Tips for maintaining your buy-to-let property

Maintaining a property that you have bought for letting is one of your main responsibilities as a landlord. A property that is not well-maintained will eventually lose its value. It will be more difficult to rent or it may fetch a lower rent. Small repairs done at appropriate time will save them from becoming a major repair hassle in the future. For example, a small job of replacing a roof tile might save a major leakage problem when there is a rainstorm. Preventative maintenance helps save a lot of money

A natural disaster like a storm may damage your property. You can claim the cost of repair from your insurance company. Take photographs of the damage and the get a report from an expert view from an objective builder on how the property was damaged.
Spend the time between two letting arrangements to improve the property. Repaint it; redecorate it. A tenant looks for a clean and well-maintained property. Nothing should be broken or damaged. The kitchen and the bathrooms should not look old or out-dated.

If you do not take immediate steps to repair and maintain, your tenants will get the message that you do not care about your property. The tenants will treat your property the same way. They may use the excuse to delay payment of rent pr not pay it at all. Encourage the tenants to report problems promptly. A well-maintained property will never lose its glory and market value.

UK buy-to-let market has a bright future

Michael Ball, a speaker at the Mortgage Strategy’s Buy-to-let Summit, used statistics that reveal that the let-to-buy has a positive future. Ball is a professor of urban and property economics at Reading University.

He said that long-term forecast for the buy-to-let segment is exceedingly good. Demand for rental property tends to go up when the market is slow. Figures showed that buy-to-let lending is growing and the demand is increasing. Migration, immigration and the shortage in house supply will have more people renting than buying.

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors -Rics- reports that the rents are rising. Figures from the National Housing and Planning Advisory Unit show that only fifty-two percent of people in their early 30s can afford to buy property in London.

The fact that the Landlord Association recorded many new numbers in the past two weeks shows that buy-to-let is doing very well.

Rental yields are rising and more people are choosing to rent instead of buy. Buy-to-let is a financially secure and safe investment for 2008.

David Newnes who is the Director of Your Move Managing, the largest letting agent in the UK explained that first time buyers who have little or no deposit are finding it almost impossible to procure high loan to value mortgages. So, they need to rent properties to live in.

Maintaining let property

Maintaining property for letting is one of the main responsibilities of a landlord. A property that is not well-maintained will eventually lose its value. It will be more difficult to rent and may fetch a lower rent.

Small repairs done at once will save them from becoming big problems. For example, a small job of replacing a roof tile might lead to flooding of the house when there is a rainstorm. Preventative maintenance helps save a lot of money

A natural disaster like a storm may damage your property. You can claim the cost of repair from your insurance company. Take photographs of the damage and then get a report from an expert view from an objective builder on how the property was damaged.

Spend the time between renting to improve the property. Repaint it. Redecorate it. A tenant looks for a clean and well-maintained property. Nothing should be broken. The kitchen and the bathrooms should not look old or out-dated.

If you do not take immediate steps to repair and maintain, your tenants will get the message that you do not care about your property. The tenants will treat your property the same way. They may use the excuse to delay payment of rent or not pay it at all. Encourage the tenants to report problems promptly. A well-maintained property will not lose its value

Before you buy to let, get the right insurance cover for your property

Property owners’ liability insurance allows you to cover any costs and/or damages that are awarded to a member of the public in case they suffer an injury – major or minor - owing to an accident on, or in some way linked to, your premises.

Those who buy to let property need to make sure that they take the proper insurance cover for it. For them, a standard home insurance policy may not be good enough, as it will not cover the buy- to-let property. If the insurers are not aware that the property is let, they might even refuse to pay insurance claims. According to Mairi Scott, Managing Director of specialist risk consultants Leaseguard, the risks involved for a landlord can be substantial and can vary quite considerably as compared to those faced by owners occupying their own home.

Any individual, with a legitimate reason to be on the premises - a postman, gardener, and so on - could get injured on the property and may make a claim for injury. The landlord should get the insurance cover for such accidental damage. The insurance should also cover damage done to the property by the tenants and theft.

Internet is the best source to look for prospective tenants

Once you enter a realty deal from the point of view of buy-to-let, you will need to start looking for tenants, at the earliest. Here are some suggestions on how to go about it.

You first need to advertise your property for the purpose of letting. Use the Internet. You can very well leverage its reach and cost-effectiveness. It’s an affordable medium, which will allow you to access a large number of prospective customers. By advertising online, you can easily find several willing tenants. The advertisement should be concise, with basic details of the property, including its location, type, the number of rooms, etc.

Mention your contact details, including your telephone number and your e-mail address. If you post your landline number, use an answering machine to keep track of queries from prospective tenants, if and when you are not at home. Return the calls as soon as possible.

Once you finalise a few potential tenants from the available options, arrange to meet them, ideally at your buy-to-let location. Decide on the date and time to meet. Meet them separately. When the tenants arrive, take them around the property. Once the prospective tenant shows interest in renting, and is ready for the deal, you can complete other formalities.

