Skip to main content

The nine rules of lettings .. Rule #7

The Nine rules of lettings countdown continues with Rule #7.

As with most things in life, the rules are both an art and a science. Our first two rules are scientific rules (ie number driven - links here .. rule #8 and rule #9 where if you recall we looked at the size of the rental market and the number of agents - which in turn gave us a ratio).

Rule #7 isn't strictly number driven and therefore falls more into the 'art' category.  

In my many hundreds and thousands of hours analysing many towns and cities up and down the UK, I found that there was direct link between how 'posh' a town was and its rental market. Towns which were very posh, very up market, tended to more difficult to get established in as a cold start (or as an established agent to grow in) and likewise, towns that were at the low end of the scale were also difficult to get started in (or grow in if the agent was already up and running). However, towns in the middle tended to be much easier to get started, established and grow in. I therefore came up a quick and easy way to work this out, and called it ...

Rule #7 - The Supermarket Question

In the UK, there is a recognised hierarchy of supermarkets. Everyone agrees on this (although people often swap 5 and 6 around - list below). What I used to ask was this ..

"If you had to describe your town as a supermarket brand, what would it be?"

Now, notice I don't ask what supermarkets you have in your town. Even posh towns with a Waitrose and M'n'S have a Lidl in them. No, I ask taking the whole town, as a whole, how would you describe your town. Before you can answer that though, you have to look at every town within a 20 to 30 mile radius (5 miles for London) and compare it with them (that's important)

Here is the list ...
  1. Waitrose
  2. Marks and Spencers
  3. Sainsburys
  4. Tescos
  5. Morrisons
  6. Asda
  7. Aldi
  8. Lidl
  9. Netto
  10. Farmfoods
If your town is a Waitrose town, or a Lidl, Netto or Farmfoods, be very careful. 


That's not to say you shouldn't open an lettings agency if your town could be described as one of those brands .. it just means if you are going to, the other rules must be pretty good and most importantly, Rule #1 has to be exceptionally good.  (Rule #1 if you recall is more important than Rules 2 to 9 put together .. )

Rule #6 to follow next week on the countdown