Are you about to let a London property for the first time? Maybe you did it once before, had a long break, and are coming back to the process again. In fact, even if you have lots of experience, it never hurts to remind yourself of some of the most important aspects of maintaining a rental property and making it work on your behalf. It’s sometimes an arduous and unsettling experience, but by keeping an eye on certain factors, you can at least ensure it maximises its profitability.
- Keep it in good shape – It may seen unnecessary to point out that maintaining your home properly will help it stay profitable, but it’s very easy to lose sight of this, with all the other things going on in your life. Some people fall for the false economy of spending as little as possible on the property to diminish their outgoings, but when a home falls into disrepair, people no longer want to live in it and your agent will encourage you to lower the rent. Keep it in fit repair, on the other hand, and you’ll be able to stand up to all the competition in the busy rental market. You can put down repair work and so on as expenses when filing taxes, too.
- Keep an eye on the competition – It’s worth glancing at the market from time to time to stay in touch the prices other people are charging for similar properties. It’s good to know whether you’re over-priced, under-priced or just right. Having competitive rates while still making a good profit is the sweet spot you want to be hitting and staying tuned into the rentals scene is a good way to achieve this.
- Don’t just maintain the inside – Keeping the external parts of your property in a sightly and attractive state is important. First impressions and all that. You want to ensure people come through the front door already harbouring positive feelings. You may not achieve your best potential rental profit if the exterior of the property is bordering on slumsville levels of disrepair, damage and peeling paint. Potential renters will find it depressing, even if they only register the feeling subconsciously.
At Ward Thomas we offer a number of services which are related to property rental, including Home Removals, Storage and Staging.
