Taking bookings on behalf of another owner

[Normandy Cow]

I have started taking bookings on behalf of a friend of mine who is letting out her oast house here in Sussex.

I have a bit of a dilemma - how should I sign off my letters and emails? At the moment, I am being open in that the emails/letters are coming from me, subtitled "Assistant to Mrs X".

But I wasn't sure whether to set up a separate email account and pretending to be from Mrs X herself, and then to address all the letters as being from Mrs X and I would just sign them on her behalf with a p.p.

I think there are a few people on this website who handle bookings for others. How do you go about it?

[janskov]

I am completely open about it. When I recommend other owners and take bookings for them I want people to know that I am "the man in the middle".
They can also complain to me and sometimes do.

[Ciapolin]

I would see how your friend feels about it - I don't see anything wrong with either way, provided you have he backing of the owner.

[Mountain Goat]

CatherineS

I can't see how anyone could object to dealing with Mrs X's assistant, and unless there's some pressing reason (tax?), there can't be anything to lose by being totally upfront about who you are.

If you had a difficult rental, and things started to get interesting with deposit, damages, insurance, legal enforcement, you would be in a straightforward position.

If you 'pretended' to be Mrs X, it could get complicated; not only with the punter, but also with Mrs X, let alone a court.

If there's a financial arrangement between you and Mrs X, maybe you ought to have a simple written agreement between the two of you?

Goat

[A-two]

I agree with others that you need to discuss this with the property owner, but from the renters point of view, they need to know that you're an independant and subcontracted property management service, not working out of the same office as a personal secretary, so I don't think plain Assistant or PP suffices.

If your role is simply to help with the admin remotely, loading info into listing sites, taking provisional bookings, checking tenant qualifications, sending information, doing the website etc., then I would sign off as a Virtual Assistant. (if you haven't heard of those yet, you soon will... This would be someone who could act as an assistant, but remotely, and may be located on the other side of the world. However, if you handle any rent money, (for example, they mail a cheque to you which you bank in your own account then forward to the owner's bank less any dedcutions for expenses) then you are definitely not a VA, you are a Property Manager. In that situation you need to be careful about liability issues, likewise if you are managing any changeovers or maintenance on the property on a day to day basis.

I appreciate that it's not the same in the UK, but there is a very fine line here as to what anyone can do with someone else's property without holding a professional real estate license, but there are certain administration tasks that can be done without one. It's a good idea therefore to agree in writing the limits of your responsibility with the owner, task by task, then don't overstep those boundaries. What you call yourself ought to be part of that agreement.

Nothing is simple, huh!

[Gloria - Casina di Rosa]

I manage the booking for several friends who do not speak English very well or who are not very good with computers and I just sign with my own name. I explain that I manage the booking for a property which is not mine, and I have never once had any trouble.

[paolo]

I say something upfront, along the lines of "I market the property for a friend who does not understand the internet".

[vrooje]

The only people I market for are my parents, who own the house, so everything is under their name.

I very often sign their names to e-mails, and cc them. They prefer it that way. But if it were anyone other than my parents, and if I had anything but a great relationship with my parents, I'd be completely up front about the situation. I don't think a client would mind.

[Normandy Cow]

Thanks everyone for your good advice. I am going to continue as I am, i.e. signing as Karen's "Assistant".