Find Your Next Rental Home | Properties to Let in Exeter

Letting your property is a big decision, and at Francis Louis, we’re here to make it simple, proactive, and highly profitable.

Francis Louis was established in 2018 with a clear vision: to create a modern, highly driven property agency that delivers exceptional marketing, honest advice, and outstanding results for landlords. From starting as a small, founder-led agency, we have grown into one of Exeter’s leading letting agents, with a team of over 15 experienced professionals across lettings, property management, maintenance and cleaning, working together to provide a seamless, full-service solution.

Today, we manage over 3,000 tenants and continue to grow year on year, making us one of the fastest-growing lettings teams in the city. Our aim is simple: to let properties at the strongest possible rents, secure the best tenants, and protect our landlords’ investments with proactive management and expert guidance.

We approach lettings with a sales-driven mindset. Every property is marketed to the highest possible standard, with professional photography, detailed floorplans, virtual tours and strong exposure across all major platforms.

This consistent, high-quality marketing is why we achieve premium rental levels and secure tenants early, reducing void periods and maximising income.

We have also expanded our in-house maintenance and cleaning departments, enabling us to respond quickly to issues, carry out building works, cleaning and repairs, and keep landlord costs controlled. Our management and maintenance teams focus on fast response times, preventative maintenance and clear communication, ensuring properties are well looked after and issues are dealt with efficiently.

As a family-run business, we pride ourselves on being approachable, responsive and genuinely invested in our landlords’ success. At the same time, we operate with the systems, structure and expertise of a much larger agency, ensuring every landlord benefits from professional processes, skilled teams and strategic advice throughout the lifecycle of their investment.

At Francis Louis, we’re not just letting property. Our goal is to maximise your rental income, protect your asset, and build longterm relationships based on performance and trust.

Our Strategy

Tailored Approach

Every client and property is unique. We design a strategy around your goals, preferences, and market conditions — reviewing and refining throughout to ensure the best possible outcome.

Presentation Matters

Whether preparing a home for market or guiding buyers through viewings, we focus on presentation that inspires confidence, ensuring that every single detail is managed with care.

Strategic Positioning

We identify the right audience and craft messaging that resonates, showcasing listings to qualified buyers and guiding purchasers toward smart, informed decisions.

Negotiation and results

Negotiations are led by experienced senior agents with a calm, strategic approach. We represent your interests with clarity, honesty, and complete professionalism.

Marketing Approach

We deliver bespoke marketing strategies tailored to each client’s objectives, combining data-driven insight, design-led presentation, and precise execution.

From premium photography and compelling copy to targeted digital campaigns and buyer outreach, we position every property to attract the right buyers and maximise its value.

At Francis Louis, we don’t just list your property—we showcase it, ensuring it stands out in the rental market and secures the strongest possible outcome in terms of rent, tenant quality, and occupancy.

Visual Excellence

We showcase your home with high-end photography, video, and creative that captures attention and elevates value perception.

Digital Strategy

Our targeted online campaigns and market insights connect properties with qualified tenants and identify opportunities to maximise rental performance.

Print & Editorial

Premium brochures, signage, and advertorial placements ensure your home has impact both offline and in select publications.

Campaign Delivery

We monitor performance daily and adjust strategy as needed, keeping you updated at every step for full clarity and control.

FAQs

HOW DO YOU DETERMINE THE BEST STRATEGY FOR ME?

We take a tailored approach based on your objectives, property type, and prevailing rental market conditions. Whether you’re preparing to let a new property or reviewing an existing portfolio, we assess timing, tenant demand, and market trends to define the most effective strategy. Our recommendations align with your income and asset goals, ensuring strong tenant engagement and market visibility. The result is a clear, confident lettings strategy designed to maximise performance while minimising risk and stress.

WHAT DOES YOUR MARKETING AND SEARCH PROCESS INCLUDE?

Our marketing and acquisition strategies are fully tailored for each landlord and investor. For properties entering the rental market, this includes premium photography, virtual tours, targeted digital advertising, professional signage, and editorial-style marketing to maximise demand. For landlords and portfolio clients, we provide proactive tenant sourcing, off-market opportunities, and data-driven rental insights. Every element is designed to elevate presentation, expand reach, and secure the right tenants efficiently while maximising rental performance and occupancy

HOW DO YOU ENSURE THE RIGHT TENANT OR PROPERTY IS FOUND?

We begin by defining your ideal outcome and tenant profile. From there, we tailor the campaign, messaging, and presentation to attract qualified applicants. Our communication, pricing strategy, and negotiation approach are designed to create urgency, minimise voids, and secure strong rental terms. For landlords and investors, we leverage our networks and market insights to identify the best letting opportunities and optimise portfolio performance quickly.

WHAT LEVEL OF INVOLVEMENT WILL I HAVE THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS?

You’ll be kept informed at every stage with regular updates, tenant feedback, and direct communication from your lead lettings agent. While we manage the logistics and day-to-day activity, your preferences and objectives guide every decision. The process is collaborative and transparent, designed to give you confidence from instruction to tenancy commencement, and ensure you always feel supported.

