Even though the rental market is currently on the up, it can still be tough attracting the right tenant in a competitive market. As a landlord, you may have to go the extra mile if you want a decent tenant living in your property, so what are the top 5 things that are likely to put potential tenants off when they come to view a property?

1. Neighbours from Hell

This particular issue is a real deal breaker. Even when the property is fantastic, noisy neighbours will be seriously off putting to a potential tenant, so unless they are stone deaf, don’t expect them to be signing a tenancy agreement any time soon.

2. Mould and Mildew

Would you want to live in a property where the walls are bright green with mould and the carpets are grey with mildew? Of course you wouldn’t—and unsurprisingly, nor do many tenants. Mould and mildew are a serious health hazard, so if your property is affected, sort it out.

3. Property in a Poor Condition

Landlords are responsible for maintaining their properties and carrying out any necessary repairs. If you fail in your duties and the property ends up in a poor state, around 43% of tenants will walk away and find somewhere else to live.

4. No Central Heating

Houses without central heating are freezing cold in winter and therefore unattractive to many tenants. Interestingly, though, older tenants are less likely to be bothered by this, probably because they grew up in homes without the benefit of central heating.

5. Nasty Smells

The majority of landlords don’t accept pets—a major cause of bad odours—but many tenants ignore this rule and by the time they move out, the carpets stink. Cigarette smoke can also leave a rental property smelling less than wholesome.

According to one leading money advice website, anyone hoping to turn a decent profit during the current buy to let property boom should invest in a multi bedroom property in one of the top university towns. Buy a three-bedroom property in Leeds, Bristol, Liverpool or Birmingham and you can easily generate a decent income from student tenants.

London has traditionally been seen as the most lucrative area for HMO properties, but thanks to the rising cost of property in London, returns on investments are now much lower than in provincial university towns. Instead experts recommend that would-be landlords target popular university towns with a high percentage of students and young professionals.

Know Your Target Market

A lot of new landlords are wary of targeting the student market because student tenants have a poor reputation. However, although students are a higher risk than say a young professional tenant, rental yields can be excellent if you take on a property in the right area. For maximum rental yields, invest in a multiple bedroom property near the campus or in a popular area of town, and remember that students are more discerning these days—they will expect extras such as WiFi access, decent door and window locks, and secure bike storage.

Attract Young Professionals

Young professionals are less likely to trash the place, but they do demand a greater level of comfort, so be prepared to install better quality appliances in the kitchen and decorate the property to a higher specification. It is also a good idea to choose a property close to public transport links.

The landlords of a luxury mansion are suing one of West Ham’s top strikers after they allege he trashed the place. They also claim the footballer owes them tens of thousands of pounds in unpaid rent.

A Premier Neighbourhood

The 5-bedroom luxury mansion in Merseyside was originally rented to the footballer on a two-year lease. He was said to have paid the landlords a £15,000 deposit up front before moving in, but his plans later changed and after being sent on loan to West Ham, he decided to make the move permanent. The lease on the property expired in May of this year, but far from being returned to the landlords in its original condition, they were horrified to discover their former tenant had extensively damaged the house.

Sued for Damages

The landlords of the up-market property are suing the footballer for £123,000 damages plus £68,000 in unpaid rent. They allege the swimming pool contained broken glass and algae, there were drinks stains on chairs and the dining room ceiling, and that antique furniture and exercise equipment had been unlawfully removed from the house.

The footballer is believed to have claimed he took the missing items to ensure he would have his deposit returned, although the star’s solicitors have yet to officially confirmed this.

The Moral of the Story

Premier league footballers are well known for their bumper pay packets, but just because they are wealthy, it doesn’t mean they make responsible tenants. So if a super rich footballer shows interest in one of your rental properties, make sure you check his references thoroughly and extract a hefty deposit, just in case.

The property market is booming all over the country, but house prices in London are particularly buoyant as wealthy foreign investors move fast to snap up available properties in prime locations. In fact demand for homes in some of the capital’s most expensive boroughs is so high that nearly 60% of properties listed as £5million and above are being sold to overseas buyers, which experts warn could lead to a property bubble.

