, or a payment that doesn't match it, used to be an irritation. Now it's a problem for the landlord's quarterly return. Agencies that send prompt, itemised remittances that match the statement will be easier to stay with.
The Renters' Rights Act adds to the pressure. With rent in advance capped at a month, landlords are paying closer attention to cash flow than they used to.
Where we come in
We're not the biggest payments company in the UK and we don't pretend to be. What we offer property managers is one FCA-regulated provider for both directions of the client account: payment links and recurring requests to collect rent, bulk payments to pay landlords and contractors, and bank-verified account data so you know who you're paying. You deal directly with the people who built it.
If your rent collection has improved but your landlords are still waiting three days for their money, it's worth looking at the other half.
To talk about landlord and contractor payouts, email sales@fena.co.
Article by
Gosia Furmanik
CEO and Founder
Published on
