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According to a 2015 article in The Guardian, over 17,000 tenants believe that they’re being harassed by private landlords. In some cases, these issues are elevated to the courts, with landlords facing lawsuits due to harassment.

Landlords have a fine line to tread when renting out their property. On one hand, you want to protect your investment so it’s natural that you want to check up on the state of your property. On the other, doing so to excess means you’re invading your tenant’s privacy.

Do you want to know how to strike the right balance? Then follow out tips to ensure you don’t end up harassing tenants.

Tip #1 – Don’t Enter the Property Without Asking

Just picture the scene. You’re settling in for a nice evening at home after work. Maybe you’ve decided to skip the washing up so you can relax. Suddenly, somebody comes into your home uninvited. You’re not prepared for the intrusion, and you’ve had your privacy invaded.

That’s what happens whenever you enter your investment property without making your tenants aware of your visit in advance.

Yes, it’s your property and you have a right to ensure it’s being well-maintained. However, your tenants also have a right to privacy that you must respect. Don’t intrude on them without asking. This is especially important if your tenant lives alone, and you’re of the opposite gender.

Tip #2 – Don’t Interfere With Your Tenant’s Life

When it comes to their responsibilities to you, your tenants have a duty to maintain your property and live in accordance with the tenancy agreement. Beyond that, you have absolutely no say in how they choose to live their lives.

Do not tell tenants what they should be doing unless they’re in direct violation of the tenancy agreement. This includes things like telling them to clean up the property more often, or preventing them from having guests over.

This can get difficult, especially if your tenants enter rent arrears. Nevertheless, resist the temptation to interfere in their lives. Don’t cut off services, and continue to act in accordance with your side of the tenancy agreement. This places you in a much stronger legal position, should you need to make a legal claim for the rent. It also means that your tenants can’t claim to have not paid due to harassment or your failure to provide services.

Tip #3 – Record Your Visits and Contact

To ensure you have accurate records to back up any claims that you make in the case of a harassment allegation, maintain accurate documentation of every visit you make to the property. Furthermore, keep copies of any letters that you send. Your aim is to show that you have no acted outside of your rights when dealing with your tenants.

It should go without saying that you must stay professional in all communications. Do not swear or shout at your tenants when talking to them. Do everything by the book and you won’t have to worry about harassment claims.

If you need help with property management in London, contact Hills Estate. Our team will ensure your property offers everything that tenants need.

One of the biggest problems that most landlords face is trying to increase demand for their properties. Low demand means higher vacancy rates, which results in your property generating less income than you would like. If the problem persists, it can cause serious trouble for your finances.

So how do you attract more tenants to your property? Here are a few tips that should come in handy.

Treat Previous Tenants Well

For all of the marketing tools that are available to the modern landlord, there are still few that are quite as powerful as word of mouth. If you treat your previous tenants well, they’ll have nothing bad to say about you. This proves useful if prospective tenants decide to get in touch with people who’ve lived in your property before.

Furthermore, treating tenants well means they have no reason to go onto social media websites to talk negatively about you. Simply put, keeping your existing and previous tenants happy helps you develop a strong reputation that will help you to fill future vacancies.

Select a Good Location

Some landlords believe that any old property will do. However, you must pay attention to your property’s location. In particular, you need to know as much as possible about the surrounding neighbourhood, including any amenities or services that are nearby.

The location determines your target market. For example, a property near to schools and leisure facilities will prove more attractive to families, whereas one that offers easy access to the city will prove more popular among young professionals. Think about what the location has to offer and use this information to determine how you market the property to potential tenants.

Charge Realistic Rents

Though rents in London typically exceed those elsewhere in the country, you shouldn’t take this too far. Overcharging for a property always leads to lower demand, and even great features may not be enough to attract tenants who have a tight budget to consider.

There are several ways that you can ensure your rents are fair and accurate. For example, you could work with a lettings agent in London, who will have experience with the local rental property market and understands how much you should be charging. However, if you’re going it alone, you’ll need to look at similar rental properties in your area to see what other landlords are charging.

Advertise the Property Online

The internet is an extremely powerful tool, and it has completely changed the property industry. Today, most prospective tenants will start their searches online, and they’ll usually rely on the images and description in a property listing to help them decide whether to arrange a viewing.

As a result, you lose out on a massive chunk of the tenant market if you don’t get your property online. In the modern property market, classified ads and a couple of signs aren’t enough to raise tenant interest.

