Reducing your Landlord costs

Nov. 14, 2010 - PRLog -- Do It Yourself or more likely Do Some Yourself Landlords know that letting agents or general property management companies can take between 10 and 12.5% commission of the monthly rental fee. This is in addition to the charges for administration of putting together tenancy agreements or carrying out check in inventories and viewings. For a monthly rental fee of £1000, this means that Landlords could pay a whopping £1,200 commission to a typical estate agent over the year plus an administration fee of around £150, a total sum of £1350. If Landlords want to find out how much they could save by removing this commission then some websites let you calculate how much Landlords can save depending on the rental income.

SO HOW CAN LANDLORDS SAVE ON COSTS?
We all know that estate agents can be very costly. It is assumed that Landlords need them to make assessments of how much a property can be let for in particular areas; they advertise online across many leading property portals, arrange for contracts, credit checks and show prospective Tenants around properties for let. Estate agents do this at cost, but there are many tips that proactive Landlords can master to reduce fees and identify suitable Tenants.

Here are a few things DIY Landlords are doing to help decide how much they need traditional Estate agents:

1. Rental Assessment
Letting or estate agents will offer an assessment of the rental value. However, Landlords have found DIY options beyond this traditional method comparing the rental value of similar properties on leading property portals such as FindaProperty, Rightmove, Zoopla,  Globrix give a simple and quick approximation of rental values. Additionally, consulting other helpful websites such as the Mayors' London rents map allows Landlords to access average private sector rentals for different types of homes across London.

2. Finding a Tenant by Advertising your Property Online
It is essential for Landlords to generate interest in their properties by prospective Tenants. Letting agents will market properties on behalf of Landlords, but with the boom of the Internet over the past 10 years, the majority of Tenants are choosing to simply search for their ideal rental home online. Whilst it is not possible for Landlords to directly advertise on many of the big name portals such as FindaProperty, there are websites that provide Landlords with access to these aggregate property sites effectively advertising on their behalf to find them Tenants.
To help find Tenants it is possible for Landlords to get their property advertised on many leading property portals via online letting agents.  Prices vary from as little as £19.99 to over £100.00.  Although some claim to be free be wary because as soon as you register for free some sites then offer 'added options' for finding you a Tenant, which basically means you have to pay. If it seems too good to be true it usually is. Never forget the aim of registering and advertising with online letting agents is to find you a Tenant. So those online letting agents offering a money back guarantee if you do not let your property at all are worth considering, because no let means no fee - http://www.letpropertyrentproperty.co.uk/component/proper...
To find out where Landlords should advertise, they should simply run a Google search similar to what Tenants would do. So if looking to let a property in Camden London then type in something like 'find me a property in Camden London'. For the London area good sources of advertising are sites such as FindaProperty, Primelocation and increasingly Zoopla.

3. Viewings
Estate agents will show prospective Tenants around properties for rent, which saves the Landlord time, although many Landlords will prefer to meet their Tenants before they move in. It can be a waste of time for both Landlord and Tenant if those viewing the property are clearly unsuitable. Many Tenants have been in a situation where an estate agent has said they have found the ideal property for them, when in fact it could not be further from the truth.
The key here is for Landlords to make sure Tenants have enough information from the outset about the property so a likely match can be made. This can be done well when advertising online. Landlords should include in their advert whether they accept DSS Tenants, Tenants who smoke or have pets, include a minimum tenure, the date the property is available from, alongside pictures or even a virtual tour of their property. It is also helpful to have a Google map (with street view) to display the property location, which Tenants can use to identify distances to nearest transportation or other amenities. In addition, Landlords should ensure their rental property is not overpriced and make clear the need for necessary reference and credit checks.

4. Tenant Credit Checks
One way to check whether a Tenant is likely to be suitable is to undertake credit checks. Anyone can provide references from their bank or work, but you can only obtain a good credit check from leading companies. This will show whether they have a good credit history or not and therefore an indication of whether they can pay their monthly rent and help avoid Tenants defaulting on rental payments. Letting agents provide this service at a cost, but so long as the Tenant gives his or her permission the Landlord can do these checks using services provided by reliable companies such as Experian.

5. Tenancy Agreements
Letting agents will provide a tenancy agreement, a legally binding contract for the Landlord and Tenant. It is however possible to purchase them, but Landlords might be able to get a FREE Tenancy Agreement.
So in summary there are clearly some easy steps Landlords can take to save themselves a lot of money:

1. Look at property portals to calculate rent
2. Online advertising to find suitable Tenants
3. Conduct own viewings
4. Conduct own credit checks
5. Obtain a FREE Tenancy Agreement

http://www.LetPropertyRentProperty.co.uk are passionate about providing the best service to Landlords who wish to Let out property and to Tenants who wish to Rent property in the London and South East area of the UK. Our aim is to provide a simple yet quality residential lettings service to both Landlords and Tenants who want the same. And because a lot of our work is via the Internet we are a fraction of the cost of what you would normally pay to let or rent property.

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LetPropertyRentProperty.co.uk are passionate about providing the best service to Landlords who wish to Let out property and to Tenants who wish to Rent property in the London and South East area of the UK.