Winning work from letting agents is one of the most reliable ways to fill quiet weeks in a cleaning diary, because agencies need cleans all year round and they need them on short notice. While private customers come and go, a single branch can send you several jobs a month without you spending a penny on advertising.
The catch is that agencies are cautious. They have been let down before by cleaners who did not turn up, left a kitchen half done or could not be reached on a Friday afternoon. Your job is to look like the safe choice from the very first contact.
This guide walks through how to find agencies near you, what to say when you approach them, how to price the work so it pays, and how to keep the jobs coming once you are on the list.
Why Letting Agents Are Worth Chasing
Agency work has a different rhythm to domestic cleaning. Instead of one home every fortnight, you get a steady stream of one off jobs that are booked, completed and invoiced quickly. For most cleaning businesses that means three real advantages.
- Volume from one relationship. One branch manager can become the source of dozens of jobs a year.
- Less selling. Once you are trusted, you stop pitching and start receiving booking emails.
- Predictable work types. Check out cleans, void property cleans and communal areas repeat in a familiar pattern, so you get fast at them.
There are trade offs too. Agencies expect fast turnarounds, tidy paperwork and a professional tone. Some pay on 30 day terms rather than on the day. If you plan for that, the work is well worth having.
What Letting Agents Actually Want From a Cleaner
It is tempting to assume agencies are only shopping on price. In reality, the branch staff who book cleans are judged on how quickly a property is ready to let and how few complaints land on their desk. That shapes what they look for.
- Reliability. If you say Tuesday morning, be there Tuesday morning.
- Speed. Properties sitting empty cost landlords money, so quick availability wins jobs.
- Communication. Answer the phone, reply to emails, send a quick message when you are finished.
- Proof you are insured. Public liability cover is usually non negotiable.
- A finish that stands up to an inventory check.
Price matters, but it is rarely the deciding factor on its own. A cleaner who is five pounds cheaper and unreachable is no use to a busy branch.
Finding the Agencies in Your Area
Start with a simple list. Search your town name plus letting agents on Google Maps and write down every branch within a sensible travelling distance. Include the independents, not just the big names, because smaller agencies often make decisions faster and are less likely to have a national contract already in place.
For each one, note the branch address, the main phone number, the property manager’s name if it is on the website, and roughly how many rental listings they have. An agency with 200 managed properties will generate far more cleans than one with 15.
Aim for a list of 15 to 30 branches. That is enough to work through properly without it becoming a chore.
How to Approach Letting Agents Without Being Pushy
The approach that works best is calm, brief and in person. Walk into the branch at a quiet time, mid morning midweek is usually safe, and ask who looks after cleaning for void and end of tenancy properties. Introduce yourself in a sentence, hand over something they can keep, and leave.
Do not try to deliver a full pitch over the counter. Branch staff are busy and a long speech makes them defensive. Something like this works well: “I run a local cleaning company and we do a lot of end of tenancy work. I know you will already have someone, but here are our details in case you are ever stuck for a Friday turnaround.”
That last line matters. Most agencies already have a cleaner. You are not asking them to switch, you are asking to be the backup, and backups get called more often than you might think.
The Pitch Pack That Gets You on the List
Leave behind one page, printed on decent paper, that answers the questions a property manager will ask. Keep it factual and uncluttered.
- Your business name, mobile number, professional email address and website.
- The services you offer, with end of tenancy, void cleans and carpets listed clearly.
- Your coverage area and typical lead time.
- Confirmation of public liability insurance with the cover amount.
- Whether your cleaners are DBS checked.
- A short price guide, even if it is a from price per property size.
Follow up with an email a few days later so they have your details in writing and can forward them internally. Attach the same one pager as a PDF. Agencies share supplier details between branches, and an email is far easier to pass on than a leaflet.
Pricing Work for Letting Agents
Agency cleans are usually priced per property rather than per hour, because the agent needs a fixed figure to pass to a landlord. That means your estimating has to be accurate or you will lose money on the bad ones.
Build your prices from a realistic time estimate for an empty property of each size, then add extras as separate line items for ovens, carpets, white goods and exterior windows. Quoting a two bed flat at a flat rate without seeing it is how cleaners end up doing seven hours of work for a four hour fee.
Be honest about what is included and what is not. If the property is in a far worse state than described, call the agent before you start rather than swallowing the extra time. Our guide on how to charge for cleaning services with confidence goes deeper on building prices that hold up.
Most agencies would rather pay a fair price to someone who always delivers than chase the cheapest quote twice a year.
Getting the Check Out Clean Right
The single biggest reason agencies drop a cleaner is a failed inventory check. When a tenant moves out, an inventory clerk photographs everything, and cleaning is the most common cause of deposit deductions and disputes. If your clean does not pass, the agent has to arrange a return visit and explain the delay to a landlord.
Work to a written checklist and photograph the finished property, especially ovens, extractor hoods, inside cupboards, skirting boards, window sills and bathroom sealant. Those photographs protect you if a complaint comes back a week later.