Online resource to get proper guidance on your buy-to-let

National Landlords Association (NLA) is the UK’s independent national organisation working for private residential landlords. It’s a resource for landlords who want to be better informed about buy-to-let rules. NLA gives them access to financial and tax information. The information is updated regularly so that the buy-to-let investors can make a correct decision. NLA publishes modules to help landlords grow professionally. The online modules cover of range of subjects, including inheritance tax, mortgages, property owner energy saving allowance, etc. The information is imparted as part of the landlords’ development programme. Online lessons also include record-keeping, income tax, VAT, capital gains tax and stamp duty land tax. These all form part of a structured learning tool.
The online resource covers other areas like record keeping, stamp duty, mortgages, etc.
According to one of the NLA officials, landlords should have accurate information for dealing with the complicated taxation matters. This programme will keep the landlords updated about the periodic changes in taxation matters. Landlords will find all this information very valuable because of the increase in rental yields and a further demand for rental accommodation. It will help them leverage their letting exercise better and more efficiently.

For execution of your buy-to-let deals, we provide you the complete help and guidance.

The UK buy-to-let market to gain from the increased demand for rented accommodation

UK landlords will continue to gain from the increase in demand for rented accommodation. Immigration, an increase in number of people living alone and the weakening of the housing market has boosted the demand for rented property. Many would-be-buyers have not been able to do so owing to difficulty in securing loans. So, the demand for rental property has increased.

Landlords who are already letting their properties will continue to benefit from the existing ambiguity in the housing market. They will make good income from rising rents. The Lettings Surveys indicated there was an increase in rental yields in the final quarter of 2007. Properties used to stand vacant for a longer period whereas now the landlord finds a tenant in quick time, according to market observers. Another factor leading to the situation is falling prices that have made many landlords to hold onto their properties they might have intended to sell after the tenant lease expired. Instead they were more inclined to continue renting their properties. If you want to get hardcore and reliable information about the UK buy-to-let market, you have come to the right place.

Secrets of successful Buy-to-let strategy

Many people are buying property for the sole purpose of letting because, according to reports, buy-to-let property market in the UK remains buoyant. It is estimated that two and a half million homes in the UK have half a million landlords.What exactly is buy-to-let? It’s a form of residential investment where you buy a property usually with the help of a mortgage and then rent it out. The tenant pays you rent. The rent covers the mortgage payments. Over a period of time, the value of your property increases, so you stand to gain.

Before you opt to invest in a property for the purpose of buy-to-let, it’s very important to find the right area in which to invest. The property should be in good condition. Once you have got your finance in order, you need to locate the right property for the purpose of buy-to-let. This is the most vital decision in the entire process. It’s the property you select, which ultimately defines the success of your buy-to-let strategy. Once you buy and let, you become a landlord. As a landlord, you will have to look for tenants; check tenants’ references; collect the rent and maintain the property, and deal with routine or procedural problems. Also, the right kind of tenants should be available, and the rent should provide for your mortgage.

Look after your buy-to-let property just like your own home

Letting out a property is quite a different proposition from owning & living in one. Let’s consider a simple scenario. While living in your own home, the onus of fixing damaged connections and dealing with routine problems as they surface is very much on you. But in a buy-to-let case, the onus of looking after the house and reporting any problems lying unresolved is on the tenant. The tenant needs to take responsibility for dealing with these issues. However, the landlord may feel at times that the tenant is not as responsible and efficient as desired, simply choosing to neglect such problems and leaving them unresolved. If this indeed is the case, you need to start getting worried!
In fact, lack of care and attention will turn your money-spinning asset into a burden on your resources in the future. With a little bit of preparation and planning right in the beginning of each new tenancy term, you can ensure a hassle-free and mutually beneficial relationship with your tenants. Also, timely maintenance of your property can help you save thousands of pounds. If you fail to carry out regular repairs, it will escalate your repairing costs in the future. It’s vital to look after your buy-to-let property just like your own home.

Landlord Insurance for rental void periods

A rental void period is when your property stands vacant, and there is no rental income coming in. This could happen when you fail to find a tenant.

It could also be the case when the tenant defaults on rent or the property is damaged by flooding, fire or other natural calamities like lightning, earthquake and storms. To safeguard yourself from this hazard, invest in appropriate landlord insurance. Make sure that compensation for such damages is specified in your policy.

The law does not require you to have landlord insurance, but it would be wise to do so. Approach an insurer who specialises in these types of insurance and get the right cover. A single policy can cover both tenant default cover and loss of rent cover. You can also include buildings and contents cover. This is useful when a tenant either fails to pay rent or violates other obligations, and the landlord needs to use legal steps to evict him or her. The insurance cover should provide for your legal fees.

Insurance companies do not provide cover for certain types of tenant. This could be students, more than one single sharers and people receiving state benefits. Often, rental voids cannot be avoided, but insurance will help against loss of rent due to tenant defaults or serious damage to the property.