If you want to rent your property in London or any other cities in the UK, the list of advice and tips below will go a long way in helping make sure you have the best experience possible. From setting the right monthly rent to making sure you don’t end up with tenants who will trash your home or property and then leave without paying, you want to make sure you avoid as many headaches as possible.
Ten Tips Before You Rent
Here’s a list of ten tips for renting your home or flat.
- Screen Tenants – You don’t have to accept the first people who come to rent your home. You want to follow all applicable laws about renting, but you should take the time to screen your tenants to make sure they don’t leave you in the lurch.
- Written Contract – Even if it’s your best friend or a family member, you want to make sure you get everything in writing when you’re renting your home. This will save headaches and problems in the future should something bad happen.
- Proper Maintenance – Before you rent your home or apartment, you want to make sure that you have taken care of any major and most minor problems. When a tenant moves in you don’t want them to have to deal with anything.
- Security – If you provide security measures for your home, there’s a good chance you’re going to be able to charge a higher monthly rent. This can be very important in some areas of the UK.
- Obtain insurance – This is going to cost you money every month, but without it you could end up paying a whole lot more if something goes wrong.
- Conflict Resolution – You don’t want to have problems with your tenants, but if you do, you want to make sure you have a plan in place to deal with them as they happen so you’re prepared.
- Prepare Your Home – From painting to making sure the carpets are cleaned to providing furniture or making sure it’s all moved out, you should take the time to make sure your home is ready for the tenants to move in as soon as the lease is signed.
- Hire Professionals – From your lease agreement to evicting a tenant that doesn’t pay, you want to have easy access to an attorney with experience dealing with landlord / tenant issues.
- St the Right Price – While you want to get as much money from your home as possible, if you don’t set a competitive price, you’re not going to rent it out.
- Security Deposits – You need to make sure you follow the law carefully when dealing with security deposits.
In my experience, when it comes to living and working in Scotland, a lot of different options are available. This is good news whether you’re talking about the people renting the property or the tenants. If you’re renting your home, following the tips above can be very useful.
Photo Credit: Flickr/Ed Bierman
