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Friday, July 10, 2009

Is it time to raise rents?

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Don’t be scared to raise rents!

A recent news item stated that many landlords are experiencing difficulties with their tenants falling behind with their rent, so perhaps an item about raising rents, doesn't seem appropriate at this time., however;

REMEMBER: You are a landlord and letting property is your “business”. This means that you should be making a profitable income from your property both from a rental cash flow perspective and from a capital gain perspective.

Make sure that you are charging comparable market rents for your property and don’t be afraid to put up the rent, regardless of how good the tenant is. If a tenant has stuck with you then it is for a reason, the most probable one being that you are offering good value for money, or they can't or don't want to go anywhere else.

But make sure that you give your tenants plenty of notice before any rent increase is set and explain your reasons for increasing the rent.

Officially write to the tenant and tell them what the rental market value for this kind of property is, and give some comparisons in the area. Also, remind them of the high value service that you provide so that they see that they are getting exceptional value for their money even after the rent increase. And if you have carried out any refurbishment or repairs, remind them of what you did for them.

Whislt we're loosely on the subject of people struggling to pay bills, I'd just like to say a big thank you to any landlords who told their tenants about our offer of re-claiming bank charges. We had a tremendous response to that item and have got the ball rolling for several dozen people.. But we are still able to offer the service until the end of July, so if you'd like to a reminder of what we are offering, look at my previous blog on the subject or give me a ring on 0754 5764 983.

And one last thing, we have the new product ready for “Commercial Property Owners”. But I'll tell you more about it at the end of this week or early next.

In fact I'm going to tell you more about it later today....BUT it's only for Commercial Property Owners, so promise you won't read it!


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