Investment Property Blog by David Coughlin » tenant

A to Z of Property Investment I is for Inventory

Rachel — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 19:45:13 +0000

Our A to Z of Property Investment series has been exploring a variety of issues that property investors are wise to be aware of. So far we’ve covered issues from A to H, and now it’s time to look at I. As well as being linked to the all important issues of making a property investment and getting insurance, I can also stand for inventory.

Many property investors who are buying property for investment purposes intend to rent it out, either on a short or long-term basis as renting a property can provide a good return on an investment. For anyone who’s going to have tenants living in their property, it’s essential that you produce an inventory first, before anyone moves in.

An inventory is a detailed list of everything that you supply within the property and needs to be completed by all landlords, whether you’re letting the property on a furnished, part-furnished or unfurnished basis.

The inventory is useful for tenants, as they know what is and isn’t included in the property, but it’s also very important for you, the landlord, as it helps you keep track of items that are missing, damaged or have changed when tenants are leaving. The inventory can be used as evidence for tenant deposit claim issues and a copy should be signed and kept by you, your tenants and a letting agent from the start of a letting period.

As well as details of particular items in the property, it’s also useful to use the inventory to make a note of serial numbers, models and manufacturers of electrical and household goods, plus details of any existing scrapes or damage to items.

For more details on the importance of inventories, read our previous post, on how to create an inventory for your rental property.

Check out the other posts in our A to Z of property investment:

Landlords Sending Christmas Cards to Tenants

Rachel — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 10:11:33 +0000

If you’re a landlord, do you send your tenants Christmas cards or give them Christmas gifts?

There have been interesting discussions amongst landlords recently regarding Christmas and whether or not to send tenants cards. Some landlords are firmly for it, believing that it can add a positive note to landlord-tenant relationships, whilst others are slightly more indifferent or choose not to send cards to tenants.

Perhaps surprisingly, there are even landlords who go to the trouble of buying Christmas presents for their tenants, such as a bottle of wine, or giving them a small monetary gift, such as £10. One property investor who owns multiple properties even claimed to spend hundreds of pounds on giving tenants Christmas gifts.

Whilst it’s certainly generous to give gifts to your tenants and likely to be a good way of keeping them happy, in most cases, a Christmas card should suffice. It’s a nice way of wishing your tenants a happy Christmas and for showing you care, especially in cases where you usually have little direct contact with your tenants.

Of course, not everyone celebrates Christmas, so you don’t want to put your foot in by sending a card if it could be seen as offensive. So instead of sending a Christmas card, you could consider sending a seasonal greeting or New Year card instead.

Would You Lower the Rent and Let a Tenant Decorate?

Rachel — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:10:05 +0000

If you were pushed for time in trying to get a new or previously rented property ready for a new tenant, would you consider lowering the rent in exchange for letting the new tenant decorate the property?

It could be a bit of a gamble, but if it’s a case of getting some money coming in from a tenant, rather than spending out on lots of decorating, then it may be an option worth exploring. As long as the property is structurally sound and no major renovations are required, then there could be benefits to be had for both landlord and tenant if the tenant does the initial decorating.

Tenant Benefits

For a start, it will mean they get to choose the colours and design (within reason – setting some boundaries is advisable) and get to live in a property where they’re happy with the interior decoration. This could work two-fold, as a tenant is more likely to look after a property when they’re happy with its looks and, if they’ve taken time to do the decorating themselves, they may take even more care with upkeep in the future.

Landlord Benefits

For the landlord, the immediate benefit is that you don’t have to worry about getting the property decorated yourself and, if it keeps the tenant happy, then hopefully they’ll stick around for a while and enjoy their decorating creations.

Get it in Writing

On a practical point though, it’s essential that you come to a proper agreement over how much decorating can be done, what you’re happy for them to do and any definite no no’s in terms of colour or design. It may be helpful to set a budget and ensure someone checks the property for quality too, as slap-dash decorating or instances where carpets get ruined by paint aren’t going to do you any favours in the long-run.

To keep tenants happy and emphasise the benefits for them, it’s a good idea to be specific from the outset about how much money they’ll be saving per month or per year for doing the decorating themselves.

