How to set an approver rule for the lettings team

Property managers approve the agent's tenant letters and repair orders above a cost cap. Deposit deductions need the property manager and a second approver. Formal notices to tenants and decisions on applications stay with a named person. Changes to a landlord's payout details are held and verified by phone. Each right lasts only as long as the approver's certificate.

What does a lettings approver rule cover, and who owns it?

Lettings and property management teams juggle tenants, landlords, contractors and money held on behalf of others. Agents help with viewings, maintenance requests, rent reminders, inspections and paperwork. Several actions carry real weight: returning or keeping part of a deposit, paying contractors from client money, serving a notice, accepting or declining an applicant. The approver rule decides who releases each.

The lettings director owns the rule. The person responsible for client money signs off anything that touches it. The agent owner configures the rule. Our guide to AI agent skills by role covers what property managers need to know about agents.

What are the steps?

1. Lettings director: lists the agent's actions by depth. Depth 1: reads tenancy agreements, inventories, rent ledgers and maintenance history. Depth 2: drafts tenant and landlord letters, deposit deduction proposals and notices. Depth 3: books viewings and inspections, logs maintenance requests, instructs approved contractors under a cost cap, sends rent reminders. Depth 4: returns deposits with or without deductions, pays contractors above the cap, serves a notice, decides an application, changes a landlord's payout details.
2. Lettings director: assigns repairs above the cap to the property manager, and above a higher amount to the landlord's written consent.
3. Lettings director: assigns deposit deductions to the property manager plus a second approver who did not carry out the check-out inspection.
4. Lettings director: keeps notices and application decisions with a named property manager, who decides and approves the wording.
5. Lettings director: holds payout detail changes for verification by phone to a number already on file.
6. Lettings director: ties each role to a current certificate. Agent owner configures and files.

Why does a deposit deduction need a second approver?

A deposit deduction takes money from a tenant who may disagree. The evidence is usually the check-out report against the check-in inventory, both of which the agent can read and compare. But the person who did the check-out has formed a view, and the agent's draft will reflect their notes. A second approver, as our explainer on what a second approver is sets out, brings independence to a decision that a tenant might challenge.

The second approver asks: is each deduction supported by evidence in both reports, is it fair wear and tear or real damage, and is the amount reasonable? Where the tenant has already disputed, the case follows your deposit dispute process instead.

Landlord payout details are a common fraud target. An email asking to change the account the rent goes to is external. The rule holds it until someone has called the landlord on a number already held.

Which controls make the rule work, and what evidence do they leave?

Repair caps per property. Evidence: instructions issued against the cap, and held ones above it, in line with the approver authority matrix for the lettings team.

Two approvers on deductions. Evidence: two names on each deduction, neither the inspector.

Notices and application decisions by a person. Evidence: a named property manager on each.

Call-back on payout changes. Evidence: the number called and the person spoken to.

Rights lapse with certificates. Evidence: certificate status on each approval date.

What should you measure?

• Deposit deductions disputed, and how many were upheld against you.
• Repairs held above the cap, by property and contractor.
• Payout changes without a recorded call-back. The target is none.
• Time from maintenance request to contractor instruction, which agents should shorten.
• Coverage of approvers, using the competency matrix for the lettings team.

Where does it usually go wrong?

Applications are screened by the agent. Deciding who gets a home affects people's lives and can embed unfairness. Keep the decision with a named person, and let the agent gather references and check that the file is complete.

Contractor ties go unnoticed. A property manager approves repairs above the cap for a contractor they have a personal or business link to. Ask approvers to declare such links, and route those repairs to someone else.

Deposit timing slips. Many schemes and tenancy terms set a period for returning deposits. If deductions wait days for a second approver, the deadline can pass. Set a response-time target for deposit approvals and name a deputy.

Caps are set once and never reviewed. As costs rise, more repairs are held and managers approve in bulk. Review caps with landlords.

Fraud and HR rules are borrowed. Compare the approver rule for the fraud team and the approver rule for the HR team: useful patterns for verification and personal data, but neither deals with client money held for landlords.