Camping itself may not seem like the biggest earner on the block, but if your land or garden is located in a prime position and can offer more than just the basics, it can be a worthwhile avenue to explore.

You don’t have to have masses of space available – small, more personal spaces can be more appealing to some people than a massive sprawl of campers – but you will need to consider what facilities you’ll provide and the all important issue of access to the site.

Land located in key tourist spots are, not surprisingly, really popular with campers, but your land doesn’t necessarily need to be in a tourist area to do well. If you get your business hat-on and think creatively, there may be opportunities to cash in on timely annual events, or major sporting events, where people need accommodation close by for a short period of time and will pay for the convenience and location. 

For example, in the same way that properties can be let for a short-term basis during major events and festivals, so too can land be let out to campers. Think music festivals, literature festivals, sporting events (horse racing, Wimbledon, football, rugby – even the Olympics), gardening or flower shows.

If you want to give it a go and test the waters to see if it’s a worthwhile sideline for you or to find out if it’s going to be too much hassle, then organisations such as Camp In My Garden are a great help for trying it out. The website is free to join and list your temporary private garden campsite and it could prove to be the gateway to a new property and land investment money-maker!

It’s an easy issue to miss, especially if you’ve had a digital TV at home for some time. But the long-planned digital switchover has begun in many parts of the UK, with more to follow over the coming months. It’s all due to be completed by 2012.

You can find out when the digital switchover is happening in your area, by keeping an eye on the Digital UK website. It’s also worth bearing in mind that, although the switchover may go smoothly for some people, it can cause some issues for others.

As well as buying a new TV or box and upgrading to digital, you may need to do a bit of work with tuning in the TV, especially for older tenants. It shouldn’t take too long to iron out the tuning details  (there’s help available on the Digital UK website if you need it) and your tenants should be pleased with the help, so it could score you some brownie points too!

• All mod cons – all modern conveniences, used to refer to the appliances in a rental property, such as the cooker, washing machine, fridge and freezer. This can vary though, so you may need to provide more details of exactly what you mean.
• Apt – short for apartment
• D/g – short for double glazing.
• Exc – means the fee is exclusive of bills
• Fully/furn – means the property is fully furnished, with beds and other furniture.
• FGCH or GCH – the property has full gas central heating or gas central heating.
• Inc – the property is inclusive of bills.
• Nr stn – the property is located near the station.
• N/S prof – a non-smoking professional tenant is preferred.
• Pcm – used with a price, this refers to the rent per calendar month,
• PK – parking is available.
• Pw – used with a price, this refers to the rent per week.
• Pt/furn – the property is partly furnished with a bed or other furniture.
• U/f – the property is unfurnished, so a tenant will need to supply their own furniture.

Whilst abbreviations can be really useful to save you room and money when writing an ad, it’s a good idea to use them in moderation. If there are too many abbreviations included, it may take away the first glance meaning of the ad and make it more difficult for people to translate and read. As you want to grab attention for the right reasons, getting the balance right is crucial.

Once all your maintenance tasks are complete, and your property is looking at its best, it’s on to the all important task of promoting your property. If you’re using a letting agent, then hopefully they will already have started to include your rental property in their marketing to potential new tenants, but if you’re keen to fill your rental void as soon as possible, you can get involved too.

Word of Mouth

Don’t underestimate the value of word of mouth, as telling people you have a property available can sometimes get passed on to people who need somewhere to let. This is something you can develop over time, especially if you have a large portfolio of properties, as many people find it helps to get a reputation as being a landlord, so people come to you when they’re looking for somewhere to rent.

Advertising

If you know of any local publications that your letting agent doesn’t target, then you could do you own advertising. It would be a good idea to run this by your letting agent first, so that you don’t step on their toes, and it’s good to provide their contact details, or a link to their website with your property listing on.

You could use your advertising to try and tap into markets that your letting agent may not be covering, like local parish magazines, hospital housing lists or even university housing lists. Where you advertise will depend in part on your property, its location and whether you’re keen to target long or short term tenants.

Online Promotion

If you’re a user of social networking sites, like Facebook, are active on forums, or use Twitter, then you can use all of these to help promote your property. Sending one single message out to all your Facebook friends, to let them know that your property is available for rental, is a quick and easy way of spreading the word.

If you’re using Twitter, then as well as targeting anyone who’s following you and reading your tweets, you could use hashtags to spread the word further. For example, you could add one to each property related tweet you send to let people know where the property is located or that you simply have a property for let.  In these cases, the hashtags could be #nottingham #propertyforlet or #rental.

Having proper insurance policies in place is crucial for any landlords letting out properties, as you’re likely to have a considerable amount of money tied up in the property and don’t want to lose money as the result of accidents or unexpected events. For example, if your property is affected by fire, burst pipes, leaks, theft or flooding, you need to ensure that you’re properly ensured and won’t end up out of pocket by having to pay for the cost of damage.

When you’re choosing building insurance, aim to find a product that covers all the costs that would be involved in re-building your property, not just the market value of the building.  A good policy will also provide some form of compensation for loss of rent, if the building becomes unfit for letting as a result of damage from flooding or a fire.

As well as building insurance, don’t forget to consider contents insurance too. If you’re letting out a fully furnished property, then a full contents cover may be required – but do check the level of coverage it offers and whether it will sufficiently cover the cost of replacing everything before signing on the dotted line.

