How to make sure HMO tenants do their share of housework
Cleaning in HMOs is often a difficult area to get right, mainly because there are many different scenarios in terms of house layout and tenant make up. A one size fits all approach on the part of the landlord and/or managing agent, is rarely applicable. As always, effectiveness of cleaning will come down to individuals and their attitudes (including the landlord), what they actually undertake, how well it is done and how regularly.
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.
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.
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.
Another 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?
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.
Your property will be in loving hands with Lifeboat Lettings professional property management.
Professional Property Management can offer complete peace of mind and free up some of your precious time. As a busy landlord, you may have already thought about unloading some of the everyday pressures of managing your portfolio to a professional property management specialist like Lifeboat Lettings. If the year 2020 has taught us anything, it’s to value the time we have and use it well. It’s crucial to enjoy what life has to offer, and that is without burning out to the point where life is no longer fun! Managing your properties, work-life balance, and new and exciting business ventures can quickly become a challenge. Leaving you exposed to financial, physical, and emotional exhaustion. Consider the freedom that you would have, to follow other dreams if you handed the reigns to a trustworthy, passionate team instead?
In choosing Lifeboat Lettings as your property management service provider; you will gain peace of mind that your investment will be expertly cared for by experienced, down to earth businesspeople such as yourself. With over fifty years’ combined experience within the industry, our directors and staff offer a wide range of skills and knowledge that will enable you to feel confident in leaving the management to us.
In this article we have broken down some of the benefits, that we feel are exceptionally valuable which will save both time and money in the long run, when you choose to take on professional property management.
Here’s what we consider to be the main benefits of having professional management in place.
Valuable experience.
We understand that the thought of handing your assets over to someone else to look after can be difficult. Also, it’s hard to find someone who does things the way you do.
That’s why at Lifeboat Lettings we spend time with our landlords getting to know them and find out what their expectations are. That way, we feel that we can move ahead with their best interests at heart. We genuinely care about our clients and their assets. We have high expectations as we’re professional landlords ourselves so we understand the process.
It is through our own experiences that we have been able to develop Lifeboat Lettings to provide that personal experience for all our clients. We approach each landlord according to their individual needs meaning that a bespoke service can be agreed.
Because of our rich experience in ownership, development, and the journeys of a landlord we’re also able to offer guidance and support to anyone looking to enter the industry or is thinking about their next big step.
Ensuring you find the right tenants to suit you and the property.
If you are confident that you have good tenants, you can relax a little knowing that your property will be looked after. Therefore, finding tenants that fit with your mindset is important! This can be a tedious task, not to mention a stressful one. Not only do you need to know where best to market your property, but you will also need to adopt a process where you can filter applicants. This will not only be time consuming; the costs can become insurmountable as some of the better places to market properties can be expensive to access.
Don’t let your cash fly away from you! Consider professional property management
Having a professional management company in place, can help to overcome some of these issues. Not only do we have access to some of the best advertising portals available to market your properties, but our team have also developed a vigorous screening process for all tenants that we use prior to any formal viewings.
Keeping things legal.
There is an everchanging list of regulations and legislation that you as a landlord are responsible to adhere to, to assure your property remains safe for your tenants. You simply can’t ignore these things, and when you have multiple properties this can suddenly feel overwhelming. In addition to gas safety checks, electrical systems checking, fire safety and testing, maintenance, repairs etc., you must also register your tenant’s deposits in an approved deposit protection scheme.
Having a professional management team in place can certainly help you to stay within the law, because we have a duty of care to know the current legislation and regularly keep our clients informed of changes and carry out all legal requirements as a part of the management package.
With a property management expert in place, you have complete peace of mind that all the above and more are taken care of. As a team, Lifeboat Lettings have the staff and skill, to take care of your property as if it were their own. We have dedicated property managers across Kent, who carry out weekly checks in accordance with laws and our own policies. There is no shortage of tradespeople on our books, meaning that we can deal with all manner of maintenance issues swiftly and professionally, while looking after the budget.
Our team are not only experts, we’re continuously monitoring updates in the laws which may affect our customers, ensuring we provide them with the best possible care.
Complete peace of mind.
We know that owning property can be extremely rewarding with the right approach. By employing an excellent management company, it not only keeps you in the loop, but also removes the stress of worrying about current investments. With our extensive knowledge and experience, we would recommend speaking to one of our friendly team at Lifeboat Lettings if you’re considering the idea of a property management company.
For complete ease of contact with us, we have listed all our social media channels for your convenience where you can reach and connect with us here. We look forward to working with you soon.
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