Property letting on your own
Posted on 01/05/2009
Property letting isn’t as simple as finding any tenant who is willing to pay the lease amount and getting them signed up. Property letting has to be planned and undertaken professionally to get the best results and ensure peace of mind.
When you undertake to let property on your own, there are a number of things to consider.
Past tenant references: You don’t want to get stuck with a tenant who goes on abusing your property. One of the most rookie mistakes is signing a lease with a tenant who has had negative references in the past but has agreed to change this one time. Dealings with tenants have to be done extremely professionally to prevent such happenings.
Properly written tenancy agreement: Property agreements have to be written with a view to having clauses for all possible outcomes. The property landlord must ensure that no exceptions are made even with close family members or distant relatives. A poorly written agreement can lead to eventual problems should the relationship go sour and a situation of defaulting payments arises.
Efficient property maintenance: In most cases the property leased by a tenant has to be efficiently maintained by the landlord. Maintenance can become a constant menace for the landlord and is the number one cause for dispute between tenant and landlord.
For someone who owns more than one property, letting can become quite time consuming, having to deal with tenants and handling of maintenance.
You are left with two possible options to ease your workload and make owning a property a worthwhile investment.
The first option is to set up a property management and maintenance team. The team can comprise of a maintenance manager and a few other staff that ensures payments from tenants is on time and maintenance to the properties is ongoing.
Alternatively, a professional property letting agent can be employed to look over your property and provide professional advice when required. Getting an experienced agency to take control of your property can be the best decision you ever make.