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If a landlord wants to let their property quickly, if they want someone else to deal with the referencing and credit checking, if they want to find good quality tenants, then many will turn to a letting agent for help. But just as in any industry, there are good letting agents and bad ones. There are ones you would be happy to use and others you should stay away from. With something as important as the future tenant (and rent) for your property, it’s important to make sure you pick the best letting agent for you assuming you are heading down this path and not choosing to do everything yourself. Here are some tips on how to find a good letting agent.

Location

Location matters a lot more than many people think. If you want to let your property more quickly, you’ll need an agent who is able to conduct viewings (after all, this is part of the service you’re paying for), and for that to happen they need to be local to the property itself. If they are further afield, trying to tie up a mutually convenient time with a prospective tenant can be tricky.

But as well as that, an agent who knows the local area will be able to talk about more than just the property itself – they will be able to talk about the good schools, the local shops, the best bus routes, the distance to the station, the pubs, the restaurants, the people… They will be able to answer any questions the viewer has, instilling them with confidence and usually letting the property in a timely manner.

What Does A Good Letting Agent Offer?

Many agents offer varying levels of service depending on how much you want to pay. You will have a number of different options including:

• Tenant find only
• Tenant find and rent collection
• Full management

Each of these options has its benefits and downsides, and it’s wise to look into exactly how much you will be expected to pay and what you will get in return before signing up to anything. If you have questions, don’t be afraid to ask; a good agent will happily answer them for you.

Paperwork

If the thought of paperwork makes you shudder don’t worry; many people feel the same. Unfortunately, it’s an important part of renting out a property. A good letting agent will be able to handle all the paperwork involved including:

• Credit checks
• Referencing potential tenants
• Checking employment details
• Ensuring the tenant has the right to reside in the UK
• Drawing up the tenancy agreement
• Obtaining safety certificates
• Arranging for an EPC to be carried out if need be

If you don’t want to carry out this essential work yourself, then you need to be confident that your chosen letting agent will do it, and do it accurately – one small mistake in any of these documents and you might find the tenancy is invalid.

Marketing: The True Sign Of A Good Letting Agent

One of the biggest issues a landlord tends to have is finding a tenant for their property. With limited funds and reach, you may only have a handful of people getting in touch about the property, even if you use something like Facebook marketplace and pay for more people to see the ad.

A letting agent should be able to market your property on all the major property portals like Rightmove, Zoopla, and On The Market. Not only this, but they will be able to include floorplans, excellent photos, a great description, and details about the property that will entice people to want to view it.

Whichever agent you are considering, take a look at their current property ads. Do you think they look good? Are the images high quality? Are there floorplans? Are there spelling errors or other inaccuracies? If so, it shows that little care has been taken over the advert; what does that say about the agent’s way of working?

Money Protection

Picking a good letting agent might be as simple as choosing one that you know will protect your money, and that of your tenant. You need to be sure that any money exchanged is going to remain safe, so make sure that your potential letting agent is part of a client money protection scheme. There should be a separate bank account for ‘ring-fenced’ money – ask to see proof that this exists.

The agent must also comply with the deposit law; if they don’t, it’s you the landlord who will be held liable. Any deposit must be put into a government approved scheme within 30 days of the tenancy starting. Which scheme does the agent use? Do they offer proof of deposit?

Quick Response

If you opt for full management you are essentially leaving all repairs and small decisions to the agent (of course, for anything major they will need your permission, and you can set financial limits that they can’t spend over and above).

An important aspect of this is how quickly the agent responds to tenant issues and maintenance requests. The quicker the better; you need your tenant to be happy in their home or you might run the risk of them leaving and you having to not only have the repairs seen to anyway, but also having to find new tenants for the property.

It’s worth looking at letting agent reviews; who gives a good service to both tenants and landlords? These are the agents you want to contact. They might cost more than others, but it will be money well spent.

 As a landlord, finding a good long term tenant should always be a priority. The rental industry is notorious for having tenants moving on every two to three years because they’ve seen another property, they’re not happy where they are, or they’re ready to buy a house amongst other reasons.

