If you do not use letting agents will have to advertise your rental properties when seeking new tenants.
Choice of media should depend on the location and type of property and the market at which the landlord is aiming – for example, it would be wasteful to pay to advertise in a national newspaper when advertising just one property to let.
If fact there is a wide choice of possible media and approaches, including: contacting local employers or universities direct, in supermarkets, in shop windows, in local free or paid for newspapers, in magazines and on specialist websites.
Clearly no landlord would want to spend more on advertising than is necessary, but you advertising should be such that it is effective – the cost of leaving a property empty is likely to be much more than the cost of a well targeted advert.
All publications and websites will be able to provide would-be advertisers not only with the cost of advertising (their rate card) but also with details of their readers and target audience. Before placing advertising you should consider whether the readership profile of the publication is suitable, or if there are likely to be other more effective ways of reaching the group you are targeting - this way you will not end up paying for wasted circulation to people unlikely or unable to rent their property, or who they would not want anyway.
Some prior research into who is advertising what rental property, and where, may save wasted time and money – as will research into the level of rents being advertised and, if relevant to the end of the market you are targeting, the level of local housing allowance. Clearly you need to pitch your rent at a level which is commercially acceptable to you, but not so high as make the property untenable for most would-be tenants in your preferred target group.
Your aim should be to have a number of applicants to choose from so that you can turn away those who look as if they might not have the financial resources needed to pay the rent, or who show signs of possibly causing other problems.
When placing your advertisements you should take care to make sure they are not discriminatory in any way – it is against the law to discriminate against potential tenants on the grounds of race, sex, disability, sexuality, or religion or belief.
Besides basic information (such as number of bedrooms, parking arrangements and rent), your advertisement should be certain to mention any attributes particularly attractive to your target group (for example; ‘good schools nearby’, ‘close to mail line railway station’, ‘in the heart of the city’ ).
Once you have responses you will need to decide how you will treat prospective tenants and in what order. You will certainly need to arrange viewings, to ask tenants to complete an application form (even if there is only one applicant you will need to keep information provided by the tenant in case things go wrong), and to interview prospective tenants and seek references.
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