Fast is becoming normal - but the strongest agents are proving outcomes matter just as much
September delivered another strong month of tenancy conclusion activity, with 2,625 tenancies processed through The Depositary. Of those, 831 (31.7%) concluded with no liabilities proposed, while 1,234 (47%) concluded with agreed liabilities. Taken together, those figures show that the vast majority of tenancy conclusions continue to be resolved without the need for independent adjudication, and they provide a useful backdrop for what is becoming the more interesting story in this series: the growing gap between average market performance and what the best professional agents are now routinely achieving.
The traditional manual benchmark for agents remains around 28 days, while agents using The Depositary average roughly 12 days. Our long-term ambition has always been to help agents reach an average of 10 days or less, and September’s results suggest that benchmark is increasingly realistic. More importantly, it is no longer just a handful of standout individuals hitting those numbers. We are now seeing entire teams and businesses operating at that level, while still securing very strong outcomes on behalf of landlords.
Speed is becoming a team behaviour
At LRG, one in four property managers concluded tenancies in 10 days or less, while more than 40% averaged 14 days or less. The business also averaged 85.55% of proposed liabilities secured, with more than 60% of users achieving a perfect 100% and 70% securing 90% or more. That is a strong example of performance at scale, where speed and commercial outcome are both visible across a large team rather than concentrated in a small number of users.
Charters again produced one of the strongest speed results in the Index, averaging just 6.9 days across the business while securing 82.42% of proposed claims for landlords. At Archer Bassett, the company averaged 10.6 days, with Sam leading the team at 6.7 days, while a third of users secured 100% of proposed claims. And base property specialists, appearing in the Index for the first time, averaged just 9.7 days while securing 96.08% of proposed claims on behalf of landlords.
Those numbers matter because they show that sub-10-day performance is no longer exceptional in the way it once was. It is increasingly becoming a repeatable operating standard among the strongest teams.
Individual performance is still pushing the limits
September also produced some exceptional individual results. At Jackson Green & Preston, Donna averaged an extraordinary five days. At Jones Robinson, Kelly averaged just six days, while half of the wider team delivered single-digit refunds. Haslams saw two team members record averages of 7.8 and 8.5 days, while nearly half of all users secured 100% of claims for their landlords.
Reagan at Paramount Properties, now part of Dwelly, averaged eight days, while the wider team secured 85.59% of proposed claims. At The Frost Partnership, Eve also averaged eight days and secured 100% of proposed claims, while Home Finders Swindon saw Paul average 8.5 days.
The important point is not simply that these individuals are fast. It is that single-digit performance is appearing across a growing number of businesses and locations, which suggests the upper end of the market is continuing to move.
Perfect outcomes are becoming increasingly common
The claims data is just as significant. Pat Robson & Co secured 100% of all proposed claims during September, as did Portfolio Properties. At Jones Robinson, half of the team secured 100% of claims, while Breckon & Breckon and Chase Buchanan both saw around two-thirds of their users achieve perfect outcomes.
Cooper Green Pooks averaged refunds in 14 days while securing 97.07% of all claims proposed. Elsewhere, Spencer Munson secured 96.2%, Duncan Yeardley achieved 93.06%, Richard James Estate Agents secured 91.31%, and Penny & Sinclair averaged 90.39%. At Metro Village, half of all users secured 100% of claims on behalf of landlords.
Taken together, these results reinforce one of the clearest themes to emerge from the Index this year: the strongest agents are increasingly proving that faster tenancy conclusion does not require weaker landlord outcomes. In fact, the best performers are doing both at the same time, which gives landlords far more meaningful evidence of service quality than broad claims about expertise or professionalism ever could.
The dispute picture is still worth watching
Once the positive performance data is established, the dispute figures provide a useful secondary layer of context. 299 cases were raised as disputes in September, equivalent to 11.4% of all tenancy conclusions. Of those, 53 were resolved through our Final Offer functionality before progressing to independent adjudication, leaving 246 cases (9.4% of all conclusions) to proceed as disputes.
That means Final Offer prevented 17.7% of raised disputes from escalating further, or just under one in five. The broader point is that challenge remains a meaningful part of tenancy conclusion, even in a market where most cases are still being resolved without formal adjudication.
Tenants are more willing to question proposed liabilities, and easier access to AI is likely making it easier to construct objections and interrogate evidence. That is not necessarily a negative development. Fair, properly evidenced claims should stand up to scrutiny. What it does mean is that professional agents need increasingly robust processes, clear communication and consistent evidence when a claim is challenged.
Seen in that context, the September performance data becomes even more valuable. The strongest agents are not simply moving faster. They are doing so in an environment where claims are more likely to be tested, which places even greater value on evidence-led delivery.
Why this matters commercially
For landlords, tenancy conclusion has historically been difficult to assess when choosing an agent. Most businesses can talk about service quality, diligence and professionalism, but few have historically been able to evidence how quickly they conclude tenancies or what proportion of proposed liabilities they successfully secure.
That is beginning to change.
If an agency can show that it consistently concludes tenancies in 10 days rather than 28, while securing 90%, 95% or even 100% of properly proposed liabilities, that becomes a measurable proof point rather than a marketing claim. In a market where landlords are scrutinising service, compliance and expertise more closely, that has obvious commercial value.
The benefit also works both ways. Tenants should not have to wait unnecessarily for money that is rightfully theirs, while landlords should expect legitimate liabilities to be properly evidenced and pursued. The best tenancy conclusion process should achieve both.
September’s data suggests a growing number of professional agents are doing exactly that.
A clearer benchmark is emerging
When we launched the Tenancy Conclusion Index, one of the aims was simply to bring more visibility to a part of property management that had historically lacked meaningful benchmarking. Several months in, the picture is becoming much clearer.
A 28-day manual reconciliation should no longer automatically be accepted as inevitable. A 10-day conclusion is increasingly achievable, and single-digit performance is appearing across more businesses and more users within those businesses. At the same time, claims outcomes are giving us another meaningful measure of quality, with whole businesses securing 95%, 97% or 100% of proposed liabilities and significant proportions of individual teams achieving perfect outcomes.
The objective is not to turn the Index into a league table. Different portfolios, service levels and tenancy types inevitably create different challenges. The value lies in showing what is possible and in giving the market a clearer view of what best-in-class performance actually looks like.
September provides further evidence that faster tenancy conclusion, strong tenant service and excellent landlord outcomes can all exist together.