Happily, Hills Estate is here to help you with all of these issues. Contact our lettings agents today to get your property advertised online, and ensure that it has everything needed to attract new tenants.

As a new landlord, you may not realise how many extra responsibilities you take on when letting your property out. It’s not as simple as making sure the property is in good condition, and collecting your rent payments. You also need to consider fire safety before you can rent the property out.

Remember that all landlords have a legal obligation to ensure fire safety in their properties. This includes ensuring there is a way for tenants to escape in case of fire. Furthermore, landlords of house in multiple occupation (HMO) properties and shared properties have to deal with other obligations, as outlined in the Housing Act 2004.

It’s a lot to take in, so here are some basic fire safety tips for new landlords.

Assess Every Property You Own

Carry out a full assessment of every property before you rent it out to anybody. Don’t just do it once either. Instead, carry it out whenever you change tenants so you can account for any changes.

The assessment should help you to point out potential fire hazards, with a focus on how those hazards could negatively affect your building and the people living inside it. It will measure risk, and offer suggestions for control methods that you can use to mitigate the risk. Have a professional carry it out, as you may miss something if you do it yourself.

Use these assessments to check every electrical installation and appliance in the property too.

Fitting Smoke Detectors

A single fire detector isn’t always enough. You’re legally obligated to place a detector on every floor that can accommodate living. You can choose between mains powered and battery operated detectors. However, each has their issues. The latter need replacement batteries, which tenants won’t always provide, while the former become useless if the power goes out.

This reinforces the need to check your smoke detectors regularly. Furthermore, install carbon monoxide detectors in any room that contains an appliance that burns solid fuels.

Fit Self-Closing Doors

Doors can contain fires, preventing them from spreading to rooms and staircases. However, tenants may not close doors in the panic of escaping a fire.

You get rid of this issue if you fit self-closing doors. These contain fires, giving tenants more time to escape.

Check Your Outside-Facing Doors

You need to offer tenants an easy way to open outside-facing doors from the inside. Spare keys can get lost, and your tenant’s keys may be left behind in the panic to escape the fire.

Fit a thumb-turn lock on the inside of any outside-facing doors. This keeps the door secure, and makes it easier to open in emergency situations.

Provide Fire Safety Equipment

Most landlords ban smoking in their properties, both to keep the properties clean and to lower the risk of fire. However, many fail to provide fire safety equipment. Consider placing a small extinguisher and a fire blanket somewhere inside the property. Your tenants may find this equipment invaluable if things go wrong.

Speak to the fire safety officer to find out what you can and should provide in a shared or HMO property.

So you finally have your deposit ready and it’s time to start searching for a house. You’ve arranged a few viewings, and then you remember something – you don’t know what you’re looking for.

You create a checklist of things you want the house to deliver on, but we’re betting it doesn’t cover everything. In fact, many house hunters miss a few essentials that could cost them more money down the road.

You don’t want to be in this position, so we’ve highlighted five house viewing blunders that you must avoid when buying a property in London.

Bringing Along a Family Member

Yes, your mom may be able to offer some advice when you’re looking for a house. But she doesn’t know what you want. In fact, he comments on the décor and other things that she doesn’t like may even distract you.

Remember that you don’t have the same taste as other people. The opinions of others could deter you from a house that you like the look of. Take opinions on board, but remember that yours is the one that matters most.

Speeding Through the Viewing

Your seller’s agent may have given you a tight time slot for the viewing, but don’t pay attention to it. Take as long as you need to check every corner of the house.

The agent may try to hurry you along, but this could cause you to miss something important. If you want to check every water fixture, do it. Pay attention to when the agent tries to hurry you too, as this could be a sign that you’re about to discover something they don’t want you to know.

Look Beyond the New

We all want the latest mod-cons, but they don’t mean anything if the rest of the house is falling apart. Remember that the brand new kitchen is just one part of the package. Don’t let shiny new things distract you.

In fact, use recent renovations to inform your questions. Ask why they seller made the renovation, and segue this into talking about any potential issues with the property that have gone unaccounted for.

Expecting Things to be Perfect

On the flip side, going in looking for the perfect property may be a fool’s errand. Yes, you should like the property enough to want to live in it, but don’t be dissuaded by minor issues that won’t take much to fix.

For example, some buyers may pass on an otherwise great property because they don’t like the paint job. That’s something you can fix with a couple of afternoons of work.

Not Viewing the Neighbourhood

This is the number one mistake that most house viewers make. Your surroundings are almost as important as the house you’re thinking about buying. Many a buyer has moved into a new home, only to find that they don’t like the neighbourhood.