Buy to Let Boom Boosting Property Prices

Lenders have handed out more than £5billion to landlords between April and June. Demand for rental properties in the capital is pushing up house prices even further, but rental yields are lower as a result. In some parts of the country landlords can enjoy around 6% whereas in London the rental yield is less than 4%.

Buy to Let Lending Increases

Figures recently released indicate that lending to landlords has increased by a fifth in the period between April and June, but it does include re-mortgages taken up by landlords looking to take advantage of low interest rate deals available. Experts say that the buy to let market is now stronger than 2008, but not quite as high as the summer of 2007.

Savers Being Penalised

With interest rates so low right now, keeping your nest egg in a savings account just doesn’t make sense any more. Buy to let, on the other hand, offers investors a good return on their money, hence the reason why so many people are snapping up investment properties and letting them out to eager tenants. But if you have your eye on the London rental market, you could find yourself priced out of the game.

With renting as opposed to owning a property becoming the norm in the UK, landlords are finding it increasingly difficult to obtain mortgage funding for long-term tenancies. The majority of mortgage lenders are only willing to offer funding for tenancies that last between six and twelve months. Unfortunately, many landlords prefer to give their tenants long-term tenancy agreements because they offer a greater level of security to tenants.

Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreements

In the UK, an Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement is the norm. Tenants are allowed to stay put in their rental homes for up to one year. Any longer than that and the tenancy agreement needs to be renewed. But a lot of landlords and tenants are not happy with this state of affairs. They want to be able to enjoy longer tenancies.

More Stability for Tenants and Landlords

Figures indicate that more than half of all tenancies in the UK last between one and three years. A further third last for four years or longer, which is similar to the situation in Europe. Since many of those living in rental accommodation are families with school age children, long-term tenancies offer more stability. Rather than moving home every year or less, which often means moving schools, too, a long-term tenancy is a much better idea for families. It is also better for landlords. Rather than having to look for new tenants and facing a possible void period, a landlord can enjoy regular rental income from a reliable tenant.

As renting grows in popularity, it looks likely that larger cities in the UK will soon have more tenants than owner-occupiers, which is a good thing for landlords.

The National Landlords Association is warning landlords that ‘no win no fee’ lawyers are beginning to jump on the deposit protection bandwagon. The claims were made during a Radio 4 programme on Friday when the chairwoman of the NLA, Carolyn Uphill, told listeners that Tenancy Deposit Protection schemes were being inundated with requests for information by no win no fee law firms hoping to make a quick buck from unwitting landlords.

Failing to Protect Deposits Could Lead to Claims

Every landlord now knows the importance of protecting a tenant’s deposit. At the beginning of a tenancy, a landlord has 30 days to place the deposit in an approved Tenancy Deposit Protection (TDP) scheme. They are also legally obliged to give their tenant important information about the scheme.

Protect Yourself from the Sharks

Most landlords do take the necessary steps to protect their tenant’s deposits. The problem is, even when a landlord places the deposit in an authorised deposit protection scheme, if he then forgets to pass on the relevant information about the scheme, he leads himself wide open to a claim. Many of the no win no fee claims lawyers are banking on the fact that inevitably some landlords will fail to pass on the prescribed information packs.
The Effect of Claims on Landlords and Tenants

The only people who really stand to gain in this situation are the no win no fee lawyers. There is very little benefit to anyone else and if such claims become more widespread, the NLA is concerned that there is a real danger relations between landlords and tenants will be adversely affected.

Tenancy deposit protection has been thrown into the spotlight recently after the Appeal Court ruling in the Superstrike v Rodrigues case held that a statutory periodic tenancy is in fact a new tenancy and therefore a deposit has to be protected anew. The Appeal Court decision also means tenancies that began prior to 2007 are no longer exempt, which many landlords were in the dark about. So what are the main points landlords need to be careful of?

Guidelines on Deposit Protection

• When a fixed term tenancy ends, always check with the deposit protection scheme you used to ensure the deposit is still protected, and if it isn’t, go through the process anew.

• When a tenancy is renewed or it changes into a statutory periodic tenancy agreement, once again, check whether the deposit is still protected. If the deposit is no longer protected, take steps to re-serve the section 213 notice.

