Any tips for new landlord to manage a buy to let property?

Riablo

We've just bought our first buy to let properties - 2x 1 bed semi-detached bungalows.

I'm currently a stay at home mum/carer so I'm planning on managing the properties myself.

Any tips on where to save cash (and perhaps more importantly where it's worth paying more!).

Most agents I have spoken to are quoting around one months rent for a tenant find service. As we have small 1 bed properties we think we will have fairly high turnover so if I can save money on finding tenants that would be a good start.

I've just registered for a free trial on Openrent to get my advert up on rightmove and zoopla. I notice they also offer a tenant reference check, deposit scheme and ast signing for £49. I was planning on doing the reference checks online and I have directline landlord insurance that provides draft ast documents, but for £49 I think Openrent doing the leg work sounds like a good deal?

Has anyone had any experience of them? Looks like they also collect the rent as a default position, although you can opt out of this.

Any other tips for a newbie landlord?

Slithery

Surely you researched all of this and used the figures in your financial plans before deciding to purchase these particular properties?

If not, what on earth are you doing deciding to become a landlord? Have you fully researched all of your legal obligations yet because it doesn't sound like it...

Tenancies in Eng/Wales: Guides for landlords and tenants

saajan_12

Riablo wrote: »

We've just bought our first buy to let properties - 2x 1 bed semi-detached bungalows. - as in agreed to buy or completed and they're sitting there empty? Time to research is surely before this point so you know whether its a viable business and so you're not losing money on an empty property?

I'm currently a stay at home mum/carer so I'm planning on managing the properties myself. - its not just about having the time to deal when it suits you, but also being available to deal with repairs etc at any time.

Any tips on where to save cash (and perhaps more importantly where it's worth paying more!).

Most agents I have spoken to are quoting around one months rent for a tenant find service. - if the tenants stay 1 year, thats effectively 1/12 = 8%.. high for no maintenance, though of course reduces if they stay longer. As we have small 1 bed properties we think we will have fairly high turnover so if I can save money on finding tenants that would be a good start. - do compare the rent you can get by DIY-ing versus if the agent can attract tenatns willing to pay more.

I've just registered for a free trial on Openrent to get my advert up on rightmove and zoopla. - You also need to get decent photos, floor plan up, hold viewings, deal with enquiries etc. I notice they also offer a tenant reference check, deposit scheme and ast signing for £49. - note this doesn't pay for the reference check, OpenRent charges £20 on to each tenant. The £49 just means they'll ask for the tenatn to pay for the reference and handle the other collection / signing etc. I was planning on doing the reference checks online and I have directline landlord insurance that provides draft ast documents, but for £49 I think Openrent doing the leg work sounds like a good deal?

Has anyone had any experience of them? Looks like they also collect the rent as a default position, although you can opt out of this. - check this. I wouldn't want a dispute with Openrent or the tenant mean they can withhold payments.

Any other tips for a newbie landlord?

Do lots of research on your obligations re
* starting tenancy (right to rent & other checks, certs and docs you have to give to tenants, deposit protection)
* ongoing responsibilities (repairs promptly, not your home anymore, etc)
* how to end (notice periods, viewings, how damage deductions, wear & tear..)

Cakeguts

What is your target market of tenants?

Pixie5740

Riablo wrote: »

We've just bought our first buy to let properties - 2x 1 bed semi-detached bungalows.

I'm currently a stay at home mum/carer so I'm planning on managing the properties myself.

Any tips on where to save cash (and perhaps more importantly where it's worth paying more!).

Most agents I have spoken to are quoting around one months rent for a tenant find service. As we have small 1 bed properties we think we will have fairly high turnover so if I can save money on finding tenants that would be a good start.

I've just registered for a free trial on Openrent to get my advert up on rightmove and zoopla. I notice they also offer a tenant reference check, deposit scheme and ast signing for £49. I was planning on doing the reference checks online and I have directline landlord insurance that provides draft ast documents, but for £49 I think Openrent doing the leg work sounds like a good deal?

Has anyone had any experience of them? Looks like they also collect the rent as a default position, although you can opt out of this.

Any other tips for a newbie landlord?

Tip: read the Tenancies in England/Wales sticky at the top of the board.

Mr.Generous

We use an independent EA who do tenant finding for (usually £150 +vat) £125 + Vat because we do our own viewings and have own AST.

You can get AST docs from government website and a wide variety of landlord support sites such as https://www.propertyinvestmentproject.co.uk/

One advantage of doing viewings is that Myself or my brother get to meet all prospective tenants. You want some say in who is going to live there don't you?

One recent vacant property interested prospective tenant was in a respected profession, stable employment and married with 2 kids, no pets, none smoker. Ideal I hear you say …

During the viewing both kids did whatever they wanted to, screamed the whole time and went off on their own. Parents occasionally asked them to be quiet and showed amusement when completely ignored.

You don't find this stuff out until you meet them.