It is worth understanding how deposit disputes are handled, because that is the standard your work is measured against. The Tenancy Deposit Scheme publishes guidance on how adjudicators assess cleaning claims, and reading it will tell you exactly where cleaners get caught out.
Invoicing, Paperwork and Getting Paid
Agencies are businesses, and they expect to be billed like one. Send a clear invoice with a reference to the property address, the date of the clean, the service provided and your payment terms. Number your invoices and keep copies.
Expect some agencies to pay in 14 or 30 days rather than immediately. Factor that into your cashflow before you take on a lot of agency work, particularly if you pay staff weekly. If a branch is routinely late, a polite phone call to accounts usually sorts it out faster than another email.
Being easy to deal with on paperwork is a genuine competitive advantage. Plenty of cleaners do excellent work and still lose the account because their invoices are scribbled and late.
What Letting Agents Check Before They Call You
Before a property manager picks up the phone, they will usually look you up. They want to see that you are a real business with a professional presence, not a mobile number on a Facebook post. A proper website does that job quietly in the background.
Make sure a visitor can see, within a few seconds, that you cover their town, you do end of tenancy and void work, you are insured, and how to contact you. Add a short page aimed specifically at agencies and landlords, listing your turnaround times and what is included in a standard check out clean.
Photographs of your own finished work matter more than stock images. Before and after shots of an oven or a tired bathroom will do more to convince a sceptical agent than three paragraphs of description. If you want ideas on structuring that side of your site, our guide to end of tenancy cleaning website design covers the layout that converts.
Turning Agency Enquiries Into Booked Jobs
Agency enquiries move fast. A property manager emailing five cleaners at 4pm will book whoever replies first with a clear price and a date. Speed of response is often the whole game.
Set yourself a rule: every agency email gets an answer within the hour during working days. Even if you cannot quote properly yet, reply to say you have it and when the quote will land. Silence loses the job to someone slower but quicker to answer.
Our article on how to turn cleaning leads into booked jobs explains a simple follow up routine that works just as well for agency work as it does for domestic enquiries.
Keeping the Work Coming
Once you have done a handful of jobs for a branch, the relationship becomes the asset. Protect it with small, consistent habits rather than grand gestures.
- Send a short message with photos when each job is done.
- Flag problems early. Telling an agent about a damaged worktop makes you useful, not awkward.
- Be straight about availability. A clear no is better than a maybe that collapses on Friday.
- Keep the same cleaners on the same branch where you can, so the agent recognises faces.
- Pop in occasionally with coffee or a diary for the new year. It is old fashioned and it works.
Agency staff move between branches and firms regularly. A property manager who liked you at one agency will often bring you in at the next one, which is why treating every job as a long term relationship pays off. The same principle applies to private customers, as our piece on word of mouth marketing for cleaners explains.
Mistakes That Lose Agency Accounts
Most cleaners who lose agency work do it in one of a few predictable ways.
- Underquoting to get on the list, then trying to push the price up later.
- Missing a turnaround slot without warning anyone.
- Sending a different, untrained cleaner without telling the agent.
- Arguing about a complaint instead of going back and sorting it.
- Going quiet over the summer when agencies are at their busiest.
Agencies are forgiving about one bad clean if you fix it immediately and without fuss. They are far less forgiving about being left in the lurch.
A Simple 30 Day Plan
If you want agency work on the books by the end of next month, here is a plan you can follow without disrupting your existing jobs.
- Week one: build your list of branches and write your one page pitch sheet.
- Week two: visit five or six offices in person and drop off your details.
- Week three: email everyone you visited, plus the branches you did not reach, with your PDF attached.
- Week four: follow up by phone, ask to be added as a backup supplier, and confirm your lead times.
Then repeat the cycle every quarter. Agencies change suppliers more often than you would expect, and being in their inbox at the right moment is most of the battle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need special insurance to work for letting agents?
You will almost always be asked for public liability cover, commonly £1 million to £5 million, and employers liability if you have staff. Agencies may ask for a copy of your certificate before adding you as a supplier, so keep a PDF ready to email.
Should I offer a discount to win agency work?
A small volume consideration is reasonable once a branch is sending regular jobs, but discounting heavily to get in the door rarely ends well. Price the work properly, be brilliant at turning up, and compete on reliability rather than being the cheapest in town.
How quickly do agencies expect me to be available?
Often within 24 to 72 hours, because empty properties lose rent every day. If you can genuinely offer next day availability in quiet periods, say so clearly in your pitch, because it is one of the strongest selling points you have.
Making It Easy for Agencies to Say Yes
Agency work rewards businesses that look organised. A tidy website, a professional email address, fast replies and clean invoices all signal the same thing: this cleaner will not create extra work for me.
At CleaningProWebsites.com we build and run the website for you, from £24.99 +VAT/mo. You tell us what you want, we design it, host it, update it, back it up and keep it online, so you never have to log in or learn anything technical. If you need a new service page for agency and landlord work, you send us a message and we add it.
Have a look at our website packages or get in touch and tell us about your cleaning business. We will handle the website while you get on with winning the work.
