Getting property ready

While letting out your property can be a good investment, making sure your property is presentable can help increase the money made from it.

Renting out a run down or poorly decorated / maintained property is much harder than renting out a nice fresh well maintained property and people will be more willing to pay a higher rent for a well kept house or flat.

The first step is to decide what sort of tenant you want, and what sort of tenants typically live in the local area. This may seem pointless and research you can not be bothered to do, but it's key.  After all, if the local area is all starter families and your property is aimed at students then letting it could be a chore.

Overall, the simplest approach could be to just keep everything fresh and neutral. Use light non offensive colours and make sure flooring, curtains and blinds are of a good solid quality.

Flooring

Choosing to rent out your property or even a room within your property is a big decision. Once you’ve made that decision, it’s important to think about whether your house is ready for this extra person or persons that will be moving in. Is there anything you can do to your home that will freshen it up but also make it stand out from the other rental properties out there?

You may want to make a big change but not spend big bucks. In which case, you may want to focus on your flooring. Changing the flooring in your property, even if it’s just in the main shared rooms, will make a drastic change to the look of any home. Wooden floor is often the preferred option amongst landlords since it offers a clean and functional choice for those looking for high quality but with the benefit of low maintenance. With its clean lines and fantastic choice of colours it will instantly freshen up a tired looking room.

There are three main types of wooden floors on offer; laminate, engineered and hardwood. From a landlords point of view the preferred choice is often laminate flooring due to its economical benefits. Laminate flooring has improved in so many ways over the years and with the great choice of style and colours now available it possible to turn this economical option into a bold and modern statement in your home. With great durability, functionality, stain resistance, scratch resistance, bevelling options and easily installation, there is not much to not like about laminate flooring. Not forgetting of course the hygiene factor, spills stains and ‘little accidents’ can easily be removed from this flooring, the same of which cannot be said of carpet!

Curb appeal

Make sure you don't forget the exterior of your house, ensure that the front and back of the house, windows, and gardens are all clean and well maintained.  First impressions count.

Health and safety

Once all the visual steps have been taken care of you really need to focus on health and safety.
Make sure your gas central heating and all gas appliances have been checked and given a clean bill of health from a certified Gas Safe (previously Corgi) engineer.

Make sure that you have plenty of smoke alarms fitted and that all furnishings comply to The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations Act of 1988, for more information on this visit the Government’s website.

Make sure all electrical wiring and appliances are up to scratch, it is advised that you get an independent company to check over the appliances and certify them as safe if you can afford it.

White goods

If you are renting out the property with white goods (washing machine, dishwasher, fridge, freezer and so on) then you need to make sure these are all up to standard, in fully working order and safe. If not then replace them immediately.  Photocopies of the manuals could also be useful.  We would not advise leaving the originals just in case they go missing.

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