Becoming a landlord can be an incredibly rewarding experience. But many may be put off pursuing the career due to the legal and financial hurdles to get past at the start. But once you have your head around the challenges that will face you, you can make that step. Listed below are five essentials that every potential landlord will need to consider before making the next step:
- Learn the Laws. There are a great many laws in place to protect both tenant and landlord, some of which may not be obvious so it is best to seek advice as to avoid any legal complications.
- Documentation. Make sure your property has all the required legal documentation including an Energy Performance Certificate and Gas Safety Certificate.
- Working Hours. If you are working as your own landlord you must be prepared to work at all hours. Some days you may only be required to work one hour, the next it could be ten. If you are worried about the hours you may wish to seek the help of a property management agency (Like us!).
- How will you fix it? The age old law of “if something can go wrong it will” invariably proves itself to be true. You will have to give consideration to what your course of action will be if (or when) something breaks.
- Keep an inventory. Keeping a list of everything that is supplied before a tenant moves in is essential in monitoring the state of the property during the tenants occupancy.
If you require more information on the ins and outs of being a landlord please feel free to get in touch with us here: http://www.bristolpropertycentre.co.uk/contact_us.asp
For this blog post we thought we’d take a trip back in time and share with our readers a brief history of landlording. You may have never given much thought to the history of landlording but its history holds some surprising facts.
You may be surprised to learn that landlording in a basic form extends as far back as the Roman Empire. This system, known as the manorial system (created under the Romans) became popular in the 5th century when peasants became bound to the land and dependant on landlords for protection. This system developed into the feudal system which led to knights becoming rulers of small areas of land.
A big change which still has influence on England and Wales’ landlords today was the statute of Quia Emptores which allowed the purchase and sale of land. This still regulates the transfer of land today!
Up until the mid 1910’s approximately 90 per cent of all the housing in Britain was privately rented. The rental figures have seen a dramatic decline since then, owing much to the change in social trends and new legislation which shifted the balance of power from the landlord to the tenant.
Today the rental market has witnessed somewhat of a revival with it now being predicted that the privately rented sector will reach 20% of the total housing market by 2020.
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Two weeks ago the UK Government officially launched its Green Deal program to help properties up and down the UK become more energy efficient. A large section of the UK’s properties are incredibly inefficient and the Green Deal will look to lower energy costs and create a more energy efficient UK.
Available to homeowners and landlords the Green Deal can be quite confusing at first glance and so to help landlords take advantage of the potential benefits the National Landlords Association has provided help.
Last week the National Landlords Association launched a Green Deal package for UK landlords. The package will contain Green Deal software, guidance and advice which it says will enable landlords to easily make energy efficiency improvements to their properties.
‘Partnering with MITIE and ULS enables us to offer all private landlords an end to end, cost effective solution with energy company subsidy and/or Green Deal finance. MITIE’s relationship with the different ECO and Green Deal providers as well its national delivery capability will ensure the best end to end solution for both landlords and tenants, and ULS will be able to supply the key support systems needed, as well as essential advice and guidance to assist landlords through this process,’ said Richard Lambert, chief executive officer of the NLA.
If you would like any further advice on the Green Deal please get in contact with us, we’re happy to help.
Energy Efficiency is becoming an increasingly popular concern amongst housing professionals. Last week we saw the arrival of The Green Deal which was tasked with improving the energy efficiency of homes and properties up and down the UK. Monitoring Energy Efficiency may sound like a tricky job but the introduction of Energy Performance Certificates has made determining a property's energy efficiency much easier and quicker.
Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) tell you how energy efficient a building is, providing it with a rating from A (very efficient) to G (inefficient). In the UK all domestic and commercial buildings that are available to buy or rent are required to hold an EPC. The rating found on the certificate provides would-be tenants with a good indicator of how much the property will cost to run, the closer the rating is to A the cheaper it will be to run.
If you are looking to sell or rent your property you will need to get an approved Domestic Energy Assessor to produce the EPC. This is best done sooner rather than later if you intend to sell or rent as the EPC must be available as soon as you start marketing the property. For more information on renting your property and the EPC please get in contact with us, we’re happy to help: http://bristolpropertycentre.co.uk/contact_us.asp
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