Latest Blog Posts

Do you Make these Mistakes when Choosing Tenants?

Tuesday, 31st January 2012

Categories: Lettings Property Management
Choosing the right tenants will make all the difference to the success of your property business. Choose well and you could let the same property to the same tenants for years without any hassle; choose badly and you could end up with rental arrears, costly repairs to the property and irate neighbours.

Kris White

The Secrets of Dealing with Difficult Tenants

Monday, 30th January 2012

Categories: Lettings Property Management
If you’ve been a landlord for a while, chances are you’ve come across difficult tenants in the past. You will no doubt have learnt from your mistakes but there’s no real way of knowing how someone is going to treat your property, or deal with rental payments, until they have actually moved in.

Kris White

Preparing a Property for Rent

Monday, 19th December 2011

Categories: Lettings Property Management
When it comes to renting out a property, it isn’t simply a case of giving the place a spring clean and taking a few nice photos: there’s whole list of legal requirements and presentation issues to deal with before you hand the keys over to your new tenants...

Kris White

The Danger of Being Friends with your Tenant

Tuesday, 22nd November 2011

Categories: Lettings Property Management
If you’re starting out on a new career as a landlord, you probably have certain criteria that you’ve set yourself in order to make the experience as stress-free as possible for yourself and your future tenants...However, there are a number of drawbacks to becoming too friendly with your tenants and when the boundaries between landlord and ‘mate’ become blurred, you could be opening up the floodgates to trouble...

Kris White

The Forgotten Costs of Being a Landlord

Monday, 14th November 2011

Categories: Lettings Property Management
Letting out a property can initially seem like a quick and easy way to capitalise on your property and to make a bit of extra cash without having to work too hard for it...However, before you go ahead and put your property on the rental market, there are a number of other costs and considerations that need to be taken into account...

Kris White

Should I Rent my Flat to Students?

Wednesday, 2nd November 2011

Categories: Lettings Property Management
The student rental market can be a real pull for property owners, and rightly so. Property in student towns and cities will always rent out and it should hold its own in the resale market, too...However, many people are still nervous about renting their properties out to students...

Kris White

Are Local Papers still Relevant in the age of the Internet?

Tuesday, 1st November 2011

Categories: Lettings Market Analysis Sales Selling Tips
The Internet has completely transformed the way we read and digest information...it might seem fair to assume that the old-fashioned method of flicking through the property section of your local newspaper or magazine is now obsolete. In fact, this is far from the case.

Sue Bradford

Should I Allow my Tenants to Redecorate?

Thursday, 29th September 2011

Categories: Lettings Property Management
If a prospective tenant is going to respect the property and look after it, they need to feel like it’s their home.Whilst no one wants to think of a newly redecorated flat being attacked by DIY novices wielding cans of magenta paint, there has to be a certain amount of give and take on the part of both landlord and tenant...

Kris White

5 Tips to Keep Rental Voids to a Minimum

Friday, 23rd September 2011

Categories: Lettings
If you rent your property to tenants, you will be constantly aware of the need to keep any void periods to a minimum – any time the property is empty is time that you are losing rent and possibly subsidising mortgage payments...

Kris White

Tenancy Deposit Protection Schemes – Rights & Recent Case Law

Tuesday, 30th August 2011

Categories: Lettings
Be you a student or professional, young or more mature in years, the Landlord of any property you rent will require you to pay a deposit to cover any damages that may occur over the course of your tenancy. In order to ensure this money is kept safe, Landlords by law must protect the deposit in a Tenancy Deposit Scheme..

Matthew Price

The Secret to Finding Reliable Tradespeople

Monday, 4th April 2011

Categories: Lettings Property Management
It’s important to remember that once your property is let it will become your tenant’s home and under the terms of the tenancy agreement as Landlord, you are responsible for maintaining your property, together with the installations and appliances provided.

Kris White

Are you showing your property at its best?

Friday, 11th February 2011

Categories: Lettings Property Management
Although the peaks and troughs of the property market continue to make headlines, the one trend that continues to rise is ‘expectation’- yours and your tenant's.

Kris White

What to do if your Tenants split up?

Friday, 3rd December 2010

Categories: Lettings Property Management
As Shakespeare once said “the path of true love never does run smooth” and unfortunately in the case of separating tenants this can become the landlord's problem.

Kris White

Freebies for Movers

Saturday, 6th November 2010

Categories: Lettings Sales
It’s rare that we get something for nothing in life so I thought I’d tell you about a new company that sends a box of freebies to any tenant or buyer that moves in to a new property.

Justin Burns

Can I sell my property with the Tenants in place?

Friday, 22nd October 2010

Categories: Lettings Property Management
Of course I can, it’s my property! That’s true, you can sell your property with a tenant in place, but as always there are a number of things to consider.

Kris White

The HMO Trap

Monday, 11th October 2010

Categories: Lettings Property Prices Surveying
One of the more minor changes that the new coalition Government have made is to partially reverse one of the Labour Government’s final pieces of housing legislature; a requirement for landlords to submit a planning application if they change the use of a property from a single-household home to a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO).

Justin Burns

What Every UK Landlord Living Overseas Should Know

Sunday, 22nd August 2010

Categories: Lettings Property Management
So you’re letting a property in the UK while you’re living abroad. In a perfect world, the property would be let to a marvellous tenant who pays their rent early, you never have to spend a penny on maintenance, and when you come back everything is exactly as you left it.

Kris White

Tenants and their Pets

Saturday, 10th July 2010

Categories: Lettings Property Management
Britain may be a nation of animal lovers but pet owners often struggle to find accommodation where the landlord is willing to accept any pets. Many landlords will not accept pets fearing they will damage furniture, fixtures and leave flea infestations when they depart.

Kris White

The risks of renting to students

Tuesday, 15th June 2010

Categories: Lettings Property Management
Renting to students can be highly profitable although there are risks. In reality they are often no greater than renting to any stranger.

Kris White

Do it Yourself Vs Professional Managing Agents – A false economy?

Friday, 14th May 2010

Categories: Lettings Property Management
Landlords looking to save money may decide to try to go it alone and manage their own properties rather than rely upon the expertise of a trained and established property management company.

Kris White

The Importance of Inventories

Tuesday, 13th April 2010

Categories: Lettings Property Management
Some Landlords question the necessity of having a comprehensive inventory and schedule of condition of their property carried out before a tenant moves in, but if you think about it would you expect a car rental company to rent you a car without first making a thorough check of the condition of the paint work, upholstery etc. how would they know what if any new damage had been caused on its return.

Kris White

Open for Business as Usual

Wednesday, 17th June 2009

Categories: Lettings Sales Surveying
You may have noticed that there are a few changes occuring to our office. Our old shopfront was removed this week and the temporary hoarding is now in place.

Justin Burns

EPCs & Rental Properties

Wednesday, 3rd June 2009

Categories: Lettings
Since October last year landlords of self contained rental properties have been required to supply incoming tenants with a copy of an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).

Kris White

Protecting Deposits - Who's Responsible?

Wednesday, 6th May 2009

Categories: Lettings
By now most Landlords and tenants are aware that deposits must be protected in one of the authorised schemes within 14 days. The penalty for failure to do so is the payment of an amount equivalent to 3 times the deposit to the tenant.

Justin Burns

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