Our quick guide covers a few of the essential processes you can follow to minimise any potential problems which may arise throughout the tenants stay… These are all preventative measures which can often avoid problems arising in the first place and are a great way to start off on the right foot:

• Select your tenant carefully and don’t rush into accepting just anyone – Complete application forms, background and credit checks, essential references from previous employers and / or landlords all help to verify a reliable tenant.
• Pay a visit to your property regularly* and resolve any maintenance problems quickly to avoid them becoming big issues.
• Keep an active and updated inventory with photographic and dated proof.
• Always try to maintain professional, good and open relations with your tenants.*
• Keep accurate, dated records of any issues or potential issues affecting your property now or in the future.
• Potential damage can be minimised by ensuring your decor and contents are both durable and built to withstand everyday use.
• Consider using a Bath letting agent such as City Central to take the headache out of the paperwork and administration.
• Consider using a rent guarantee or insurance scheme to ensure income each month, even if the tenant becomes problematic.
• Set up an arrangement for the rent to be paid directly by standing order so that you know the payment date each month.

*Visiting and speaking to your tenants in Bath:

Even though issues such as non-payment of rent can be frustrating, as a landlord in Bath, be careful not to push your tenant for money or be tempted to change the locks or pay them a surprise visit etc. Doing these things could result in your tenants bringing a harassment claim against you as the landlord. Our advise would be to keep communication polite, professional and in writing so that everything is recorded and traceable.

If this is your first tenant in Bath or the South West or you are new to the whole process of running checks, there are a few options available to ensure that your tenant is going to pay you each month!

New tenants obviously provide you or your renting agency their personal information and salary details, but you have no way of really knowing if the information is correct or if there have been some details conveniently left off of the application form. ‘Financial Considerations’ is one of the key reasons that a landlord can deny a tenant access under the ‘Fair Housing Law’ – Therefore, running a full tenant credit check gives landlords a transparent and accurate picture of the tenants current financial situation. If a potential tenant regularly misses payments and / or has a poor credit score, obviously as a landlord you are free to deny then access to your property in Bath or could even consider charging a higher deposit, rate of rent, or asking them to find a co-signer to guarantee the income in the event that they are not able to meet their obligations.

First things first, ‘The Fair Credit Reporting Act’ declares that you as the landlord must have the potential tenant’s permission to access his or her credit report. As you may know, many rental applications include a clause which will grant the landlord or renting agency permission to run a background or credit check on the landlords behalf. If this isn’t the case you will need to draw up a separate form or obtain this permission in writing from the potential Bath tenant. As a guide, you will need a full set of personal information from the tenant – Including full name, current address, date of birth and National Insurance number etc. One final consideration is that you will need to ensure that you keep all of this sensitive and personal information well secured and in line with your Privacy Policy so that it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

Completing a potential tenant credit check through HomeLet or one of the other main credit check organisations gives all Landlords in Bath information about the tenant’s credit history, but some landlords do actually prefer to go above and beyond the tenant credit check and run criminal background check. Other additional reports can include details on history such as eviction reports in order to evaluate potential tenants thoroughly. If this comprehensive approach appeals to you more as a landlord, you may want to consider a ‘tenant screening service’ which can give you all of the information you need and ensure all angles are covered!

Decorating a property can be a nightmare decision making process: The wrong wall colours could put off a number of potential tenants. The tried and tested technique as a Landlord is that you have to get into the shoes of the prospective tenant looking for rented properties in Bath…

Tenants generally want a clean, tidy and well maintained property that is neutrally decorated. It may sound conservative, but landlords rarely need to splash out with a top-of-the-range kitchen or the latest gadgets, just keep things simple, solid and clean.

Each time a new tenant is due, a clean coat of paint in a few choice rooms is one of the most cost effective ways of sprucing up a property. Our recommendations for this would be to focus on the main living room / area and the entrance or hall as these create the biggest impression, as well as being rooms susceptible to chips and grime in the first place.

From speaking to other Landlords in Bath and our own experiences, as a rule of thumb the look of the bathroom and kitchen should be updated once every ten years at least. From what we see at City Central Lettings, Landlords who take a more active approach to interior décor and give things a little thought tend to send the right signals to their tenants. This translates into tenants that are much more likely to stay in a property longer term, and more importantly be more amenable to rent increases when necessary.

The ‘Green Deal Scheme’ was introduced at the end of 2010, with the idea that private contractors will complete the energy efficiency upgrades to the property without charging any fees upfront…  The idea being that the associated costs will be recouped through savings on energy bills in the future.

Chris Huhne, Energy & Climate Change Secretary for the coalition government, announced that the plans will be enforced from April 2016, with landlords in Bath and the UK then unable to decline what will be specified as ‘reasonable’ requests from their tenants and the local authority for energy efficiency upgrades. Huhne went on to detail that more than two hundred and fifty thousand of the worst insulated rented homes in the UK were categorised as ‘fuel poor’ meaning that their efficiency falls below the required standards, therefore the legislation should help to protect some of the UKs most poor homes.

Huhne summarised by saying that “The Green Deal Scheme is a win win opportunity for landlords by removing the upfront cost of work to upgrade the property, making it cheaper to run, more environmentally friendly and ultimately more attractive to rent.”

Looking at figures released by the government, nearly three quarters of a million buy-to-let properties will need improvements through the ‘Green Deal Scheme’ over the next seven years if the Landlords are to comply with these new laws so the race is on!

These changes to Local Housing Allowance came into force on the 1st April 2011 and will affect any new tenancy moving forward. Additionally, the rules could also have a larger impact on the buy-to-let property market in Bath and throughout the country…

The revised maximum weekly rates for Local Housing Allowance are as follows:

• One Bedroom Property: £250
• Two Bedroom Property: £290
• Three Bedroom Property: £340
• Four Bedroom Property: £400

Clearly an incentive is needed to encourage some landlords to reduce their rent so that a benefit claimant can move in as a tenant. This incentive to the Landlords is that the rent due will be paid directly by the local authority for the first two years of the agreement, obviously meaning no chasing rent payments or time spend on admin.

That said, this rather small incentive could mean that the reduced housing benefit limits are likely to encourage landlords who currently do actively let to benefit claimants to perhaps look for a switch to private tenants to make up the short fall instead.

Any changes to the rules and regulations in this sector are likely to have a significant impact on rent fees, with many analysts predicting that this specific change is likely to affect the private rental sector as follow: If more landlords decide to switch to private tenants following the reduction in maximum housing rates, it may well increase the availability of rental properties at the lower end of the market, thus pushing down rent fees and making the lower end of the market more competitive. As in any markets, downward pressure on rent fees could even spread through the market to more expensive properties throughout Bath and the rest of the UK.