Take some time to walk up and down the street. Look for signs of vandalism, loudness, or anything else that suggests this may not be a pleasant place to live. If you don’t spot any, you can go into the house viewing with more confidence.

 

One of the biggest challenges you face as a landlord or property manager is choosing the right tenants for your building. It can often be tempting to just accept the first tenant who comes along, but there’s much more involved in the process than you may realise.

A bad tenant may miss rent payments, or cause damage to your property. That’s all money that comes out of your pockets. To avoid this, you need to implement a proper screening process to ensure you get the right type of tenant every time.

So how do you do it? This guide will show you the ropes.

Don’t Skimp on Background Checks

Background checks are your first port of call whenever you’re considering a new tenant. Ask to see evidence of the tenant’s recent work history, and don’t be afraid to ask about the nature of their work, or the stability of their job. After all, a change in working conditions for them means you may not get your rent payment.

You should also talk to any previous landlords, to find out about the tenant’s payment history. Avoid any who have a history of payment failure, or those who caused unneeded problems for their previous landlord.

Don’t Accept the First Offer

We alluded to this above, but it’s worth expanding on. The first offer is not always the best one. It may be difficult to see this if your property has sat empty for a month or two, but you should never rush when choosing a tenant.

Conduct your background checks as normal, and show a little patience. If you’re wary about the first offer, don’t accept it. Others will come along in due course.

Create a Strong Written Contract

The tenancy agreement is the legal contract that defines your responsibilities, and those of your tenant. Failing to give it the proper attention creates loopholes that a tenant could exploit to get out of paying what they owe.

Don’t try to draft the contract yourself. Unless you have a legal background, going it alone leaves you open to making mistakes that could damage your relationship with the tenant. Instead, bring in a property law expert and have them draft a contract in line with what you want from your tenants. This ensures you have something to fall back on if things go wrong, plus a strong contract may dissuade poor tenants from applying for your property.

Check the ID

Since February 2016, landlords have a legal responsibility to check that their prospective tenants have a right to live in the United Kingdom. That means you need to check the tenant’s ID and confirm that they are who they say you are before you exchange contracts and hand over the keys.

Ask to see a passport, and any immigration documents where relevant. Make copies too, as they will prove useful should something go wrong and you have to prove that you made your checks.

If you’re unsure about how to attract the right tenants, leave it to the professionals. Hills Estate offers property management in London that will ensure your property generates an income.

So the time has come for you to finally buy a new home. You’ve raised your deposit, and you’ve found the property of your dreams. You make your way to your lender, ready to secure a home loan that will allow you to buy the property.

Then it happens. The lender rejects your application because your credit score is too low. Now, you have to spend even more time on fixing your credit.

It can happen to the best of us, and it’s a situation that you should try to avoid. Most lenders will take your credit score into account when considering your application, so here are a few tips that will help you boost your score.

Pay off Your Debts

This may be a simple tip, but it’s also the best way to improve your credit score. Your outstanding personal debts will count against you when you’re trying to buy a home. If you have too many, your lender may see you as too much of a risk to give a mortgage to.

As a result, you should focus on clearing your debts as soon as possible. Start with the largest debts, and make the highest monthly payments that you can afford. Getting those paid off early also means you avoid much of the interest that gathers on them.

Furthermore, having a good history of on-time payments will also benefit your credit score.

Get on the Electoral Role

If your name isn’t on the electoral role, you’ll find it much more difficult to get credit. It seems strange, but it’s true.

This is something that you should have done anyway, as it’s illegal to not be on the electoral role if you are of voting age. If you aren’t on the roll, then you need to get that sorted before you start applying for mortgages.

Be Wary of Joint Accounts

Most people buy homes with their partners, but that can actually have an effect on your credit score. If you hold a joint account with somebody who has poor credit, you may find that their score bleeds over into yours.

If that’s the case, you have two options. You can either close the accounts that you hold jointly, or you can work with your partner to help them to clean up their credit history.

Check Your Score Regularly

There are several credit checking services out there that you can use to check your score. These include the likes of Experian and Equifax. Getting hold of your current score through one of these services will show you the issues that you have to focus on.

Be aware that you will usually have to pay a fee to check your credit score. Some services even charge a subscription. However, it’s worth it just so you know where you stand.

Don’t Make Repeated Credit Applications

Every application for credit that you make leaves a mark on your credit score. Too many unsuccessful applications will make other lenders very wary of you.