Some of these things can’t be helped – if a ‘better’ property comes up that offers more room or is closer to a good school, then the tenant probably won’t be persuaded to stay. The same goes for if they have saved up their deposit and they’re ready to get their foot on the property ladder. Yet there are some things you can do to make a tenant who might just be used to moving every few years become a much longer term prospect which means you won’t have to go to the expense of having an empty property and finding another tenant to fill it. Here are some tips on what you can do.

 Be Willing To Compromise With A Long Term Tenant

The rental market is a crowded one, and there are many properties that will be up for rent at the same time as yours. They will be the same size, marketed at the same price (give or take), they might even be on the same road, or at least close by one another. With fewer people than ever being able to raise a deposit for a mortgage, renting is fast overtaking home ownership as the norm, and that means there is a lot of choice for tenants – no longer will they have to ‘settle’ if they don’t have to.

 And for the most part, they don’t have to.

 So how can you ensure that the potential long term tenant who is viewing your property and two or three others on the same day and who is going to choose one of them will pick yours? It’s often about compromise. You don’t have to lower the price (especially if the tenant doesn’t ask) although this is something you can keep in reserve if you need to, but you can throw in some extras that might sweeten the deal. You could:

Offer a reduced deposit

Offer to pay the council tax for the first three months

Assure the tenant that you won’t rent to anyone before they’ve had a chance to think things through (you’re not even losing anything here – you’re just showing them that you’re easy to work with and willing to help when possible)

Plus there are many other ideas that you will be able to think of; it’s going to depend on the tenancy and the property as to what you feel you can offer. It’s all about making a good first impression, and if you can show that you are willing to compromise if need be, the long term tenant is going to be happier to rent from you.

 Give A Warm Welcome To Your Long Term Tenant

You might not be there when someone moves in – that’s what Looksy is there for, after all; we carry out check ins on your behalf. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t still offer a warm welcome to make the tenant really feel at home.

You can have flowers delivered, or leave some wine or chocolate in the property for them to enjoy. Maybe stock the fridge with milk and leave a loaf of bread and some tea and coffee in the kitchen (even if they have their own, your kindness won’t be unnoticed). Or what about collating a list of good places to eat, quality takeaways, great locations to visit, the best schools, and so on? It’s the little things like this that will make people want to stay around for longer.

Remember, this is your house but it’s their home, and if you can stick to this simple mantra you’ll always be seen as a good landlord.

 Keep Your Promises

A landlord can promise the moon and the stars but if they don’t deliver that doesn’t mean they’re a good landlord; quite the opposite, in fact. It’s crucial for you to keep your promises if you want your good tenants – the ones who pay on time, every time, and who look after the property well for you, and who are nice, quiet neighbours and cause no bother – to stick around once their tenancy is up.

 You don’t have to do a lot. You just need to do the things you’ve said you’ll do, especially if you happened to mention those things when the tenant was viewing the property, and they are the reason they took your place over someone else’s… If you don’t do what you said you were going to, don’t be surprised if they decide to go and find someone who will at the earliest opportunity.

As a landlord, even if you aren’t aware of the new EPC rules, you will know that your rental property must have an up to date EPC in place before you can rent it out. These reports don’t cost a huge amount, and you can often get them organised through your lettings agent if you are using one. Once done, they last for 10 years, so as far as investments go, it’s not a bad one. Plus, as mentioned earlier, it’s absolutely essential and you can’t rent out your property without one.

You’ll receive a report regarding your property, and that result will have two columns. The first, ranging from A (excellent) to G (terrible) is the energy efficiency of your property at the time of the report. The second column, which will also range from A to G, is where your property could be if you carried out the necessary work to make it more energy efficient.

In the past, the result of the EPC didn’t particularly matter. It would be in place for the tenant to see, enabling them to make an informed decision about taking on the property and paying the heating bills – the worse the EPC the more expensive the place would be to run. But that’s all it meant.

Now things are different because of the new EPC rules.

New EPC Rules: The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards

In April 2019, the government introduced the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES). When this was introduced, it meant that all rental properties had to have an EPC rating of at least E. Anything that was an F or a G could therefore not be rented out until the necessary work had been done to bring it up to at least an E (and ideally higher). Landlords who continue to rent out the property without making any changes will face a fine of up to £5,000.