For part-furnished or unfurnished rental properties, where you’re supplying items such as kitchen equipment (oven, fridge and freezer), curtains, carpets and other fittings, then a limited contents policy may be adequate to cover your needs. Of course, all tenants in your properties will need to purchase their own insurance to cover their contents.

Liability insurance is also useful for landlords to have, as accidents caused by items in your property could result in tenants claiming for personal injuries. For example, a tenant could claim for an injury caused by slipping on a loose tile in the bathroom or tripping over a badly laid carpet.

Not all insurance policies are equal, so be prepared to shop around, check out the best deals and find the most appropriate landlord insurance for your individual needs.

By law, landlords are required to ensure that the electric system in a property is safe for tenants to use. This applies to not only the electrics as whole, but also any electrical appliances that you supply with the rental – such as kitchen equipment or televisions. 

Electrical safety is covered by various laws, including the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the Housing Act 2004, the Electrical Equipment Regulations 1994 and The Consumer Protection Act 1987. For HMO properties, there’s also the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order 2005, which requires annual Fire Safety Risk Assessments to be carried out.

Although you don’t have to have electric systems and electrical appliances in rental properties checked on an annual basis, it’s a good idea to get them checked regularly to cover yourself in case of any problems. As a guide, this could be a couple of times during a continuous tenancy and definitely between new lets.

A qualified electrician is a good port of call for getting your electrics assessed and will be able to supply you with an electrical certificate once everything is verified as working and safe (this certificates are not essential for landlords, but can be useful to have). Electrical standards have changed a fair bit over the years, so it’s a good idea to have any outdated electrics replaced and bring them up the current wiring regulations; a circuit breaker should also be fitted to circuits if you don’t already have one.

Instruction booklets should be provided for any electrical appliances you’re supplying with the rental property and, where possible, it’s best to avoid using secondhand equipment. You should also provide tenants with details as to where the main electric unit is situated, where the fuse box is and where any isolator switches are located, so they know where to find it in an emergency.

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Preparing to Let Your Property: Getting an Energy Performance Certificate

Energy Performance Certificates became a legal requirement for residential landlords in October 2008. They have to be obtained before you begin marketing your property for rent and, if you fail to do so, then you could end up being fined £200 by Trading Standards.

The Energy Performance Certificate provides a rating about how energy efficient your property is. It uses a rating system from A to G, with A being the most energy efficient, and G the least efficient; the average level is about D. You’ll need to have your property looked at by an energy assessor and, as well as providing your rating and certificate, they will provide ideas for how you can make your property more energy efficient (you don’t have to take these ideas up, but it can be useful if energy efficiency is a concern).

In fact, research suggests that tenants are becoming more concerned about environmental issues, the cost of household bills and the impact a building has on the environment, so the extra advice may help you make practical steps to improve the overall efficiency of your property and make it more desirable to tenants.

Find more about how to go about getting an EPC. Once you’ve obtained your EPC, it’s valid for 10 years and you can take the next step towards advertising your property for let.

The pros of letting tenants decorate

If you’ve been letting the property for a while, and it’s a long time since it was decorated, then it may be worth considering it if you’ve got a tenant who wants to give it a go. Even better if they have decorating experience, or simply want to put a new coat of paint in one room.

However, be sure to make it clear what they’re allowed to do and not do, preferably in writing. This includes which rooms they can touch and what they’re allowed to do, in terms of painting or wallpapering. You may even want to vet the colours or ideas, just in case they’ve very outlandish.

The cons of letting tenants decorate

Mention the decorating issue to landlords and some will always have horror stories to share. Although it may seem like a tempting offer to have someone else do the hard work for you, do you really want to put your property in their hands?

Horror stories of decorating gone wrong involve garish colours, badly hung wallpaper, bad painting, paint in areas that shouldn’t have been painted and half done jobs that were abandoned.

Realistically, you can never be 100% certain that tenants will do a decorating job properly, so if you’ve got any doubts about their ability or commitment, it’s best to do it yourself, or pay an expert to come in and do it. It’s the only way to avoid unwanted decorating nightmares.

It helps to have this covered in your paperwork and contract, so they know they can’t just whip out a tin of paint and start decorating when they feel like it.

If there’s no major need to decorate just yet, then a good time is always between rentals – as one tenant moves out, and before another arrives.

According to recent research by the company, Gas Safe Register, the successor to Corgi, up to 100,000 gas cookers and hobs are installed illegally every year by fitters who lack the necessary skills or qualifications to work with gas.

GSR carried out interviews with 427 gas workers and discovered that 95% were fully or partially qualified to work with gas appliances. Nearly 40% of the workers subcontracted out their work, so said they didn’t need to be registered themselves and 7% didn’t bother to check whether the person they were subcontracting was registered.

It may not sound like many, but this amounts to unqualified workers carrying out up to 250,000 gas jobs, with pipework, hobs or cookers, per year. If that wasn’t enough, there are believed to be an additional 7,500 ‘hard core’ illegal gas fitters operating in the UK.

Although it may be tempting to choose a gas worker that’s cheaper than others, it’s essential to always use a registered Gas Safe engineer for work in your rental properties. If an illegal worker carried out changes or installations and failed to it properly, you could be putting the lives of your tenants at serious risk.

As a landlord, it’s always advisable to have a list of tradesmen handy for those emergency moments. If you’re using a lettings company, then they’ll handle this side of things for you, but it’s still useful to have a back-up list of your own, just in case.

If you’re unsure about the legality of a gas tradesperson, then you can always check the engineer’s Gas Safe Register ID card to confirm that they really are qualified to carry out the work.