The Jackrabbit Always Wins

There’s a short monologue in the film The Hunt where Betty Gilpin’s character recounts an old story:

A jackrabbit and a turtle race. The turtle moves slowly, steadily, honestly.

The jackrabbit cheats, cuts corners, games the system. And every time—the jackrabbit wins.

The story never tells you who the jackrabbit is.Or who the turtle is.

That omission matters.

Because once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

The Jackrabbit Is the System

The jackrabbit isn’t a landlord.It isn’t a tenant.It isn’t even a corporate agent.

The jackrabbit is the parasitic system itself—the kind described by Marina Karkalova, where value is quietly extracted from those doing real work, while risk is pushed downward.

Rules are written against you.Language is weaponised against you.

Risk is socialised downward, reward siphoned upward.

And the turtle?

The turtle is the independent letting agent.Playing fair.Doing the work.Trusting that “professionalism” will somehow be rewarded.

It won’t.

Why the Turtle Always Loses

Most letting agents are still trying to win the race.

That’s the mistake.

You cannot out-run a rigged system.

You cannot reform a game designed for your failure.

And you absolutely cannot survive by being a pawn—black or white—on someone else’s chessboard.

The only way to survive is to step off the board entirely.

That starts with three urgent changes.Not next year.Not after the next compliance update.

Now.

Urgent Change #1: Get Your Language Right

Most agents sabotage their own businesses with a single phrase:

“Terms and Conditions”

This is catastrophic.

Why it matters

• A condition is binary.

• Breach one condition → the entire agreement can collapse.

• This directly impacts agency valuation, assignability, and saleability.

Your agreement should be titled:

Terms of Business

A term can be breached without terminating the entire contract.

Example

If your agreement states as a condition that you will “collect the rent” and the tenant doesn’t pay:

• You have technically breached the agreement.

• The landlord can walk.

• Your income stream evaporates.

  
  

That’s not professionalism.That’s self-harm.

Urgent Change #2: Stop Offering “Rent Collection”

You cannot control whether a tenant pays rent.

Therefore, you should never promise to “collect” it.

Instead, reframe the service as:

Rent Demand Service

Why?

Because:

• You can guarantee you will make the demand.

• You cannot guarantee tenant behaviour.

  
  

This single wording change:

• Removes uncontrollable risk

• Protects the agency from technical breach

• Signals professional clarity instead of amateur optimism

  
  

Words are not semantics.Words are liability containers.

Urgent Change #3: Reclaim Control of Your Income

If your commission is only deducted when rent is paid, then:

Your income is controlled by the tenant.

Read that again.

You are running a business where:

• The person with no contract with you

• Decides whether you get paid

  
  

That is madness.

The fix

Your commission must be:

• Based on the contracted rent

• Payable regardless of tenant payment status

  
  

Structure it clearly:

• If rent is paid → fee deducted

• If rent is unpaid → landlord is invoiced

  
  

Yes, this requires education.Yes, some landlords will resist.

But if a landlord believes the only thing you do is “collect the rent”, then you’ve already lost the positioning war.

The Quiet Scandal No One Talks About

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Most letting agents have never properly read their own Terms of Business or their own tenancy agreements.

Staff don’t understand them.

Managers don’t interrogate them.

Owners assume “the solicitor handled it.”

That cannot continue.

You cannot elevate letting agency into a trusted profession while operating blind to your own contractual foundations.

Professionalism begins with document literacy.

Step Off the Board — Or Close in 2026

This is not about being faster.

Or cheaper.

Or nicer.

It’s about refusing to play a rigged game.

The jackrabbit always wins inside the system.

The turtle survives only by leaving it.

These three changes are not the endgame.

They are the starting line.

Fail to act—and the jackrabbit wins again.

Act now—and you might just still be standing in 2026.

helpline see here - https://lettingsadviceservice.co.uk/