Presenting a property for letting

It is all to common for landlords to overlook the basics when is comes to letting property. Simple things such as not cutting the grass.

Here you will find some common areas that should be attended to prior to placing your property on the market.

Firstly, you must have the property checked for the safety, electrics, gas, and if furnished, that these comply with the Regulations.

Exterior:

Tenants do not want to see overgrown or unkempt gardens,rickety old sheds, rusty barbeques. They would like neat and tidy gardens for use for their family and friends during the summer.

Not all tenants leave gardens in a state at the end.

If you have an overgrown garden at the beginning, you cannot epect a tenant to maintain it during their occupation.

Also remember your property is your main asset, and therefore routine maintenance should be done to ensure that your property remains in good condition. It is no good having rotten windows, a leaking roof and expect to obtain high rental yield.

Replace your old wooden windows with uPVC. to ensure good thermal insulating properties

Interior:

Decoration

Not all tenants like Magnolia! However, it is a good idea to keep the colour schemes neutral, rather than have bold colours. Although tenants cannot redecorate without the permission of the landlord, they are expected not to let the decor deteriorate and therefore, if the tenant has been in the property for a couple of years, the decoration would need to be “freshened” and if the colour is no longer available or is a special colour (not premixed), then this could be hard to match and result in the whole room being redecorated instead of say, just one wall.

For a point of note, busy wall paper should also be avoided, for many reasons. One being if the paper becomes damaged, however small, you are looking at repapering a whole wall. The cost you may find hard to justify if only a small area has been damaged.

The above is really dealing with investment properties, but similar thoughts can be had for temporay landlords, those only letting for say 6 – 12 months while overseas or in another area working.

When a property has been let for sometime, to may be several tenants (6 months on one, six months on another), in some instances it is hard to place any particular blame in a single tenant for allowing deterioration of the decor. It is good practice that landlords again freshen the decoration after say two or three years of lettings. If, of course a tenant has clearly damaged the wall coverings, or has painted walls, but not to a particularly high standard, then this can be classed as unfair wear and tear and can be deducted from the deposit/bond.

Kitchens

If letting furnished the kitchen should have adequate appliances, which are safe to use and in good condition. In a three bedroomed property there should be place settings for four persons.

For unfurnished lettings it is usual to have “white goods” left for use by the tenant, although when negotiating a letting these may not be required and therefore be removed and stored for future use.

There should be adequate storage facilities for food away from cleaning materials, suitable worktop space and ample power points. The units should be of modern design. If special work surface, such a real Beech Block, maintenance instructions must be available

Instruction manuals are required for appliances.

Bathrooms:

The sanitary equipment should be modern, in good order and free from limescale. A shower is very important item for many tenants and worth the expense for the landlord to install a shower before placing the property on the market.

Showers can cause problems if not properly installed (leakage/condensation), so the installation should be done professionally. An electric extractor fan should also be fitted.

The seal around a bath should be inspected for age and wear, and renewed if necessary. Tiles should be sound, clean and free from mould in grouting.

Flooring should be tiles, cushion or laminate flooring. Carpet should be avoided.

Reception Rooms:

Sofas, chairs and other seating should be clean and of suitable type for the property. Remember that soft furnishings must comply with the safety regulations and have labels attached saying that they comply.  Antique furniture and furniture-manufactured prior to 1950 are exempt.

Carpets should be clean and of suitable quality. It is a recommendation that all carpeting (where not new) is professionally cleaned prior to letting.

All decoration should be fresh and if possible neutral in colour. Any young children’s wallpaper should be changed to appeal to a wider market

Bedrooms:

If the property is furnished, the beds must be up to BS 7177 to comply with fire safety regulations and free of stains.

Mattress covers are an obvious advantage.

Carpets should be free from stains and of reasonable quality

General:

There should be information left for tenants for the cleaning/care of any furniture or items that have special finishes. Instruction manuals (in English) must be available for heating controls, appliances, bbqs etc.

Test:

Place yourself in your property and ask the question:

If I was a tenant looking at this property, whould I rent it as seen?

If the answer is NO, then you can see why the property will take longer to let or fail allthogether!

What we are looking for is turning the NO answer into YES