How to Let a Property

A landlord insurance policyholder with a property to let has many options as to how they can rent and market their rental property.

Accommodation agencies mainly aim at the student market, nursing, police and fire services, working in many cases in markets where price is all important. Some large companies with a big workforce also run what are, in effect, accommodation offices; many higher educational establishments operate their own agency on-site. They often vet their landlord insurance policyholders so that they meet certain minimum requirements, and can act as mediators in disputes.

These agencies frequently make no charge to landlord insurance policyholders at all, as they are paid by the tenant when they take on a property. Because they are often part of large organisations with many potential tenants, they are a major player in their local markets.

These agencies do not usually provide the fuller service a letting agent offers: they are really simply filters for information on what is available. University accommodation offices will list the accommodation offered by and through the university, including halls of residence and other properties owned by the university, and the recent trend for high quality dedicated student blocks available for quite reasonable rents, such as those offered by Unite (see www.unite-students.com). So they are marketing a range of competing properties. This is good for the tenant, who gets a wide choice of property, but makes the market more competitive for the landlord insurance customer.

Social lets are for people on low income or Housing Benefit, and are provided by local authorities or housing associations, who also usually own the let properties. However, such is the demand that private landlord insurance policyholders can enter this market. Local authorities vet private landlords carefully and can decide the rent they charge. Housing associations also have clear requirements, but will often manage the rental property themselves for a very reasonable fee.

For landlord insurance policyholders, a social let has a number of benefits:

• Guaranteed rental income on long leases.
• Low fees for what is, in effect, often a full management service.
• Often there is an optional repairs and maintenance service.
• Cheaper landlords insurance through the organisation.
• The satisfaction of making an ethical investment in social housing, which helps the disadvantaged.

As with advantages, socials lets also have certain disadvantages:

• Some lenders forbid landlord insurance policyholders from letting to these groups (and some landlords choose not to), partly because Housing Benefit regulations can result in the landlord being held responsible for large financial liabilities incurred by the tenant if, for example, they are found to have been claiming benefit fraudulently.
• Council rent officers have wide powers to limit the amount of rent charged and to ensure tenants are treated fairly.
• Move to LAA, which means Housing Benefit is paid directly to the tenant, not the landlord.

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Related posts:

1. Landlords DSS Tenants
2. Public Sector Tenancies
3. Let Property Preparations
4. Property Letting Business
5. Using Property Letting Agents
6. Preparing a rental property for Letting
7. Landlords Insurance for Buy to Let Property
8. Landlords buying property already let
9. Buy to Let Property Market
10. Common Terms for Landlords Let Property