A Guide to Reducing Your Property’s Carbon Footprint.
To reduce the carbon footprint of the UK, the Climate Change Act 2008 sets out legally binding carbon emission reduction targets that the UK must meet. The target is to ensure carbon dioxide emissions are at least 80% lower by 2050 than they were in 1990.
Continue reading A Guide to Reducing Your Property’s Carbon Footprint.Swapping Letting Agents is Easier Than You Think.
Whether it be that you are not happy with the service, or costs have started to escalate or you just want to try another provider, moving letting agents doesn’t need to be a headache.
Continue reading Swapping Letting Agents is Easier Than You Think.The provision of Landlord insurance is a well-covered topic and most Landlords are aware that they should insure their rental property. If they have a loan on the property – be it and HMO or Buy to Let – then the lender themselves will insist upon this.
Continue reading Should an HMO tenant have contents insurance?One of the perennial challenges in managing a rental property, is identifying who is responsible for what: landlord or tenant? Often there is confusion from both parties to the tenancy as to what they are responsible for. So, here is a quick run-down of the ‘big hitters’ in terms of areas for confusion or frequent causes for concern during a tenancy.
Continue reading Landlords vs Tenants ResponsibilitiesThere is a lot of talk on social media at present about individual landlords setting up their own lettings agencies. This is exactly what the directors of Lifeboat Lettings did four years ago, so we feel qualified to comment on this!
Continue reading Should I Start my Own Lettings Agency and How do I do This?As the government continues to wean the country off Covid-19 related support packages, further changes have been introduced to eviction notice periods.
Continue reading Eviction Notice Periods ChangesAnother bombshell will be hitting the rental market in a few years’ time in the form of changes to the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards for rental properties. What will the implications be for landlords?
Continue reading EPC Law Change ComingIt is the situation that gives landlords the most sleepless nights: a tenant can’t pay, refuses to pay or simply chooses not to pay all or some of the rent, either temporarily or permanently. This is often – although not always – coupled with increased communication issues, or maybe not being able to get hold of the tenant at all. This very much compounds the level of stress for the landlord.
So what can be done when a tenant falls into arrears and how should a landlord approach the situation?
Here are some of the key steps you must take.
Continue reading What to do if your tenant isn’t paying the rent.Does it contravene the Tenant Fees Act? …..
The short answer is ‘Yes’.
There has been much talk on social media platforms recently about a new approach to managing the property viewings process, particularly for ‘in demand’ properties where there may be many hundreds of enquiries from potential tenants and purchasers all looking for a viewing. The challenge for many agents is how to manage this surge of interest, respond to all enquiries and book the most suitable applicants in for viewings. Many of these applicants do not meet the basic financial criteria, or even when booked in for viewings are not genuine proceedable applicants, are ‘time wasters’ or simply do not show up. This adds a huge burden of time and cost into the process for the agent or landlord.
Continue reading Paying for viewingsWhat is it and how does it work for tenants & landlords?
Reposit is an alternative to the traditional tenancy deposit schemes. With a traditional deposit, the tenant pays a large sum (four to five weeks’ rent) which the landlord or letting agent is legally obliged to register with a deposit scheme (see The Housing Act 2004).
Continue reading Reposit Scheme
