Lettings

National Empty Homes Weeks 2024 runs from 4th to 10th March this year and while the thrust of the event is to shine a light on bringing vacant dwellings back into use, the organisers offer support to all those who may have an empty property.

On the outside, selecting a good tenant may feel as simple as accepting the person who makes the highest offer, especially if the most recent news is to be believed. A survey undertaken for the New Economics Foundation found tenants were willing to go to extreme financial lengths to secure a rental property. As a result, landlords have had the luxury of waiting for the ‘highest bidder’ to emerge.

The safety of tenants has become of paramount importance in the private rental sector, and rightly so. One of the areas that has been improved immeasurably is electrical safety and now new guidelines have been issued to provide greater consistency when it comes to checks.

There Are Three Key Areas That Cause Landlords The Most Stress

Any landlord in Newport and Cardiff will no doubt say that there are pros and cons to being a landlord! However, at Red Key, we’ve found that there are three key things that the landlords we work with think stress them out more than anything else.

Here, we’ll explore these three causes of landlord stress and look at how they can be dealt with.

The features we assume tenants are looking for and what actually ticks their boxes can be two very different things. To establish the most in-demand aspects, Rightmove examined more than 600,000  property listings, looking at what was mentioned in the property description in relation to the homes with the highest number of enquiries.

How To Address Moisture Problems In A Property
For property owners in Newport and Cardiff, damp can cause concern. Not only can dampness potentially cause structural damage to a property, but it can also have health implications for its residents. Fortunately, if you can spot it quickly and treat it, damp isn’t necessarily a huge problem.

Unfortunately, Breakages Are Inevitable In Any Rental Property
If you’re a landlord in Newport and Cardiff, you’re probably already aware of the problems that can arise if you have a particularly accident-prone Contract Holder. While breakages are inevitable from time to time in any rental property, there are some Contract Holders who seem to break far more items than others.

A question we often get asked is “As a landlord, is it my responsibility to cover the costs of repairing breakages, or should the Contract Holder take responsibility?” It’s a great question, and our expert team here at Red Key is here to offer some insight into the situation.

Are you Finding Property Taxes Complicated?
If you’re a new landlord in Newport, you may find property taxes complicated and overwhelming. At Red Key, we are ready with some expert advice to help you better understand your obligations.

Subletting is a recurring subject in the world of rental property. For those who are not familiar with the term,subletting is when the original tenant named on the legal agreement moves out and rents the entire property to someone else. Alternatively, the original tenant stays in the property and rents out a room or multiple rooms. Unless the landlord has agreed to subletting, the act will be a breach of the tenancy agreement and constitutes grounds for eviction.

Buying and owning a rental property in Newport should be treated as a business. Even if you are not planning on having a huge portfolio of property that you rent out, it’s imperative that you cross the t’s and dot the i’s.

It may seem complicated at first, but it need not be if you plan out what you need to do, when and how. You should also seek the advice and support of professionals, whether that’s a mortgage broker, an estate or lettings agent, or an accountant.

We have four essential top tips for you to think about when it comes to buying a rental property.

So, you’ve got a property to rent out in the Newport area?

Perhaps you’ve bought it specifically to rent out, or maybe you have inherited it and want to make it pay its way. Whatever your reasons, you’ve decided to employ the services of a local Newport lettings agent to help you!

But how do you choose the right lettings agent?

Tenants have a duty of care to look after gardens, roof terraces, courtyards and balconies. This covers what grows outside, what is added – or taken away – and what happens in the outside space. Failure to look after the great outdoors could result in deductions from the deposit, so it’s vital to know what is expected of tenants.