How to Let Your Property Successfully in a Few Simple Steps
Landlords have a lot of work to do before finding suitable tenants for their property.
Preparation is even harder and more time-consuming than the tenancy itself. There are many things to consider and plan before you start showing the place.
In the first part of this article, we examined some of the things you need to consider to make your property successful in a few simple steps. Let's see the other steps needed to complete the letting process.
Marketing
With the recent property peak, marketing is crucial to making your property successful.
In today's world, there are various ways to market your property online and offline. A good marketing strategy can attract more potential tenants, leading to more enquiries, viewings, and, ultimately, more successful lettings.
One of the most common methods to market your property is through real estate agents. Most agencies provide a variety of choices. Advertisements in newspapers, social networks, website directories, and various other methods ensure that more people see your offering.
Agents have contacts and sophisticated databases of prospective tenants, which they can use to market your property. They can also provide helpful information about the benefits that prospective tenants find appealing.
Should you prefer to market your property alone, several other options are available. One way to advertise your property is through online platforms such as social media, property listing websites and portals.
Such platforms allow you to reach a wide audience quickly and efficiently. You can create eye-catching listings with professional photos, detailed descriptions, and accurate information about your property.
You could also promote your property offline. This can be done through newspapers, neighbourhood magazines, or community noticeboards.
This approach can be productive when the aim is to reach out to potential tenants off the web. It's also an excellent tactic for reaching out to people looking for rentals in a specific location.
When advertising your developed house, ensure your ads look professional and appealing. This means using quality photos, providing clear and concise descriptions, and not falsifying information about your property - such as its location, size, amenities, and price.
Open house
If you encounter trouble locating tenants, the open house approach could be an excellent plan to attract more people.
The idea behind an open house is to invite potential tenants personally and allow them to be the only people viewing the apartment at a specific moment. This gives them a feeling of personal connection and interest, which comes in handy when convincing them to take place.
Real estate companies host this type of event for people wishing to devote more of their personal time to showing their properties to clients.
Property Maintenance and Competitive Rental Price
Before showing your property to potential tenants, ensure it's in good condition.
Conduct the necessary repairs, clean everything thoroughly, and ensure that all appliances and fixtures are in working condition. If you don’t have all the time in the world (like most people) - hire a lease cleaning company to do the job for you.
Also, research to determine the current rental rates for similar properties. Setting a competitive price will attract more prospective tenants and increase your likelihood of finding suitable renters.
Screen Potential Tenants and Write a Comprehensive Tenancy Agreement
Conduct thorough background and credit checks to ensure potential tenants have a history of paying their rent on time and no criminal record. This can help prevent issues during the tenancy.
Write a comprehensive tenancy agreement that includes all the terms and conditions of the tenancy, including the rental price, payment due dates, move-in and move-out dates, and any other relevant information.
This will help prevent misunderstandings and disputes during the tenancy.
Obtain Landlord Insurance
Landlord insurance can protect you from financial repercussions due to property damage or liability claims. Obtain the appropriate insurance coverage before renting your property to avoid future problems.
Accepting an Offer and Completion
After you've done all the preparations needed to let your property successfully, there comes a time when you'll be receiving offers from tenants who want to rent the place.
If you're letting the property through an agency, the offers will be received there, and you'll be contacted and told only the best ones.
It will be your right and responsibility to pick the one you think would be the best for you and your property. Maybe you should even interview the candidates to see which ones you like the most and after that make your decision.
When you have finally completed the search and picked suitable tenants, you should accept their offer, prepare all the documents and complete the process of letting. To finalise everything, you should ask the tenants for an extensive list of references.
After that, you should write the tenancy agreement and sign it. Make sure to add a moving-in report so the tenants can familiarise themselves with the items in the property you're letting them into and their condition at the moment of moving in.
At the end of the tenancy, you will conduct a check-out report to determine if something was damaged during the tenancy. After that, you should collect the first rent and the security deposit. Once you've made sure that all the documents are in order, you can proceed to the last step needed to let your property successfully.
The final step is “completion”. This is the last step of the letting process, meaning you've done everything correctly in the previous steps. The process is completed when the keys to the dream home are given to the tenants on the moving-in day.
If you're using a property inventory services company from Australia, you should give the keys to the inventory clerk. After that, you can congratulate yourself – you successfully let your property in a few simple steps!
In a nutshell
Successfully letting your property requires thorough planning and execution.
To sum things up:
- First, prepare the property to be clean, well-maintained, and ready for occupancy.
- Second, market the property using online and offline strategies.
- Third, screen applicants carefully and choose reliable tenants who can pay rent.
- Fourth, finalise the tenancy agreement, collect rent and security deposit, and hand over the keys on the moving-in day.
Being organised and professional can avoid common pitfalls like tenant problems, rent disputes, or property damage. Follow these guidelines to succeed as a landlord and enjoy the benefits of rental income and property ownership.