Investment & Development Opportunities in Exeter

Exeter continues to be one of the strongest performing regional property markets in the UK, driven by a growing university population, a resilient local economy, and sustained demand for high-quality rental accommodation. Francis Louis has built a specialist track record in advising developers, landowners and investors across the full lifecycle of development and investment assets within the city.

Please see a selection of recent development and investment projects we have successfully sold. These range from purpose-built schemes delivered ready for occupation, to value-add opportunities where purchasers have acquired shell buildings and undertaken full internal fit-out and repositioning to maximise rental performance and capital value.

Proven Track Record in Development Sales

We are highly active in the Exeter development market and regularly transact on:

Purpose-built student accommodation and HMOs
Residential apartment schemes
Mixed-use city centre buildings
Commercial to residential conversions
Value-add refurbishment and repositioning opportunities

Through our established relationships with private investors, developers and funds, we consistently match opportunities with buyers—often on an offmarket basis—allowing vendors to achieve strong pricing, discreet sales and certainty of completion.

Oven-Ready Investment Assets

A key differentiator in our approach is our ability to deliver oven-ready investment opportunities. Through our in-house lettings and property management teams, we frequently sell schemes that are:

Fully let
Professionally managed
Stabilised to maximum achievable rental income

This enables investors to acquire assets with immediate income, clear yield metrics and reduced operational risk, often supporting stronger sales pricing and sharper investor demand.

Integrated Lettings, Management and Sales

Our vertically integrated model—combining sales, lettings, property management and maintenance— means we can advise on:

Rental tone and tenant demand
HMO and licensing strategy
Pre-letting and forward marketing
Exit pricing and yield positioning
Investor presentation and data packs

This joined-up approach ensures developments are designed, positioned and marketed with the end investor firmly in mind, helping maximise both rental income and capital value.

Off-Market Investment Opportunities

We work closely with a network of developers, landlords and landowners to source off-market development and investment opportunities for our clients. Many of our investors prefer discreet acquisitions, and we regularly broker private transactions that never reach the open market. Our active buyer database includes UK and international investors seeking both income-producing assets and development opportunities, allowing us to move quickly and efficiently when suitable sites become available.

Active Buyer Network

We maintain a strong pipeline of buyers, including:

Private landlords and portfolio investors
Student investment specialists
High-net-worth individuals and family offices
Development partners and syndicates

This depth of demand means we often have buyers ready before a property is formally marketed, enabling rapid, targeted sales strategies.

Market Leadership and Performance

Rightmove pie chart showing Francis Louise 1st out of 55 other offices for let agreed properties Exeter

Rightmove pie chart showing Francis Louis 1st out of 55 offices for available stock in Exeter

Recent Rightmove market share data for the last three months demonstrates that Francis Louis is the leading letting agent in Exeter, consistently accounting for close to 20% of the entire rental market over the past year.This reflects the trust landlords place in our advice, marketing, and execution, and our ability to deliver strong rental outcomes in a competitive market.

Most impressively, Rightmove’s Let Agreed data confirms that Francis Louis is also the market leader in properties successfully let, achieving nearly double the number of lettings agreed compared to our nearest competitor. This highlights not only our market presence, but our ability to convert demand into secure, completed tenancies.

It is important to note that these figures do not include our large-scale block lettings, where units are pre-let and not advertised individually on portals.Across our managed portfolio, this represents over 300 additional flats and rooms let off-market, meaning our true market share and lettings performance is significantly higher than portal data alone suggests.

Together, this data underscores Francis Louis’ position as Exeter’s dominant student and professional lettings agent, trusted by landlords, developers, and investors to maximise occupancy, rental income, and asset performance.

Property Management & Maintenance

INTEGRATED. EFFICIENT. ASSET-FOCUSED

A JOINED-UP APPROACH

At Francis Louis, property management and maintenance operate as a fully integrated service. By aligning these two departments, we reduce landlord costs, accelerate turnaround times, and maintain tighter control over every property we manage. The result is a streamlined, proactive approach that protects your asset, preserves rental income, and enhances tenant satisfaction.

Our end goal is simple: to look after your property as if it were our own.

FULL LANDLORD OVERSIGHT WITH PROPERTYFILE

Landlords benefit from complete transparency and control through PropertyFile, our secure online portal providing real-time access to tenancy documents, compliance records, financial statements, and maintenance updates. Tenants report all issues directly through the system, creating a clear, date-stamped audit trail that ensures accountability, transparency, and full regulatory oversight at all times.

RAPID IN-HOUSE MAINTENANCE RESPONSE

Our dedicated in-house maintenance team allows us to react quickly, minimise disruption, and keep properties operating efficiently. This proactive response is critical to tenant satisfaction and increasingly important under the evolving Renters’ Rights legislation.

By resolving issues swiftly, we reduce tenant complaints, prevent escalation, and protect rental income and occupancy.

PROTECTING YOUR ASSET, MAXIMISING PERFORMANCE

We deliver a comprehensive range of services in-house, including electrical safety works, general building and repairs, legionella compliance, snagging and refurbishment support, and professional cleaning. This integrated model reduces reliance on third parties, controls costs and quality, and ensures faster response times and consistent standards across your portfolio. By combining proactive management, transparent reporting, and in-house maintenance capability, Francis Louis gives landlords greater control, lower operating costs, and stronger asset performance, helping future-proof portfolios and maintain properties at the highest standard.

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