As a result, it’s best to use an online calculator to find out if you’re eligible for a mortgage. Yes, it won’t be as accurate as applying directly. However, it will give you an idea of whether you’re ready to lodge an application.

So you have a property to rent in London, but you’re not earning as much as you want from it. Tenants are interested, but the return on your investment isn’t high enough just yet.

What you need to do is take steps to improve the rental yield.

But how do you do it?

That’s where we want to help you. If you follow these five tips, you should be able to ask for higher rents from your tenants.

Tip #1 – Align Your Property to Your Target Tenant

This is something that you should have done before you bought the property, but there are still lots of landlords who don’t put much thought into their target audiences.

To align your property with the right tenants, you have to think about what your property has to offer. If it’s close to a school, you can improve your yield if you market the property to parents. If you own a flat in the middle of the city, young professionals will want to move in.

The point is that the right people will be willing to pay more for a property that serves their needs. Use this to your advantage to charge higher rents.

Tip #2 – Invest in Improvements

Take an honest look at your property. Does it suit the needs of the modern tenant? That kitchen may look a little drab, or the décor looks like it came out of the 1980s.

If you’ve noticed these things, you can bet on tenants noticing them too.

If you’re able to, you should invest in making improvements to your property. The closer your property is to meeting the needs of modern tenants, the more you’ll be able to charge in rent.

Tip #3 – Look for Areas With Potential for Growth

Buying a property in an established area has its advantages. You know what you’re getting, so you know what you can charge for it.

However, it’s unlikely that your rental yield is going to grow particularly quickly if you buy an established property.

Instead, think of buying in an area with growth potential. Look for places that have infrastructural improvements planned. More often than not, the value of such properties will go up when the infrastructural work concludes. If you get in early, you can take advantage of this to charge higher rents.

Tip #4 – Offer More Services

People are willing to pay more for services that suit their needs. For example, you may be able to offer a laundry service, or provide them with a parcel collection service when they’re away from the property.

Yes, this adds to your workload. However, there are plenty of tenants out there who value a property manager who goes the extra mile.

Tip #5 – Allow Pets

Your property may be your pride and joy, but you’re missing out on a huge market if you don’t allow your tenants to keep pets.

Look through property listings and you’ll see that most rental properties don’t allow people to keep pets. Buck that trend and you’ll fill a niche.

Pet owners love their animals, which means they’re willing to pay a little more so they can keep them.

If you want to rent out your property, contact the team at Hills Estate. We offer property management solutions throughout London, Essex, and Ilford.

If you want to buy a home in London, you’re going to have to save a deposit. Most people try to pay at least 10% of the value of the home they want to buy, which equates to tens of thousands of pounds.

It’s a tall order, but one that you will have to meet if you want to buy your own home. Here we are going to offer you some useful tips so that you can get your deposit saved faster.

Stop Renting

Yes, it can be tough. Moving back in with your parents after living on your own always feels like a step backwards. There are no two ways around it.

However, there’s also an old saying that goes something along the lines of “sometimes you have to take a step back to take two steps forward.” That’s what’s happening here. Moving back home means that all of the money you used to spend on rent can instead go into a savings account. That money will soon build up, to the point where you could easily find yourself with over £10,000 saved by the end of the year.

Yes, you’re going to have to grin and bear it for a couple of years when you move back home. But it will be worth it in the end.

Cut Out Unneeded Expenditures

This seems like such an obvious tip, but you would be surprised to find out how much you spend on things you don’t really need.

Collect every receipt for what you spend your money on over the course of a month, then make a list of these expenditures. From that list, you can decide which ones you really need to be spending money on.

That gym membership that you never use? That can go. The same goes for any other clubs or associations that you maintain membership to but never visit. They may seem like little things on their own, but you’ll soon find that the money you save starts to build up.

Take on a Tenant

What if you already have a home and you want to save money for a new one. The equity in your current home may not yet be high enough to cover the deposit because you’re making a significant upgrade.

If that’s the case, you can consider taking on a tenant. You’d be surprised how much people will pay for a bedroom and access to the rest of the property. In fact, you may find the money covers most of your current mortgage, which allows you to save more each month.

Use the Help to Buy ISA

We’ll get this out of the way and confirm that the Help to Buy ISA will only be relevant to you if you haven’t bought a property before.

Assuming that’s you, there’s no reason why you should use it. Not only do you get a higher interest rate than you will with most other ISAs, but you can also access up to £3,000 from the government, depending on how much you save.

