Are your tenants complaining about mouldy and damp living conditions?

High humidity levels in a house will lead to condensation and mould which in a short time will lead to damp living conditions.  Damp living conditions could give rise to your tenant making a complaint to the local council which may result in a visit by an Environmental Health Officer who will have to conduct a Housing Health and Safety Rating System inspection (HHSRS).  If your tenants are in any way vulnerable, it is highly likely that an order will be made for you to reduce the humidity.

The vast majority of complaints received from tenants about mould and damp living conditions actually results from high humidity.  Generally high ‘in house’ humidity levels are caused by how the property is occupied rather than the property itself.  But try explaining that one to the tenants!  Tenants who live at home for longer periods and in particular those with newborn or young children will produce more moisture adding to humidity levels.  Some tenants style of cooking results in increased humidity.  You can ask tenants not to dry clothes on radiators and use a particular type of tumble dryer but you cannot control them 24/7.  Tenants who are being careful not to waste heating energy may not open windows (restricting ventilation).  Tenants will often have heating going on and off during the time they are home and away; this combined with high humidity will increase levels of condensation and mould.

If a property has high humidity it is impossible to stop condensation forming on cold surfaces such as windows, walls and sills adjacent to the window, cold outside walls and parts of the house where warm air may not easily get to or air movement is severely restricted (behind and often inside wardrobes). If condensation is cleaned up daily it will lessen the amount of mould.  But can you imagine your tenants drying the windows on a daily basis and would you if you were renting the property?

Our advice is invest in equipment that will reduce humidity levels that stops mould forming rather than continually demand tenants change how they live, or demand they dry up condensation.  It will mean you will not have to redecorate so often so in the medium term it will save you money.  Note the expense installing equipment is tax allowable.

Annabel Leach
Belvoir Lettings
46 Killigrew Street
Falmouth  TR11 3PP

01326 210304
www.belvoirlettings.com/falmouth
annabel.leach@belvoirlettings.com

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Accidental Landlords

Accidental Landlords!!

Since the downturn in the sales market, there has been a marked growth in people becoming landlords by necessity rather than by choice. The national press call these 'accidental landlords'. It basically refers to people who rent their property out because they can't sell it, not because they have decided to invest in property.

Accidental landlords need to be careful! Quite often they are renting out the family home, or a property to which they are really attached. If they have spent the last 15 years turning the garden into a horticultural marvel, it can be quite disconcerting when a tenant pays less attention and weeds appear. For this reason accidental landlords often don't last longer than the first tenancy, and end up selling the property at a loss.

This however, is the nature of letting. Whereas some agents promise the earth when taking a property on, we go to great lengths to explain to homeowners what letting out a property actually involves, so people can make a balanced and conscious decision as to whether renting is for them. Most claim to have no issue, only to forget this a few months later. This is what they should consider:

• This is not your home any more. It's now a financial investment.
• Any items which hold high value (whether financial, or sentimental) should be removed from the property. This particularly applies to properties that are furnished.
• Landlords should not expect any damage, but must accept that 'wear' in a tenanted property is generally slightly more than a property that's owner occupied. Especially in the garden.
• Whereas you decorate your own property to your own taste, you decorate a rental property to appeal to the widest possible audience - white, magnolia, etc. 
• Whereas you're happy to put up with the fact that the garage door can only be opened from the inside, or that the landing light falls down if you knock it, your tenant will not. You should attend to any niggly DIY issues before your tenant moves in, as that will make for a hassle free tenancy, and less stress for you.

Landlords who are able to adjust to this way of thinking are generally fine with the rental experience. I know of one lady who rented her house out 2 years ago, and the experience persuaded her to buy 2 more investment properties! As such being an accidental landlord can work out well. Where it doesn't work, it's as often the failure of the owner to adjust as it is due to any real problem with a tenant. 

Annabel.

Is your Lettings Agent solvent?

Anyone can open a lettings agency.  Before long that agency can be holding a small fortune in landlord’s rents and tenants deposits and there is no one checking that such money is properly accounted for.  If the agent isn’t trading profitably – say they are charging stupidly low management fees to attract customers – there are additional pots of ‘client’ monies that it’s all too tempting to dip into, to meet their own expenses.  Because of the amount of money a lettings agent has coming and going from their accounts, this practice can carry on for a long time (maybe years) before anyone realises there’s a problem.

Another factor is the tenancy deposit.  You would assume that if the agent takes it, registers it, then spends it, the agent is liable. Not so!  A tenancy agreement is between Landlord and Tenant – if the agent acts negligently or dishonestly, it’s the landlord that is legally liable to his tenant for the full value of the deposit.  There have been recent examples where Letting Agents have ceased trading, the deposit monies have gone missing and Landlords having to compensate their tenants.  It is true that the Landlord could then sue his agent for negligence, but if the agent has shut up shop, or spent the money already, the chances of success are slim.

What’s the solution for a landlord?

Ideally, all agents should be regulated and face frequent compulsory checks on their accounting procedures.  I’d actually go a stage further and say that some sort of professional competence test would be useful.  The majority of decent agents, ourselves included, would welcome regulation as we have nothing to hide, and much to gain.

The best bet for a landlord is to stick to an agent that is a member of a professional body such as the The National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS).  To become a member, the agent has to firstly have their accounts audited regularly by a qualified accountant, and secondly has to hold Client Money Protection Insurance, so if there are problems, liability to clients is covered.  NALS won’t let an agent in without this, and checks all existing members frequently to ensure that standards are being actively maintained.  You can check if your agent is in NALS by searching at http://www.nalscheme.co.uk/.  A good Letting Agent will also be registered with an ombudsman scheme such as The Property Ombudsman see www.tpos.co.uk.  Lettings and property management agents who join the TPO also subscribe to the Code of Practice for Letting Agents.

Is your agent handling funds correctly?

If they are an NALS member, the answer is likely to be yes, as they will have undergone checks – you’re certainly covered if they do go under whilst they are a member.  Other tell tale signs to look out for include:

Rent not being quickly paid to you, despite the tenant having paid the agent.  Consider an agent that routinely pays landlords late, and by cheque, despite never having done this in many years previously – something is clearly not quite right here!
Delays or failure to refund the tenants deposit.
Delays or failure to administer repairs to your property – contractors don’t like working for agents that don’t pay them!
Cheap management rates? – Belvoir has over 150 offices nationwide and the consensus is that it’s not really possible to manage a property for less than 8% + VAT.  If your agent is charging you less than this, we’d suggest that either a) they aren’t doing everything you’re paying them for, or b) they aren’t doing it profitably, which long term is as much your issue as theirs.

Annabel