Owning private holiday accommodation is always a very up and down affair for landlords, but with the current state of the economy, you might be forgiven for thinking that landlords in this sector would be experiencing a sharp downturn in business. However, rather surprisingly, recent figures released from a travel accommodation website have indicated that there has been a steady rise in the number of people looking for private rented holiday accommodation in the UK.

In part, this is easily explainable. With money so tight at the moment, I, like many others, have forgone the expensive package holidays abroad to sunny climates in favour of a cheaper holiday in the UK, and because hotels are expensive and I loathe caravans with a passion, I tend to book holiday rental homes for my annual family break as this is invariably the cheapest way.

There has also been a rise in the number of visitors from abroad over the last few years, particularly from the US and Europe. However, although the increase in visitors is boosting the holiday rental economy, figures show that the average spend per visit has fallen, which suggests that visitors are trying to make savings where possible.

So the upshot of this piece of news is that holiday rental landlords can safely look forward to a rise in their business in the coming months, but for those at the higher end of the market with very expensive properties to let, business might not be quite as rosy with the cost of holiday accommodation becoming the “deal breaker” for many families.

When the bottom fell out of the property market a couple of years ago, most of us assumed that property prices all over the board would be affected and everything would become much more affordable.

But this has not happened and although property prices in the north are still falling, prices in the South East continue to rise, particularly at the more expensive end of the market, and many experts feel that the north-south divide will grow over the next few years. This is borne out by the predicted figures for the next five years: property prices in central London are expected to rise by 33% whereas prices in the North East are only predicted to rise by 1.7%.

How does this trend affect landlords?

Which such a disparity in the property market, it is now more important than ever that you choose your potential properties wisely. A few years ago you might have got away with buying pretty much anything and sitting back while it increased in value, but the good times are no more unless you can afford to buy a few luxury properties in central London—which I certainly can’t!

But although we can no longer expect to see massive returns on our property investments, at least the rental market continues to grow. The demand for rental properties is rising continually as more and more people choose to rent rather than buy and experts in the lettings industry believe that the rental sector of the property market will expand for at least another ten years, which is great news for landlords.

According to a recent survey, as many as one in three landlords have no idea how energy efficient their properties are, which means they probably do not have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) in place for their properties.

Why is an Energy Performance Certificate important?

Apart from the fact a failure to give an Energy Performance Certificate to your tenants could land you with a hefty fine, an Energy Performance Certificate does exactly what it says on the tin: it tells the tenant how energy efficient the property is.

This has two positive effects for landlords—an energy efficient property is easier to let in the first place, and if you already have existing tenants, they are likely to be happier and therefore not planning on moving any time soon. With the cost of gas, electricity, oil, and solid fuel rising all the time, energy efficiency should be an essential consideration of every landlord as an energy efficient property is less likely to have vacant months because tenants have chosen another property that costs less to run.

What happens in the long term if the property is in a lower band?

In the short term, properties with low energy efficiency are less attractive to potential tenants and harder to market, but from 2018, properties that are not energy efficient will actually be banned from the rental market. However, all is not lost as you have plenty of time to get your properties in order and make any necessary improvements to their energy efficiency.

With the current demand for rental property so high, it is likely that for every newly advertised rental property, you are going to have more than one person arranging to view it, and if the property is in a sought after area, you could potentially have dozens of prospective tenants fighting over it.

But whilst this is good news for landlords, not all prospective tenants are going to be the right tenants, so how can you maximise your chances of picking the right person to take on a tenancy agreement for your property?

Tenants that turn up on time for a property viewing are likely to be more reliable. Any tenant with an ounce of sense will think about checking directions to the property before they arrive, and if they can’t manage this simple task, you have to ask yourself how on earth they are going to manage a tenancy agreement.

Forward thinking tenants who are keen to take on your property will bring along essential information such as ID, proof of address, bank statements, references, pay slips, and even a copy of their credit report.

If there are any language issues, the right tenant will bring a decent translator along to ensure nothing is lost in translation.

The buy to let market is booming and savvy investors everywhere are snapping up suitable properties to add to their buy to let portfolios, but not all properties are equal, so given the choice, should you invest in a flat or a house?

Ploughing your savings into property has always been considered a safe investment, and when you take into account the income generated by property rentals, anyone who can afford to step into the buy to let market can easily expect to see a comfortable return on their investment. But although knowing your market is vital as the demand for rental properties varies from area to area, first time landlords do not always consider the differences between flats and houses.

I have a mix of flats and houses in my property portfolio and I have found that each appeals to a different sector of the market, but current research is indicating that family sized homes are fast becoming the most sought after properties in the rental sector, particularly in the prosperous south-east areas of the UK.

Flats might be cheaper to buy, but houses can offer a number of advantages: they give you a better return on your initial investment, they tend to be occupied for longer periods of time, they are freehold, and unlike flats, houses do not come with covenants restricting the types of tenant you can have.

However, your choice of property will ultimately depend on the type of tenants you are hoping to target. If it is students, flats are more appealing, but if you hope to attract the family market, houses are the way forward.

Twenty years ago, the majority of the UK population were either owner-occupiers or tenants in social housing and private rented accommodation was often seen as a short-term solution or a last resort for the desperate. But to paraphrase Bob Dylan, the times they are a changing, and private landlords are fast becoming a major fixture in the UK housing market as millions forget their dreams of owning their own home and move into rented accommodation instead.

