7 Money Saving Tips For Landlords

Transcription

1 Copyright Notices Page 1

2 Copyright Money Saving Tips For Landlords No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission or further information should be addressed to the Publishers. Published by: Amanda Whaley Private Landlord Directory Yorkshire Business Centre, Chestnut House, Great North Road, Darrington, West Yorkshire, WF8 3HR Legal Notices Whilst all attempts have been made to verify information provided in this publication, neither the authors nor the publisher assumes any responsibility for errors, omissions or contrary interpretation of the subject matter herein. This publication is not intended for use as a source of legal or accounting advice. All users are advised to seek competent professional advice. The purchaser or reader of this publication assumes complete and total responsibility for the use of these materials and information. The Author and Publisher assume no responsibility or liability whatsoever on behalf of any purchaser or reader of these materials, or the application or nonapplication of the information contained herein. We do not guarantee any results that you may or may not experience as a result of following the advice or recommendations or suggestions contained herein. You must test everything for yourself. Any perceived slights of specific people or organisations are unintentional. For clarification and reference purposes the content of this ebook relates to standard AST (Assured Shorthold Tenancy) on Residential Properties in the UK (not including Scotland). Page 2

3 Managing Your Property There are many online sites that give you a full step by step guide and full support FOR FREE (including documents) on how to manage your own rented property. By completing an online search for Private Landlords will result in a list of websites that provide information, this is a good starting reference. You can download free Tenancy Agreements at: ncy-agreements/ Joining organisations such as RLA (under 80/year) offers full legal support via the helpdesk which is telephone as well as service. Just one call can to the helpdesk could save you making a massive mistake but not only that it gives you peace of mind. It would be a lot more money than 80/year to talk to a solicitor anytime between 9am-5pm, 5 days a week. There is an on-going promotion running with the RLA and Private Landlord Directory which gives you 15months for the price of 12, as well as a whole list of other freebies. You can find more information on this by visiting: Page 3

4 Complete Your Own Tenant Referencing Instead of using a tenant referencing service, you can complete your own tenant referencing for under 10. Some landlords use a tenant referencing agency or tenant finder service which can run into hundreds of pounds and in some cases is the equivalent to a whole month s rent payment. You can download a free guide: on how to complete your own tenant referencing You can even do your own Experian credit check on the applicant (with their permission) at: This is a PAYG service and credit checks are guaranteed to be returned within 24 hours. Never feel that you HAVE to accept an applicant. This is YOUR property and YOUR RISK, use your due diligence when tenant referencing applicants. Page 4

5 Manage List of Repairs Repairs and maintenance are a big part of landlord s costs, especially if the property is old. Wherever possible assess the work that is needed and put in to categories of Emergency 1 Week 1 Month If the repair is not of an urgent nature then you may be able to add it to a scheduled works list. Hiring repair and maintenance contractors on a daily or half daily rate is usually cheaper than calling them out to do odd jobs, most contractors prefer this kind of work as it allows them to manage their time better and involves less driving/costs/wasted time for them. If you can pay a contractor on the day or within a week, they will appreciate it. Having a good relationship with your contractors is worth its weight in gold especially when it comes to situations of emergency and out of hours call outs. Page 5

6 Avoid The Voids Easier said than done I know but wherever possible avoid property void periods. This is where your property is empty and you are having to pay overhead costs such as empty property council tax, mortgage payments and if you have signed up to the Green Deal, the green deal monthly finance payment. Being flexible with your tenants on notice periods is usually a benefit to a landlord as it is very hard for a tenant to sync notice periods on 2 properties. So allowing them to give notice of 6 weeks instead of 4 would be of benefit to you both. Try and keep the tenant in the property or the property occupied as long as possible to avoid paying additional costs You can find an article on Increased Costs During Void Periods at: 013/03/landlords-now-having-to-paycouncil-tax-in-void-periods/ Page 6

7 Use Notices To Make Changes In Tenancy Many landlords take the option to insure deposits rather than hand the monies over to the government run schemes (DPS). Unfortunately every time you make a significant change to the tenancy agreement you need to re-protect the deposit. Significant changes include change of rent amount and tenant, basically if the tenant is having to resign the tenancy agreement then you need to re-protect the deposit. That is UNLESS YOU USE LEGAL NOTICES. Instead of resigning the tenancy agreement you could use a legal notices informing tenants of tenancy changes e.g. change of management or rent increase rather than resign tenancy agreement, as long as the tenancy agreement has not had to be resigned then YOU DO NOT have to re-secure the deposit, saving you time, hassle and money. You can find more information on this by visiting: /2013/03/does-increasing-rentmean-deposit-has-to-be-securedagain/ Page 7

8 General House Keeping Showing tenants where main utility switches and stop taps are at the property can help to avoid not only potentially a major incident but also emergency call out charges. Calling out a plumber if water is leaking through the ceiling on a Sunday night at 10pm is not going to be cheap but being able to turn off the water supply and the electrics may enable the situation to be dealt with in daylight in normal working hours. Showing the tenant where the fuse box is could illuminate the issue of having to send electricians out if all power goes out as it may just be a case of resetting the tripped switch. Showing them how to complete the process of illumination and isolate a certain supply problem e.g. kitchen plug sockets (common culprit) and ascertain what is causing the electric short is again time and cost effective. If your tenants are capable and you have a condensing boiler, you could even show them how to check water level and how to refill (which is one of the most common boiler call out issues) There are videos on YouTube on how to do this all you need to search for is the boiler make and checking water level. Doing general housekeeping as part of your moving in inventory may even prevent you getting those unwanted calls. Page 8

9 Network & Associates Having a network of landlords and associates is always a good back up plan for a landlord. Having someone to ask and refer to when the tenancy is not going as planned or even attending the viewing, helping with the handovers and issuing section notices. Most landlords are happy to help each other out and form an alliance/supporting role. It is also handy to be associated with other local landlords so that you can share tenants and experiences. Maybe you have a tenant enquiry and no empty properties at that time and can refer the lead on to another local landlord and hopefully they would return the favour thus results in you both saving money with voids and advertising costs. There are hundreds of property groups and meetings, many local authorities also run landlord groups and events where you can meet likeminded landlords. Just search online for landlord groups or landlord meetings in your area or look on your local authority website. Page 9

10 Note from Author Thank You for downloading and reading this ebook, I hope that you have found it useful. In my experience of being a landlord one thing I have found is that I never stop learning. There are always changes in laws/legislation/regulations, new schemes, new ways in which to get the best out of your tenancy and indeed your asset (property). Being a landlord is a never ending learning curve regardless of how experienced you are and what I find useful and what I enjoy, is sharing what I have learnt and my experiences with others as well as learning from other landlords. This is why Private Landlord Directory.com was founded. To give private landlords the tools, resources, help and advice in which they can learn, expand and grow and to provide a much needed network for Private Landlords as well as connecting and dealing direct with tenants. Amanda Whaley You can keep updated with landlords NEWSflash which includes latest news directly effecting residential landlords by registering at: Page 10