With the property market as it is, more and more people are deciding to rent their properties, as they can't sell at a price they want. With all these new landlords in the market, it is important to make sure that you get things right and make sure your property stands out from the rest. It is important to take out comprehensive landlord insurance when renting a property to ensure that it is fully protected: landlord insurance will cover your property and contents, whereas a standard homeowner policy will probably not be valid when the property is tenanted.
More and more houses and flats are coming on to the rental market, which means that many areas are seeing a fall in rent levels. If you are a new landlord then you may not be sure what level of rent you should apply to your property. You could ask a local letting agent, however for an unbiased view it would probably be best to look on websites such as Rightmove to see what rental values landlords are setting for properties similar to yours in your area. To make sure your property does get rented out quickly, and so that you can start covering costs as soon as possible, it is advisable to lower your rent by around 5 or 10%, to make sure your property looks attractive to the tenant. This does make sense as the properties shown on the website are obviously still vacant, and leaving your property vacant is not good for the property itself or the landlords pocket. After 6 months you could review this and propose a rent increase of say GBP25 if you feel it's appropriate.
If your property has fallen unoccupied because you can't find suitable tenants, or if you are planning on doing some renovation work at your property, consider having a look for unoccupied property insurance to ensure you have appropriate cover for the property when its left vacant - many landlord insurance policies will only cover up to a certain number of days of unoccupancy between lets therefore it is important to read the small print on your landlord insurance policy to ensure your property is adequately covered at all times. When your property becomes occupied again, most insurers should let you switch your existing unoccupied property insurance to a landlord insurance saving you the hassle of cancelling one policy and setting a new one up.
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