Initially, these changes only affected new tenancies or tenancy renewals. However, what is important to note, and something that might catch a number of landlords out, is that as of April 2020, all existing tenancies will also be subject to the new MEES rules. So even if you’re just partway through a tenancy, as of 1^st April 2020 and the new EPC rules, if the EPC on your property is less than E, that tenancy effectively becomes void. Work will need to be done in order to ensure that your EPC is at least an E. If this can’t be done (perhaps because the property can only reach a certain level of energy efficiency due to its construction) then your tenants will need to move out, and you will need to stop renting the property. It sounds harsh, but these are the new rules and they need to be abided by.

Exemptions

Right now, there is an exemption in place called the ‘no cost to the landlord’ exemption. This means that if the landlord cannot afford to pay for the improvements needed to upgrade the energy efficiency of their rental property and they can’t access funding (which might come from their local council or the Green Deal) they won’t have to pay to get the work done. Take note, as of 1^st April 2020, that exemption will no longer be in place. All landlords will be liable for any improvements up to a cap of £3,500. Anything over that amount can be funded through other means, but the first £3,500 has to come from the landlord.

Winter is a tricky time for property maintenance; the cold weather, the rain, potentially even the snow all combine to create issues. Add this together with the fact that there are limited numbers of tradespeople available and that all properties are going to be suffering from the same problems, and you can see how your tenants might have cause to complain. It makes sense, therefore, to protect your property as much as possible to prevent (or at least reduce) the possibility of these issues occurring. Here are some ideas to put in place before the cold snap really hits.

Winter Roofs and Guttering

Roofs can have serious problems during the winter. High winds can loosen or even completely dislodge tiles, and that means that the rain can get inside, causing damp, leaks, and mould. A blocked gutter can have similar results. Water damage is expensive to fix and can cause a lot of damage, which is why it makes a lot of sense to prevent it where possible.

Gutters should be cleared at the start of the winter season. This will remove any build up of leaves that have fallen. Do this job before the worst of the weather comes and you can save yourself (and your tenants) a lot of misery.

Check your roof on a periodic basis as well. Repairing a few tiles that are missing when you realise they are gone is a much more cost effective plan than allowing the roof to stay damaged and for water ingress to cause damage and make living conditions difficult for your tenant.

The Garden

In most cases, the garden will be the responsibility of your tenant, but if the property is empty then this is something you will need to take into consideration – garden maintenance needs to be on your list of things to do, especially during the winter.

Take broken fence posts, for example. It’s best to fix these and ensure any fences are stable and properly secured before the weather becomes wintery and windy – losing a fence is a harder thing to deal with and could cause problems with neighbours than fixing a fence that is a little bit wobbly but still in place.

Check the trees on your property as well. Overhanging branches can be dangerous; if a branch fell and damaged the property, a car, or – worst of all – hurt someone, then you would be liable for the cost of making things right.

Pipes

Pipes can be a serious problem during winter. When water freezes within the pipe it expands and can crack the pipe or even cause it to burst. Again, you could have massive water damage within the property, but you could also leave your tenant with no water. Neither of these scenarios will put you in a good light as a landlord.

Check that the pipes are well insulated and make sure there are no cracks in them. You should also have the boiler serviced regularly, and when the property is empty ensure the heating is on all the time, at a low temperature. When a new tenant moves in, walk through the house with them and show them where the stopcock is just in case of an emergency – their quick action should a pipe burst could save you a lot of money but if they are searching for the stopcock because you haven’t informed them where it is, precious time could be wasted.

Chimneys

If your property has a working fireplace then a professional chimney sweep should be engaged to clean the chimney before any new tenant wants to use the fire. This will remove any build up of debris and reduce the risk of a fire hazard. If your property is occupied then it is the tenant’s responsibility to do this, but to ensure that it happens (and that you are covered) it should be written into the tenancy agreement.

An Inventory Service

Investing in a professional inventory report can help you to ensure your property is properly maintained during the winter period. You will immediately be able to see just what work is required, and you’ll know that you left the property in a fit state to be occupied, just in case of any disputes.

Contact us today to find out more and to book your inventory report.