In the decades since the Tories gave council tenants the “right to buy”, the number of council owned properties available to prospective tenants in the social housing sector has fallen dramatically. These days, unless you are able to tick an awful lot of boxes, your chances of securing a council house are pretty dire. Buying a home is not much easier. Most of us are all too familiar with the problems facing prospective owner-occupiers: even if you can afford the monthly mortgage payments, your chances of raising a 30%+ deposit are not good if you are a first time buyer hoping to purchase your first home.

As such, private rented housing is becoming increasingly important in today’s housing market and as many as 14% of UK households live in private rented accommodation. With the cost of living continuing to rise, politicians are beginning to realise just how crucial the private rental sector is for the provision of housing in the UK today, as without the contribution private landlords like us make to the housing market, an awful lot of people would currently be homeless.

If you have ever tried to evict one of your tenants, only to have the case end up in court, you are probably more than familiar with the numerous eviction problems faced by landlords. Sadly this is becoming an increasingly depressing scenario landlords have to deal with on a regular basis.

Figures show a rise in the number of tenants defending their eviction case in courts and also appealing decisions made by judges in such cases. So if you are really unlucky, not only does your tenant decide to fight you in court, but even when the judge rules in your favour, the case goes to appeal and the delays caused by court closures as a result of an overwrought legal system leave you in rent arrears for months.

Why is this happening?

There are probably a number of factors at play here. Firstly, with competition for rental accommodation so high, most landlords cannot be bothered to put up with tenants that refuse to pay their rent or abuse the property in some way, therefore we are much more likely to start eviction proceedings with a view to looking for a more amenable tenant next time around. Secondly, tenants these days are much more likely to know their legal rights, which means they are better able to use the system to their advantage.

No landlord wants to deal with this kind of hassle—it takes time to sort out and it can end up extremely costly. So make sure you cover your back, practice due diligence, and always check tenants references before accepting them into one of your properties.

Tenants on benefits or a low income who are living in the private rental sector have the right to claim money towards their monthly rent payments. Under the current rules, this money is paid directly to the tenant and then (hopefully) passed on to the landlord to cover the cost of the monthly rent payment.

The government is trying to sort out the welfare system by way of the Welfare Reform Bill (currently being debated in the House of Lords), but it is still proposing that the rent cost element of the new “universal credit” is paid directly to tenants, in much the same way as existing housing benefit always has been, unless there are extenuating circumstances to prevent this from happening.

However, there is a large number of consumer and housing organisations trying to persuade the government to rethink this policy and give tenants the choice as to who gets the money. If the government agrees to this amendment, tenants will have a choice as to who receives their housing benefit payment: it can either be paid to the tenant as before, or be paid directly to the landlord.

As a landlord, I can see the wisdom behind this proposal. It makes sense that money designed to pay the monthly rent should be paid straight to the landlord. Not only is this a simpler process, it also removes the possibility that the tenant will fall into arrears with their rent payments through poor money management, and then face eviction as a result, but it remains to be seen whether the government take the same view.

Despite the fact I read only a week or so ago that many of the big buy to let lenders were cutting back on their buy to let mortgage products, tightening up their lending criteria, and withdrawing some of the excellent rates they had been offering up until recently, it seems that all is not lost for those who are still hoping to increase their investment portfolio over the next twelve months.

One of the biggest names on the high street, Barclays, has confirmed that it plans on quadrupling the amount of money it lends via buy to let mortgage products in 2012, which is great news for potential and existing investors in the booming rental market.

Previously, buy to let mortgages were a significant part of Barclays lending business, but in recent years the bank took a step back and downsized their buy to let lending, and today buy to let still accounts for only a small part of the bank’s gross lending. However, a spokesperson from the bank has confirmed that Barclays plans on raising this lending threshold considerably over the next few months and is already putting the necessary administrative infrastructure in place in order to cope with the planned increase in mortgage business.

But although it appears that Barclays are looking to cash in on the continuing success of the buy to let boom, the bank has been quick to point out they will be concentrating on marketing their mortgage products at existing professional landlords as opposed to speculative property investors branching out into the rental market.

We all know it makes sense to have homes that are as energy efficient as possible, and even if you do not have lots of money to spend sprucing up older properties, there are grants available to help fund cavity wall and loft insulation, both of which can make a big difference to the running costs of a property.

However, energy efficiency is not just an issue that affects home owners—it also affects landlords, and if energy efficiency campaigners have their way, according to rules outlined in the Energy Bill currently doing the rounds in Parliament, from 2016 instead of 2018 there could be a ban introduced on the letting of private rented properties rated in band F or below.

At the moment, the House of Lords is not considering changing the parameters of the Energy Bill, but they have indicated that landlords who refuse show any signs of having made reasonable progress towards making their properties more energy efficient could be penalised under the new rules. As the Energy Bill currently stands, there is a loophole in the bill that allows landlords owning rental properties rated F and G under the energy efficiency guidelines to continue letting them to tenants, as long as they are showing willing and making some effort to improve their energy efficiency under the Green Deal Scheme.

But whatever the government is saying, the message I’m hearing from the discussion seems to be quite clear: make your properties more energy efficient or you could be penalised in the next few years.