15 Tips For Landlords

This is basically a few tips for upcoming and/or new landlords. There is a lot of responsibility that comes with being a Landlord, and also a lot of risks. Please note that these tips are based on the assumption that the Landlord is not working with a Letting Agency.

1) Know the relevant law
Regardless of whether you’re an experienced, new or upcoming Landlord, it is your responsibility to have knowledge of the law, including legal requirements. You need to stick with in the bounds of the law and cover all necessary safety precautions, otherwise you could face prosecution.

2) Be a Landlord, not a friend
It’s important that you don’t get too close to your tenant by forming a friendship. By all means be nice and respectable to your tenant, but be careful you don’t cross the line. Letting your property is a business venture, so keep it strictly business. If you get into the situation where you’ve become more than just a Landlord, you’re giving your tenant a window of opportunity to ask for special favours e.g reducing the rate of rent. You may find it hard to say no, and that’s more money out of your pocket. You don’t want to be put into that situation, even if you’re strong enough to decline your tenant’s request because that can cause tension.

3) Landlord Contract
Make sure you have a suitable contract that suits your property and needs. There are a lot of generic contracts out there, you can either download them from online or buy them from places like WH Smiths. However, I always think it’s best you read over EVERYTHING in the contract and add your own constraints, if you think it’s necessary. It’s extremely imperative you get the contract right, because it stipulates your rights as a Landlord and your tenant’s rights. Take your time putting your contract together; it could save you from a lot of stress in the future.

4) Length of tenancy
Your contract will stipulate how long you want to give your tenant tenancy for. I recommend you keep it to a maximum of 12 months. Don’t get suckered in by 18+ month’s requests. Firstly, you don’t know what the state of the property market will b in 12 months timee, especially considering inflation and rising interest rates. You may need to increase your rental price by next year, and you won’t be able to if you have a long contract. Secondly, if you’re renting your property out to an unsatisfactory tenant, you don’t want them in your property longer than they have to be.

4) Choosing your tenant
Be extremely cautious when choosing your tenant. In an ideal world we would all rent our property out to people we know and trust. But that’s rarely ever the case. Whether you get an external agency to recruit a tenant or whether you find someone yourself, make sure you do reference and credit checks. The agency will do a check for you as part of the recruitment package. However, if you’re recruiting for a tenant privately, make sure you find out about your potential tenants. You can do this by calling any credit reference agency. I recommend you rent out your property to someone who has a professional and steady job.

6) Gas and Electricity
By law you must get gas appliances inspected annually by a CORGI registered plumber, and receive the necessary certificates. You are also required to get the electricity checked at least every five years. If your tenant gets injured by anything gas related or electrical and you don’t have the appropriate certificates, you will be held liable.

7) Realistic Rental Income
Set a realistic rental income. If you’re unsure about how much to charge, then do some research. Find out what other Landlords are charging by finding similar properties for rent in the same area. Best place to look is your local paper or letting websites. Remember, it’s better to have a tenant paying a modest rent than to set a high rent and have your property remain vacant. It should be stated in the contract how much, when, and how you will receive your rental income.

8.) Landlord Legal Advice
If you ever need legal advice as a Landlord, you should go to appropriate organisations that specialise in the field. I recommend landlordlaw.co.uk. They have plenty of information on their website, and offer legal advice.

9) Your tenants have left
If your tenants have vacated the building before the contract has expired, be extremely careful about re-entering the property without a court order. Unlawful eviction is a criminal offence. Get legal advice and find out your rights before you take action.

10) Keep a rent book
Make sure you keep a rent book so you and your tenant are up to date on payments. It’s important you record everything to cover your own back And for every payment that you receive provide a receipt for proof.

11) Document everything and use recorded delivery
Whenever you and your tenant agree on anything, document it and get both parties to sign. Keep a copy of everything, as well as providing your tenant with a copy. If you mail anything to your tenant, make it recorded delivery. You’d be surprised about how many people will deny receiving letters that they actually did.

12) Don’t flash your cash
If you’re a landlord you obviously have some form of wealth. Don’t flash your cash in front of your tenant. Rolling up in your brand new BMW while collecting your tenant’s hard earned cash won’t go down too well. It’s important to keep peace.

13) Security Deposit
Make sure you get an appropriate security deposit. The security deposit will cover any damages the tenant leaves behind when vacating your property at the end of tenancy. The amount should usually equal to the monthly rental rate. The contract should stipulate more details regarding the security deposit.

14) Inform the right organisations
If you don’t have a buy to let mortgage you will need to find out from your mortgage lender if you’re able to rent your property out. Without doing so you will be breaching your contract with your lender. If you have a lease to a property, you need to get permission from the head of the lessee to rent out the property. Again, if you fail to do so, you maybe breaching your contract. Get in touch with your insurance company of any proposed letting as your cover and/or premiums may be affected. Failure to tell your insurers might mean they refuse to pay any claims.

15) Furnished or unfurnished
You have the option of letting your property either furnished or unfurnished. You can potentially get more rental income if you furnish the property. However, you need to work out your costs. Buying the furniture in the first place maybe costly and replacing damaged furniture can also cost extra. Moreover, if you furnish the property, it will reflect on your home insurance policy. If you furnish the property it’s up to you to get content and structural insurance. However, if you don’t furnish the property, you only need a structural policy and it will be up to the tenant to insure his/her own content.

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2 Comments

Be Good To Your Tenant - Property Investment News wrote, on Mar 26th, 2007

	[...] 15 Properties -15 Tips For Landlords -15 Tips For Selling A House -15 Tips For Buying Property -15 Reasons Why Estate Agents Are [...]
1

littlebeezz wrote, on Jun 12th, 2007

	thanks, very helpful.
2

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