12 Things You Must Know as a Landlord!

As Managing Director of Conran Estates I see lots of interesting things happen in the property market.

I find landlords especially interesting.

We are trusted to manage hundreds of property on behalf of landlords, some of which have one property and others having large portfolios.

One thing in common is that they all make mistakes and many have little understanding of The Housing Act which ultimately governs the property market.

I therefore woke up one morning with an idea to write a guide for landlords and call it 12 Things You Must Know as a Landlord but with hindsight could have called it The Dangers of Renting Your Property. Either way, there are many pitfalls to being a landlord and it is not as easy as one might initially think.

When many landlords decide to buy their first property they feel it is simple and an easy way to make lots of money. This is not necessarily true!

If done well then yes it can be, but many landlords make some serious errors of judgement which can cost them dearly in time and sometimes financially.

Tenants, these days, are legally savvy and should never be underestimated. My opinion is that this is not a bad thing, they should be clued up in the same way a landlord should too, as it increases professionalism and can only improve living conditions which tenants pay a premium for.

More and more legislation is being introduced for landlords. For example, from 1st October there is law regarding smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. If a landlord is not aware of these and does not install, and then a tenant dies in the property from carbon monoxide poisoning – then that landlord can expect a manslaughter charge to follow. The same goes for a landlord who is not aware of the existing Legionella rules.

Scary stuff huh.

Conran Estates are ARLA regulated and as such, it is our business to know about all legislation. Our staff are highly trained and are there to advise our landlords and tenants alike. What I find particularly nice is that once landlords use our services, they tend to stay with us for a long time. There are many horror stories which often make the newspapers whereby estate agents go missing with client funds, but ours can rest easy knowing they are protected against this – whilst also being audited annually for extra customer protection!

Very soon we will be introducing a new service to protect landlords. When we find a tenant and successfully reference them, we will take full financial responsibility should that tenant need to be evicted for any legal reason in the first 12 months of tenancy, an example being if they don’t pay their rent. Here at Conran we think a situation such as this, coupled with a rent guarantee policy, will seriously protect and add value to any landlord.

Our tenants on the other hand benefit from our fast efficient systems for reporting any maintenance issues, which helpfully they can do in their native tongue (up to 40 languages). Being in a multi cultural city such as ours, this is a god-send. This same system will guide a tenant through any potential issue, which can generally be sorted out without the need or cost of the landlord to get involved. So much so, we’re anticipating this to be recognised as great value by tenants, and lead to them being happier in situ giving longevity to the tenancy and reducing void periods!

If you’d like to know more, have a look at my e-book as – whether you are a first time landlord or an experienced one – you will certainly get some benefit from it!