What Happens If You Never Protected the Deposit and the Tenancy has since been Renewed?

Tenancy deposit protection legislation has become something of a legal minefield, so if in doubt about your position, it could be worth taking legal advice from a housing law specialist. Always protect yourself at all times in case a future dispute arises. The danger is that if you have not followed the correct procedures, you could end up in breech of the rules and be subjected to a fine. You will also be unable to use the possession procedure if you need to evict your tenants.

The much maligned bedroom tax came into force in April of this year. Tenants in receipt of Housing Benefit who were deemed to have spare rooms had their payments reduced. It was thought that most would downsize into smaller homes to save money, but figures released by one large Housing Association have revealed that the majority of tenants have actually stayed in their existing properties.

Why Are Tenants Not Moving?

The biggest problem faced by tenants looking to downsize into smaller homes is the lack of available and suitable properties. Many Housing Associations simply don’t have any smaller houses in their stock, which means tenants are being forced to stay put even though they are struggling to pay their rent.

Rise in Rent Arrears

Figures from the same Housing Association indicate that rent arrears rose by 9% during the first 12 weeks of the Bedroom Tax. Tenants have seen their payments reduced, but because there are no smaller properties available, they begin to fall into payment arrears.

Protest Against Bedroom Tax

Social landlords are doing their best to support tenants by giving them advice on how to better manage their money or find work, but clearly despite their best efforts, many tenants are struggling to pay the bills. In a graphic illustration of the frustration felt by many tenants, one disgruntled individual decided to cut his own throat last week whilst visiting his local benefits office. He claimed it was in protest at the Bedroom Tax. Fortunately the man survived.

Figures released by HouseMark have revealed that social landlords spent a whopping £325 million trying to resolve anti-social behaviour. This is up on last year’s figure of £300 million, which indicates that anti-social behaviour is becoming more of a problem in the rental sector.

Tragic Consequences of ASB

Dealing with anti-social behaviour is all part of being a landlord. Excessive noise is far and away the biggest problem reported, but there are many others. Some tenants are abusive to their neighbours; in other cases tenants have to deal with abuse from other residents.

One of the saddest cases of anti-social behaviour in recent years was when Suzanne Dow, a gifted academic, was driven to suicide after putting up with years of horrendous abuse from her neighbour, a social housing tenant. Despite repeated calls for help, local housing officers failed to do anything constructive to tackle the problem.

Lessons Learned

In the wake of the Suzanne Dow case, and many others besides, housing associations and councils need to start taking anti-social behaviour complaints a lot more seriously. The HouseMark report indicates that social landlords were able to resolve 9/10 cases of anti-social behaviour, which is good news for tenants.

However, a recent amendment to the ASB bill, which would have extended protection from ASB to all tenants, was defeated in parliament this month. This leaves social landlords unable to protect tenants from abusive neighbours living in private rental accommodation and although the government has promised to look further into the issue of ASB, there has been no indication of when this might happen.

Sheffield landlords are currently waiting for the results of a public consultation on a proposed selective landlord licensing scheme in the Page Hall area of the city. In line with many other councils across the UK, Sheffield City Council wants to force landlords with properties in Page Hall to apply for special licenses. The council say the introduction of such a scheme will help to protect vulnerable tenants, but landlords do not agree.

Clamping Down on Rogue Landlords

Landlords will be charged up to £750 for each property they let and the license will last for five years. Any landlords operating rental properties in the area who do not have the correct license face fines of up to £20k. In order to apply for a license, the landlord will have to prove he or she is a “fit and proper” person, which in theory should weed out those with previous criminal convictions. Landlords would also have to prove they have provided easy to understand tenancy agreements for their properties, plus gas safety certificates are in place.

Landlord Criticism of the Sheffield Licensing Scheme

Many landlords operating in the area are of the opinion that Sheffield City Council is introducing the scheme purely as a moneymaking enterprise. They say that a voluntary licensing scheme would be much better. If landlords are expected to pay out up to £750 for a rental property, rents will rise to take this extra expense into account, which will of course impact tenants who are already struggling to make ends meet.