7 Useful Tips For First-Time Landlords

If you want to avoid making unnecessary mistakes as a first-time landlord, continue reading to discover 7 useful tips for first-time landlords!

Useful tips for first time landlords:

1. Make sure to take photos of each room in your property on the day before your first tenants move in

It’s well worth looking into homelet.co.uk/landlord-insurance as they can help take clear photos of each room in your property from a variety of different angles, as evidence of the state which your property was in before your tenants arrived. As if your tenants cause damage to your home,  you’ll be able to prove that the damage wasn’t preexisting and was caused by your tenants.

2. Always ensure that you have plenty of money on hand to pay for any property related costs that may arise

As an example, depending on the stipulations of your rental agreement you may be responsible for repairing or replacing the appliances in your property when they wear out.

3. Make sure to check potential tenants references before offering them a rental contract

The best way to find out whether or not a potential tenant is likely to be an ideal tenant is to reach out to the references which they provided. Ideally, potential tenants should offer references from potential landlords, instead of character references from friends and family members who may be biased or unaware of how tidy and considerate their loved one may be as a tenant.

4. Consider outlining any rules which you may want your first tenants to follow in your rental agreement

If you’re a first-time landlord you may be unaware that you are able to stipulate basic house rules that you’d like your tenants to follow, in your rental agreement. As examples, you may want to request that tenants keep loud music to a minimum in the evenings out of respect for their neighbors or that your tenants

5. Also, stipulate how often you’d like to perform a routine inspection of your property

As an example, you may want to visit your property on 2 select dates each year in order to assess the condition of your property. If you don’t want to do this yourself, you may want to hire a property management firm to handle signing tenants and managing your tenants, instead.

6. When you do complete an inspection of your property make sure to have a checklist to go through

To ensure that you don’t miss anything, make sure to have a checklist on hand when it comes time to inspect your property for the first time. As an example, you may want to check that none of your furniture or appliances is damaged or missing and that there isn’t any mold in your property.

7. Make sure that your rental price isn’t too low

In order to ensure that you don’t miss out on extra revenue, it’s well worth comparing the price which you’re thinking of asking for your property with similar rental properties in your area which are being listed.

So if you’re a first-time landlord, definitely follow the 7 handy tips listed above in order to ensure that signing your first rental contract is a straight forward, simple process.