When I ran our Estate Agency in the UK we used to get potential Landlords coming to us 'just thinking' of letting out the property they had inherited or couldn't sell.
We would spend ages explaining all the rules & regulations, safety check, the potential hiccups of renting referencing procedures, tenancy agreements, possession procedures & in latter years the Deposit Protection Regulations.
I would then spend my petrol and time going to see the property, advising them on anything that needed to be done & the expected rental income.
The next thing you know, they either put it on the market with another Agent at a higher price & a lower commission rate, or they advertised it privately.
The best part was that in most cases, they would come back to us several months later, still seeking a tenant or because they needed help dealing with a bad or troublesome tenant.