Tenants

As a buy-to-let investor, you will be heavily reliant on your tenants, as they will be paying your mortgage for you. It is important that you respect this, and treat your tenants accordingly.

Preparing your property for letting
It is likely that when you buy your investment property, it will not be ready to let. Dependent upon your strategy, we would recommend viewing money spent to improve your property as an investment, rather than a cost. You should, however make sure you don’t go too far with improvements. Remember, you won’t be living there. The return on investment for improvements isn’t likely to be that great, but in the longer term it will probably save you money and stress, as your property will most likely rent quickly.   

Financials
Many landlords are hesitant when it comes to taking out rental guarantee insurance. This can seem like an easy shortcut, but it is important to consider what would happen if your tenant decided to stop paying their rent and refused to move out. Rental guarantee insurance will usually cover legal costs in these situations, as well as ensuring that if your tenant doesn’t pay you, you’ll still receive your money.

It is also worth keeping a ‘float’ for each property. This should be enough to deal with an emergency. Again, this can seem like wasted money…until there is an emergency at your property and you need to replace the boiler.

Property Management
When it comes to renting your property, one of the best investments you can make is to find a good property management company. Fees for property management typically range from 10%-12.5% of the monthly rent, and we guarantee that it is the best money you will ever spend. Property management companies take care of advertising; finding and screening tenants; collecting rent; and, most importantly, arranging for emergencies and other improvements to be dealt with. 

DSS
Many property management companies won’t deal with DSS tenants as it can be time consuming dealing with the council to arrange for rent to be paid. In our years of experience of property management, we haven’t found DSS tenants to be any worse in the way that they look after properties. Arranging payment from the council can sometimes be time-consuming, however there are a huge number of DSS tenants waiting for appropriate properties, and the bottom end of the market usually rewards you with a good positive cashflow.

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