Make the place nice and get better tenants who take more care. Choose the people who are going to look after your big cash investment with care.

tacpot12

You might get some better feedback on Openrent's services on the Landlordzone Forums (https://forums.landlordzone.co.uk/forum)

One area where you will end up paying more, whether you want to or not, is for emergency electricians and plumbers. There are some problems a tenant will have that you or a handyman will not be able to sort out for them. Doing your own initial inspection of any problem will save money, but you could get called out for anything! Having a pot of money ready to pay for emergency repairs will take the worry out of dealing with problems.

Being you own Letting Agent will save money, but will also tie you up in alot of work. Doing your end of let cleaning will also save money, but if the property has been left in a very bad state, I would recommend using a professional cleaner to do the cleaning as it will minimise the time that the property cannot be let.

You will need a handyman who can sort out basic problems like dripping taps, sticking doors and repairs after the tenants have moved out.

Finding an efficient way to do your own inventory before and after each tenancy ends will also save you money. I would research this further as I had heard reports that the Deposit Protection Scheme are not keen on inventories done by the landlord, but this could be because these landlords are just bad are doing inventories!

You can also save money by becoming your own expert on topics such as Legionella, Fire & Smoke Alarms, and the Health & Safety Standards for Rented Homes (HSSRH). I do the Legionella and HSSRH Risk Assessments on my properties, I also maintain the logs of electrical and gas safety inspections done on the properties. My Letting Agents do the Tenant Find/Referencing, Tenancy Agreements, Rent Collection and Inventories. They also provide the repairs service and have their own sub-contractors for Handyman, Electrical and Plumbing work; I pay between 11 and 13% for this.

Make sure you save enough rental income to pay the tax due on the income. Learning how to complete your own self-assessment tax return will also save money.

G_M

Lots of tips above and lots of useful warnings.
Naturally, read my stickies!


I've found local buinesses a great source of working tenants. Print out cards or A4 ads, and hawk them round local (large) ofices/workplaces. Get permission from Human resources or Security/Reception (whoever) to get them on staff notice boards.


20 companies? 10 may say yes to the ads. 3 or 4 applicants. Cost? Your time.

Riablo

Thank you so much for the useful replies :-)

My father is a property developer who also has a property maintenance business so we are very fortunate that he will be able to assist us in ongoing property maintenance and some emergency maintenance issues. Between my flexibility as a stay at home mum, my husband and my father's assistance we are hoping that we should have the time and skills to manage the properties ourselves, although the bulk of the work will be done by me - hopefully, if successful with the view to making further investment in the future and possibly managing my father's properties as he moves into retirement in the future.

My father also has some buy to let properties so we have his experience to guide us, but his properties are generally family homes where tenants stay for several years. Ours are 1 bed apartments close to a city centre so we are anticipating lots of 6-12 month tenancies. This is the main reason for wanting to market the properties ourselves as using an agent for a tenant find is going to cost around 1 month rent each time, possibly twice a year for each property. As we are close to the city I think the estate agents charge more than my father is generally paying.

I've used a free trial on Openrent and I've been pleased at the response which is for the same (or slightly higher) rent than the local agents were suggesting.

I really like the idea of advertising directly with local businesses - thanks for the tip. A big draw of the properties is that they are located close to some large business parks and we know the properties have rented out to employees of these large firms previously.

It's been a bit of a tricky purchase as the owner kept threatening to pull out and legal work has taken a lot longer than anticipated. On the plus side we have now completed and having done a full detailed inventory of the apartments they are much better condition and require less work than we had budgeted for. We were also given some conflicting advice about EPC ratings and heating and having clarified a few issues we have unexpectedly been able to market one of the properties straight away, whilst improving the EPC rating on the other property.

As a family our only experience of lettings has been through estate agent tenant find services. I'm really wanting to make sure I don't fall foul of any problems (or scams) or using an online DIY service. Our main concern would be the tenant referencing as we would want to do everything we can to avoid problem tenants. We would personally want to meet all tenants anyway, and we would normally insist on a guarantor but I would still feel happier with a good tenant reference service. I am finding different reviews online - some rating Openrent and their £20 service, others slating it, but it's hard to know which reviews are genuine.

I think we are up to date with our landlord legal obligations, but will make sure to thoroughly check the regs (and stickies!) before making an unexpected error.

Thanks again for all the help.

somethingcorporate

Have you considered the corporate let route? You may get a far higher quality of tenant as a result and far less risk to your property.


We had one once for a couple of years and they kept the place spotless.

Riablo

There are a couple of large corporations locally and we had considered approaching them regarding a corporate let.

I have to confess my main reason for not going ahead straight away is I'm not as comfortable with the procedure as I understand we wouldn't be covered by a standard AST so I'm not entirely sure how it would all work in terms of contracts etc. and also whether there are different rules regarding landlord obligations? I initially thought our mortgage didn't allow a corporate let, but on closer inspection it does as long as certain conditions are satisfied.