Hooray! Rental Voids at Eight Year Low

Rachel — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 13:14:16 +0000

Rental voids are the bane of landlord’s lives, as you can’t earn money on a property when there are no tenants in it, but the UK average rental void is now at its lowest point for eight years.

According to research carried out by the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), the rental market in the UK appears to be very strong and buoyant at the moment, with landlords reporting a reduction in their average rental void periods. Previous research placed the average rental void as lasting 3.6 weeks, but it’s now gone down to 3.2 weeks.

In the South East of England, landlords have experienced the lowest void period at just 2.9 weeks, compared to figures of 3.3 weeks in Central London and 3.4 weeks in the rest of the UK.

This is in stark contrast to the state of the rental market at the beginning of 2009, when void periods were nearly at an all time high.

This come as encouraging news for landlords, as when rental voids do occur, they can put a real strain on your finances. A short rental void isn’t a bad thing though, as it gives you the prime opportunity to get up-to-date with all those essential maintenance tasks and ensure the property you’re about to re-let is in top notch order.

For more ideas and insight into how to make the most of rental voids, check out these two posts on the topic:

Making the most of rental voids: Part 1

Making the most of rental voids: Part 2

Quick Property Revamp Tip: Changing Doors

Rachel — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:23:18 +0000

Consider new doors

When you’ve bought a new property and are getting ready to let it out, or are doing a quick revamp in between tenants, then changing the interior doors could help lift the look and help revive the property.

Interior doors can inevitably suffer from wear and tear, as most of them will be used on a daily basis. Not all tenants will take good care of a property, banging doors, sticking things on them and knocking them, for example when children play with toys that knock into doors.

In addition, older houses may still have older style doors on them (look for doors that are completely flat, rather than panelled and doors where the handles are higher up than modern doors) which, unless you are keen on promoting a period look, can date the interior of a property.

Changing the doors is an easy and relatively inexpensive way of helping spruce up the interior of a rental property and give it a more modern or up-to-date look at the same time. If you’re in contact with any local trades people, or have your own account at a trade store, then it’s worth keeping an eye out for offers on doors. From experience, they do frequently tend to have good door deals, especially if you’re buying more than one, and it can help cut the cost for landlords.

If there are any rooms of the property that tend to be particularly dark, such as a dark hallway or kitchen, then you could help add a bit more light into the house by choosing half glazed doors.

Once the doors are purchased, all you need to is hang them, fit door furniture (handles etc) and paint them. If you don’t fancy doing it yourself, then this is an ideal job for a maintenance person. Painting the doors finishes them off well, but if you’re pushed for time or needing to cut costs further, you can leave the doors unpainted if you wish.

Emergency information to tell your tenants

Rachel — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:20:51 +0000

Every landlord hopes their property will be in safe hands, but sometimes things don’t always go to plan and emergencies occur. In order to help tenants act promptly in an emergency, it helps if they know a few key pieces of information regarding water, electricity and gas.

1. The location of the stopcock

In case of emergencies involving water, such as unexpected flooding or leaks in the property, or if the pipes burst during a cold winter, it’s essential to know where the stopcock is located so the water can be turned off.

It’s one of the first questions a plumber will ask if they come around to help sort out a problem and being able to turn the water off could prevent serious damage to your property. Common places where a stopcock may be located include under the sink, in the airing cupboard or even in the garage.

2. The location of the mains electricity switch

It’s important to know the location of the mains electricity switch in case there’s a problem with the electricity and it needs to be turned off. It’s also handy to know where the circuit breaker is located and how to reset it, in case the electrics trip at any time.

3. How to turn the gas off

In the case of a gas leak occurring, one of the first pieces of information given to anyone phoning a gas service helpline is to turn the gas off at the mains. To avoid any confusion with tenants about where the gas switch is, giving them the information could help prevent the situation getting worse.

Even if you’re using an agency who’ll respond to emergency calls, equipping your tenants with the details of where they can find these switches can save valuable time – as well as lives.

As tenants are not likely to need the information all that often, and may forget the locations if informed verbally, it’s useful to leave written details somewhere in the property so they can be accessed if required.