Some visitors attending the 2012 Olympic Games in London, especially those travelling from abroad, are already beginning to suss out available rented accommodation in London. In response to demand, landlords with properties in the areas around the main Games venues in south east London are marketing their properties and pricing them for the event.

Landlords are even reporting being offered prices 250 to 300 per cent more than their usual fees to let their properties during the Olympic Games and the rental prices make interesting reading.

A one bedroom flat in Greenwich, which would normally be about £1,229 a month is available to rent during the Games for £1,692 per week.

A three bedroom property in Stratford, east London, close to the Olympic site, which usually rents for £1,800 a week during the holiday season, is being let for £3,500 a week during the Games.

In Blackheath, a minute from the entrance to Greenwich Park, which is hosting the equestrian events, the owners of a five bedroom house are trying their luck with acquiring £10,850 per week rent during the Olympic Games.

Luxury properties with additional features, such as a swimming pool or gym, can command much higher prices.

If you’ve got a property in the London area and want to cash in on the Olympic effect, then now is definitely the time to give it some serious thought!

Letting agents in London are reporting that interest and rental demand in properties located close to cycle ways have increased by one third over the last year. In addition, since the launch of the bike docking stations, a scheme initiated by London mayor, Boris Johnson, more people have been requesting to rent properties with bike docks on the street, or close by.

Rental property owners are already feeling the positive impact that the bike docking stations are having on their properties. Having a bike docking station located on the pavement outside a rental property is already leading experts to suggest increasing the weekly rental fee.

At the moment, there are 315 docking stations and 5,000 machines, all of which are centrally located in zone 1. So far, the scheme has attracted a massive 70,000 subscribers. The bike scheme is ideal for anyone wanting to beat traffic or commuting delays and cycle to work, or to use for other cycling purposes.

The bike scheme has not yet been expanded outside zone 1, but when plans are announced, it could mean even more opportunities for landlords, so is definitely worth keeping your eye on if you own property in London or are thinking of making a London property purchase.

Find out more details about the London bike scheme

Find out where the current bike docking stations are located

Map of London rental prices

If you’ve got rental properties in London, or are thinking of investing in property in the area during 2010, then you can now gain an important insight into rental property prices in the capital.

London Mayor, Boris Johnson, has launched London Rents, a website providing a look the rents achieved at properties across London. Although still in its early stages, the site currently has rental prices for about 11,009 properties in the capital and provides useful information about the average cost of renting a property. The information has been gathered from a sample of private tenancies created over the last 12 months and the aim is to update the information on a monthly basis.

With regular details being uploaded onto the site, it should give a fairly accurate picture of the state of property rentals in London.

The site is a treasure trove of information for landlords as well as tenants If you’re not familiar with the city, then the colour-coded map of rental prices provides valuable information about the areas where the highest and lowest rents can be gained, which could help in your decision-making process of where to buy rental property.

For example, Dartford is currently shown as the cheapest place to rent, where the rental price of a two bedroom property averages out as about £160 per week. The most expensive area in London is South Kensington, where the landlord of a two bedroom property gets an average of £625 per week.

With London being of the largest private rental sectors in England, with over 650,000 properties available for rent, the site looks promising so far and we look forward to seeing how it progresses over the months to come.

What do you think? Will the site be useful for your property rental business?