It’s always prudent to make sure your buy-to-let property in Durham is in excellent condition ready for new tenants.
Here are the best tips from PIIM Property to help you get your buy-to-let ready for Tenants.
1. Spruce Up The Garden
It can be extremely difficult to keep your garden looking nice over the autumn and winter months. Grass is usually too damp to cut and most plants won’t grow in the cold weather. By spring, there are no excuses. A couple of hours hard work can make a big difference when letting a property.
You don’t need to go to great lengths or expense either. Mowing the lawn and pruning some trees can make the garden feel much more spacious, and look nicer too.
Maybe consider getting some solar lights for your buy to let property. New tenants can make good use of the garden.
Your tenants will be more motivated to keep a nice looking garden maintained to a high standard.
2. Clear Out The Gutters
With falling leaves and heavy rain in autumn and winter, it’s possible your gutters could be blocked or have some dirt and moss built up. It’s worth having them cleared before you rent your Durham property.
3. Clean Your Windows
Your windows will attract dirt throughout the winter months, and this will show up badly when the sun is shining on them.
Make sure to give them a good scrub, or get a window cleaner to pop round if you prefer. It will make your rental property’s interior feel much brighter, as well as leaving the windows sparkling on the outside.
4. Give Your Property a Lick Of Paint
If your property’s looking a bit tired, a fresh lick of paint will help to attract new tenants to your buy to let property.
Try to keep the property neutral. Potential tenants coming to view a property want to imagine themselves living there, so zebra-print wallpaper might not be to everyone’s liking!
Neutral colours like magnolia and light grey will help attract more tenants. Neutral colours also have the added benefit of making the rooms look bigger and brighter.
5. Check Everything’s Working – No Buy-to-Let Bodging!
When your new tenants move in they’ll expect everything to be in full working order. As the full summer approaches it’s the ideal time to get all those little odd jobs done and have everything fixed up.
When it’s your own home, it’s easy to overlook small tasks and learn to live with them. However, when renting out a property on a buy-to-let basis, it’s crucial to ensure everything is in excellent condition for the tenants’ move-in.
So whether it’s replacing broken light bulbs or checking that the smoke alarms are working, ensure everything’s in full working order.
When it comes to more complex jobs, only fix it if you’re experienced and qualified to do so.
6. Make Sure You Are Fully Insured
You’d be surprised how many landlords don’t have adequate insurance cover for their buy-to-let property in Durham.
It’s worth getting the best cover you can buy, just in case you have problem tenants or costly repairs to pay for.
7. Increase Security of your buy-to-let property
Whether it’s a new burglar alarm or simply a doorbell with a camera that can be viewed from anywhere, it’s wise to increase your buy to let property’s security ahead of the summer.
Tenants are likely to spend more time out of the property in warmer weather and leave windows open for lengthy periods – both of which can attract opportunist thieves.
PIIM Property are your local property experts for the Durham area. Call us on 01207 772033 or email info@piim.co.uk to chat with a member of our friendly and experienced team.
