Lettings teams should drill the incident tenants feel most directly: the agent books viewings at occupied homes without giving the notice the tenancy requires. In about an hour, property managers and lettings negotiators practise pausing the agent to draft-only, escalating to the lettings manager, cancelling or rearranging viewings, recording decisions and putting things right with tenants and landlords.
What does a lettings drill rehearse?
Lettings teams use agents to answer applicant enquiries, book viewings, chase references and draft tenancy documents. A viewing agent may book slots at depth 3 within bounds, using the property's availability and the tenancy's notice rules; tenancy agreements and rent changes are drafted at depth 2 for a person to approve. Tenants have a right to quiet enjoyment of their home, and in most markets landlords and agents must give notice before entering.
The lettings manager owns the drill. A senior property manager facilitates. Property managers, lettings negotiators and someone from the firm's compliance or operations side take part. For the format, see what an incident drill is.
The scenario
Thursday, 09:00. A tenant calls, upset. Three strangers arrived yesterday evening for a viewing she knew nothing about. A property manager checks: when a batch of properties was marked as "ending tenancy" for re-letting, the notice rule in the agent's sources was set for vacant properties. Since Monday the agent has booked 45 viewings at 12 occupied homes, giving applicants confirmation but tenants no notice. Twenty more viewings are booked for the weekend.
The drill step by step
- Person (facilitator): reads the scenario and starts the clock.
- Person (property manager): apologises to the tenant and escalates to the lettings manager.
- Person (lettings manager): pauses the viewing agent to draft-only. No further bookings are confirmed without a person. The verdicts name the firm's own limits.
- Person (negotiator): lists every viewing booked at an occupied home from the record, including the weekend's.
- Person (negotiators): contact applicants for the weekend viewings to rearrange them with proper notice, or cancel.
- Person (property managers): call each affected tenant to apologise, explain and agree a notice arrangement for future viewings.
- Person (lettings manager): informs each landlord and corrects the notice rule in the agent's sources.
- Person (lettings manager): records decisions and decides on reporting, internally and to any redress scheme or regulator the firm belongs to if a complaint is escalated.
- Person (facilitator): runs the debrief.
| Step | The agent does | Depth | Stays with a person |
|---|---|---|---|
| Complaint | Has booked viewings | 3 | Apology and escalation |
| Pause | Holds every booking | Dropped to 2 | Tightening limits |
| Scope | Nothing new | 2 | Listing affected viewings |
| Rearrange | Drafts messages to applicants | 2 | Approval and calls |
| Tenants | Nothing | 2 | Apology calls |
| Landlords and source | Uses corrected notice rule | 2 | Correcting the source |
| Record | Files verdicts | 2 | People's decisions |
What makes this scenario specific to lettings?
The occupancy status was a declared fact entered by a person, and it was wrong for the purpose. The agent applied the vacant-property rule correctly to properties labelled in a way that triggered it. Lettings teams need to know which status labels drive which agent behaviour.
A useful outcome is a new bound: the agent may not confirm a viewing at any property with a current tenancy unless a person confirms that notice has been given. That turns a labelling error into a held booking.
What about the applicants who turned up?
The applicants did nothing wrong. They booked a viewing, received a confirmation and arrived on time. Some will have travelled; some may now think less of the firm. Negotiators should call each one, explain that the booking was made in error, and offer a properly arranged viewing. The record shows every confirmation the agent sent, so nobody is missed.
The drill is also a chance to check what the confirmation messages said. If they told applicants to knock and ask the tenant for access, the wording itself made the intrusion worse. Reviewing the agent's message templates is a quick, useful outcome of the debrief, and any change to them goes through the same approval as other changes to the agent's sources.
Which controls does the drill test, and what evidence do they leave?
The pause. Evidence: the limit change in the record.
Scope. Evidence: the list of affected viewings from the record.
Tenant contact. Evidence: a note of each call, with the agreed notice arrangement.
New bound. Evidence: the occupancy hold rule and who added it.
What should the lettings manager measure?
- Time from the tenant's call to the pause.
- Weekend viewings rearranged before anyone turned up.
- Time until every affected tenant had a call.
- Whether the new bound was in place before bookings resumed at depth 3.
Where do lettings drills go wrong?
Cancelling viewings and forgetting tenants. The tenants experienced the intrusion. They need the call first.
Fixing the label, not the rule. Correcting the 12 properties' status helps today. A bound that holds bookings at any occupied home prevents a repeat.
Leaving landlords out. Landlords hear from tenants. They should hear from the firm first.
Lettings shares ground with other teams: the HR team drill covers harm to individuals' privacy, and the risk team drill covers the oversight view. New reviewers can learn the steps through the reviewer onboarding checklist for a lettings team, and expected skills by level are in the AI agent competency matrix for a lettings team. The full method is in training teams for AI agents.
Questions people ask
Should a viewing agent ever book at an occupied property?
It can draft the booking and propose a slot. Confirmation should wait for a person to confirm notice has been given, unless the tenant has agreed a standing arrangement recorded in the agent's sources.
Who compensates the tenant?
That depends on the firm's policy and the landlord's agreement. Decide the principle in the drill so the real response is quick.
How often should lettings teams drill?
Twice a year, and before the busiest letting season in your market.