Every landlord is a first-timer once. Becoming a landlord can be a fantastic thing, a great career move or just a way to make some extra money on the side. Whatever your reasons, it’s a busy and very exciting time.
But there are also a lot of pitfalls involved in becoming a landlord. Little things you can only really learn by experience, but can cost you a lot of time, effort and money to learn. Since you guys enjoyed our tips for first time renters article so much, we wanted to share some of our top tips for first time landlords. These are designed to help you start out on the right foot, and maybe avoid some of the common mistakes involved in becoming a landlord. If you’re a landlord with a tip we haven’t included, we’d love to hear it – so please drop it in the comments below!
Choose Your Estate Agent Carefully
If you’re going down the route of using an estate agent to manage your property (and you don’t have to, but it helps), make sure you choose the right one for you. There are a lot of estate agents out there, and each will have their own services and approach. It’s up to you to do some research and work out which estate agent will work best for you, and which offers are the most appealing for your specific circumstances. For example, at Northwood we offer a guaranteed rent service, which ensures you get paid on time every month, regardless of whether you have a tenant in the property or not. This is something other estate agents don’t offer, and may be a good way for you to secure your income from the property. We have a few tips to help you chose your estate agent here.
Make Sure Your Tenancy Agreement Is Solid
The tenancy agreement is the foundation of the relationship between tenant and landlord, and it’s the defacto document when it comes to resolving disputes. So this is where you need to spend a lot of your time and attention making sure it’s all right. The tenancy agreement should cover all of the responsibilities of each party, including things like:
- How much the rent is and when it’s due
- What deposit tenants need to pay, and how it should be paid
- The tenants obligations (e.g. to keep the property in good condition, pay bills and council tax etc)
- Your obligations as the landlord (e.g. keep the property in good repair, get appropriate insurance etc)
- What will happen at the end of the tenancy
Check Your Legal Responsibilities
As a landlord you have some legal responsibilities towards your tenants and your property. Particularly if you’ve fallen into becoming a landlord accidentlaly, it can be difficult to stay on top of all the things you need to do. For example, you need to be aware of the tenant fee ban and how that affects you. You also need to know what your health and safety obligations are, what you are legally allowed to do and how to be a good landlord. Make sure you do some reading, quiz your estate agent and ask other landlords, so you can be fully clued up from the get-go.
Consider Pets Carefully
And no, that doesn’t mean just decide to ban all pets from your property right away. While it’s true that many landlords don’t allow pets in their properties, the reality is that the market is changing where pets are concerned. With an entire generation of people having to rent further into their lives (or even for their entire lives), modern-day renters are often looking for somewhere long-term that they can settle into and call home. This will sometimes include things like starting a family, or bringing pets into their family. Long-term tenants are ideal for landlords, as you don’t want to have to keep getting used to new tenants every few months. So if you want to make your property attractive to renters, it’s worth considering your policy on pets carefully. This might mean you allow pets, allow them under certain conditions, allow certain kinds of pets only, or don’t allow them at all. If you aren’t sure, talk to your estate agent. They will be able to talk you through the pros and cons, and give you some sound advice on how to manage pets in a property.
At Northwood, we help landlords gain the peace of mind they need while they go about their day to day lives. Our experts can handle every element of your property for you, from listing your property and finding tenants to handling maintenance and even carrying out inspections. Plus our guaranteed rent service means that you’re never going to lose out on rent if your property is empty – because we will pay the rent instead! If you’d like to find out more about how Northwood could help you, just get in touch with us today.
