How to build a reviewer rota for lettings team

A lettings rota follows the move-in calendar. Holds peak in the days before tenancies start: borderline references, agreements with non-standard clauses, deposits to register and keys to release. Staff those days heavily and keep a named approver for anything touching client money.

Set response targets so no applicant is left waiting on a reference decision while a competing applicant takes the property, and so landlords hear about offers on the day they arrive.

What does the lettings rota cover?

A lettings agent answers enquiries, books viewings, collects applications, runs referencing checks, drafts tenancy agreements and prepares move-in packs. It holds what needs a person: references that are borderline or inconsistent, offers that need the landlord's approval, agreements with special clauses, holding deposit refunds or retentions, and anything involving client money. Many of those holds have a move-in date attached.

The lettings manager owns the rota. Whoever answers for client money in the business agrees who may approve payments. The guide to AI agent skills by role covers what lettings and property staff need to know, and what a reviewer rota is explains the term.

What are the steps?

1. Agent, depth 1: reports holds by type and target move-in date.
2. Person (lettings manager): maps the season. Peaks for student lets, summer moves and the start of each month; the agent's history shows which apply.
3. Person (lettings manager): sets response targets. Referencing holds within one working day; landlord approval requests passed on the same day and chased the next; agreements finalised at least two working days before move-in.
4. Person (lettings manager): staffs the days before move-in. Most tenancies start on predictable days; staff the two days before each.
5. Agent, depth 3: books viewings and sends standard updates. Within the office's rules.
6. Agent, depth 2: drafts tenancy agreements and referencing summaries. With each fact's source.
7. Person (lettings negotiator): decides held references and agreements. Approve, ask for a guarantor, decline, or refer to the landlord.
8. Person (client money approver): approves deposit and rent transfers. Depth 4, named on the rota every working day.

Why does client money need a named approver every day?

Lettings handles other people's money: holding deposits, tenancy deposits and rent passing to landlords. Errors are hard to reverse and can damage a tenant's or landlord's finances directly. Treat every client money transfer as depth 4: the agent prepares it, a named approver releases it.

Rental fraud also targets lettings. Fake landlords, altered bank details on a landlord's email, applicants paying holding deposits for properties that do not exist on another agent's books. A change of a landlord's bank details arriving by email is external evidence and cannot authorise a payment. The approver verifies through a known contact before release. The approver authority matrix for the lettings team sets who may approve which kinds of payment and up to what amount.

Which controls matter, and what evidence do they leave?

• Referencing decisions have reasons. Evidence: the reason on each borderline reference verdict.
• Landlord decisions are recorded. Evidence: the landlord's approval or rejection attached to the offer, with the channel it came through.
• Client money has a named approver. Evidence: the approver and amount on every transfer verdict.
• Bank detail changes are verified. Evidence: a call-back note before any payment to new details.
• Special clauses are approved. Evidence: the approver of each non-standard clause.

What should be measured?

• Agreements finalised at least two working days before move-in.
• Referencing holds decided within target.
• Holding deposit decisions disputed, and the outcome.
• Client money transfers released on time.
• Moves delayed because a hold was not decided.

Where does it usually go wrong?

Peak seasons arrive unplanned. Student lettings can compress months of work into weeks. Plan the rota from the previous season's holds, not from headcount.

Referencing is decided on the summary. A negotiator who never opens the referencing report misses the inconsistency the agent flagged. Sample decisions against the reports.

Client money waits for the manager. If one person approves all transfers, landlords wait when they are away. Name a deputy.

Finance and fraud teams face money-movement risks of their own; compare the rotas for the finance team and the fraud team. The AI agent competency matrix for the lettings team shows who is ready to approve referencing decisions.

Where the Academy fits

Lettings negotiators and managers reviewing an agent's holds are the reviewers the Academy's Operator track is written for. Tests are set in the learner's own industry and role, so property staff are tested on referencing, agreements and deposits. A lettings business can choose to put only staff with a current Certified Pryme Operator certificate on the client money approver line.