How to avoid void periods when letting out your property

by Ed Firmin

Posted on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2015 at 10:00

All landlords are aiming for the ultimate – a property rented out all of the time, with no void in between tenants. But in reality, that’s not going to happen, even in a market that performs well, you are still going to have gaps where you aren’t receiving any income from your property.

But there are things that you can do to reduce any periods that your house lies empty between tenants, and here are a few ideas which you could easily implement.

• Open your mind. If you have refused to consider taking on certain tenants (such as those on housing benefits, those that have failed credit checks for certain reasons, or those with pets) it might be time to rethink your strategy. If you think that they are going to be reliable, and you can write additional clauses into your agreement, then it might just be worth it, in order to miss out on empty periods
• Fix any problems that are causing an issue with your existing tenants. If they are getting annoyed with a leaky tap or boiler that continually breaks down then it’s going to be worth spending the money getting this fixed rather than it meaning your tenants moving out because you’ve not looked after them properly
• You might have to consider dropping the rent if your property has been on the market for a while. Do some research to see what other properties similar to yours are being advertised at to ensure you are competitive
• How about getting new photos done? Spending some money on dressing up a property well and getting some professional photography done could be well worth the money if it helps to secure additional viewings
• Look at how the property is being marketed. If you’re not using a letting agent to find a tenant for you, then it might be worth exploring this option. It means that your property can then be advertised on sites like Rightmove or Zoopla, a huge boost to the number of people that will see it. If you don’t want to go down this route, then you might have to consider things like leafleting the area or advertising in local papers

Hopefully some of these tips will help you to avoid unnecessary costs associated with an empty property. If you’d like to talk about the services a letting agent can offer to help find a tenant, and also to manage your property on an ongoing basis, please get in touch and I am more than happy to talk through your options.

Tags: Avoiding Rental Void, inventory, no rent coming in, revenge eviction, wear and tear