 

A couple of weeks ago, we looked at some of the major things you need to consider when you’re on the hunt for a new home. Today, we’re going to follow on from that article with some more things you should keep in mind when searching for your dream home.

Compare the Houses

After a little bit of searching, you should have a shortlist of properties that you like. Now comes the time to compare them. Draw up a list of the things you really want from a property, and stack the ones you’ve found against this list.

You’ll usually find there are a couple of properties that come close to matching your criteria. On rare occasions, you will find the property that matches all of them. Regardless, this process allows you to separate the contenders from the also-rans. It also prompts you to take a deeper look at the properties you’ve found, which ensures you don’t end up settling for anything less than what you want.

Walkthrough – Part Two

Now you’ve got a couple of properties that you’re seriously considering, it’s time to arrange a second viewing. This is where the really small details start coming into play. You should have already identified any major issues that you during your first visit, so now you should look for the little things that might make you fall in love, or begin to hate, the property.

What these little things are really depend on you. It could be something as small as the positioning of the windows, or the amount of space you have in the corridors. These little bugbears may not seem like much now, but you’ll grow to resent them in time. Use your second visit to make sure there’s aren’t any little molehills that might turn into mountains at a later date.

Do Some Curb Checks

You know what the interior looks like, but how much focus have you given to the exterior? Curb checks allow you to see what the property actually looks like in the light of day.

We recommend carrying out a few curb checks at different times of the day. You may find that a property that looks great in the light starts to fade away when night falls. You can also use this period to check out the surrounding neighbourhood. You may find you spot some issues, such as vandalism or noise problems, that you didn’t find the first time around.

Speak to the Seller

You’ll speak to sellers and their agents throughout the house hunting process, but you really need to pay attention to what they’re saying. Be wary of any who try to avoid pointed questions, as this suggests that they have something to hide.

Ideally, you’ll find a seller who offers some flexibility, which offers you the room you need to negotiate. Do not underestimate the positive effects that having a cooperative seller can have on buying a home.

The Final Word

So there you have it; our comprehensive run down of the key house hunting steps. Put these tips into action and you should find the ideal home for you.

Trying to find the perfect home is a stressful process. You’ll feel overwhelmed with the number of viewings you undertake, plus you have all sorts of legal issues to deal with. It can feel like too much, at times.

Thankfully, there are plenty of things that you can do to speed the process up and make it more palatable. This guide will examine some of the most important things you need to do when house hunting. Enjoy the first part today and we’ll have the second part uploaded on the website later in the month.

Speak to Local Estate Agents

A lot of people make the mistake of only using property aggregating websites when searching for their new homes. While these are certainly useful, they aren’t the only resources available to you.

A lot of local estate agents don’t list every property they deal with on these websites. That means it pays to visit your local agents, in addition to checking national websites. You may find that they have some other properties of interest available that they haven’t listed, for whatever reason.

Don’t Base Decisions on Emotion

Yes, it is important that you love the house that you move into. If you don’t, you’ll probably find yourself looking for another home in a couple of years’ time.

However, that does not mean that you should base your decisions on emotion. That’s what sellers want you to do. Taking logic out of the equation makes you prone to making higher offers than you otherwise would have. House hunting is much like a business transaction. You may love a property, but you should not pursue it past the point of financial comfort.

Check the Neighbourhood

Always take some time to explore the neighbourhood before making an offer on a home. While the property itself may look great, you won’t feel comfortable in it if you don’t feel safe in the areas surrounding it.

Check the streets for signs of vandalism and go online to look for local crime statistics. You’ll also want to find out if the property is near a school and other facilities, if you have children. Don’t be afraid to talk to some of your potential future neighbours to gauge how they feel about the area.

Always Look for Flaws

Every property has flaws. Some may be merely cosmetic, whereas others are much more serious. Structural issues, in particular, could cost you thousands of pounds if you don’t catch them before buying.

That’s why you should always look for flaws. Your estate agent can help here, as can an independent house inspector. Flaws don’t always break a deal. They can actually help you knock money off the house price.

Consider External Risks

Not every risk comes from people. Some properties are more prone to external issues, like flooding. This is especially true for waterfront properties and those located near major rivers.

You need to account for this when house hunting. Some of you may not want to deal with that added risk, as it requires preparation for the possibility of flooding. Speak to your estate agent and research the area to find out if such external factors have caused problems before.

That’s part one of our house hunting guide. We’ll be back with part two at the end of the month.