Landlording like a PRO

When there is a Landlord looking to find a new tenant, you may consider them a landlord. They will be responsible for managing tenants too. Some of the things landlords do can be outsourced to the relevant professionals such as letting agents or property managers. Either way, a landlord must understand most of the basics surrounding a property business if they want to start landlording like a pro without hiring any professionals.

What is the definition of landlording?

Landlording is a term referring to the process of managing tenants and turning this into a profitable business. Getting good at this process is great for those who want to find the right tenants and maximise the amount they can make from a property business to begin with.

With the right strategy, landlording can become easy as tenants will remain happy in their space and stay in their tenancy for a long time. 

In order to do things properly as a landlord, it is important you take extra steps to make sure you put in an extra bit of effort to keep tenants happy and ensure you’re efficiently running a property business.

If you’re able to make a property business better, then this is a good way to do landlording as you will place yourself ahead of the competition of other landlords.

Landlording is the process of managing tenants and growing a portfolio. In order to make the landlording process a bit easier, you should be familiar with some tips on how you can landlord like a pro.

With property management, in order for tenants to get the required outcome throughout their tenancy, there is a price that the landlord has to pay to make sure they are landlording in the right way.

Tenants, whether that be those in an assured shorthold tenancy or those who are in a excluded tenancy, must be able to enjoy their space with some basic safety requirements which is a crucial part of landlording. 

Managing tenants and most other things (if not all) will require that little extra to get the outcome that is desired. We cannot be surprised by a lack of success when there has been a limited effort when it comes to input.  

So here are a few pointers on how you get landlording like a real pro!

Property Welcome Pack

Imagine, you have just spent a sizable figure on renovating your property, found some fantastic tenants and agreed on a brilliant return when it comes to the actual monthly rent. Unfortunately, tenants are always contacting you asking the basics: when is bin day? Where are the mains? And the list goes on.

By having your own welcome pack in order, you can reduce the questions and allow for self-diagnosis. Fewer questions, less time wasted, and everyone will be happier doing things independently instead of waiting for a response. Unless there are other bigger issues like there needs to be a boiler change or their property has a leak in an emergency, a landlord wouldn’t need to be contacted.

There are also some legal documents that you have to issue a tenant with. These include the how to rent guide from a tenant, the energy performance certificate, deposit protection information alongside a copy of the property licence (if you need one in a HMO for example). If you deliver this alongside a welcome pack you will be well on your way to making sure you reduce the number of complaints.

Repairs and Maintenance Management

Having the right team on hand is key. In order to be a good landlord, it is common for you to find the process of managing tenants problematic. As a result, using a property management software can be vital in reducing headache, using Lofti the first three-in-one property management software, users can benefit from having their own contractors ready on the system to attend to any maintenance job that requires a professional.

Not only this, but Lofti can deal with emergencies so you don’t have to live in fear. If your team cannot get to the emergency, Lofti has its own trusted and vetted network of professionals available to help any property manager should they need a last-minute call!

Property inspections have to be done under the law because of things like safety checks for boilers, electrical equipment and the necessary CP12 gas safety checks. 

If you do the right property inspection, in a world rich with technology, you can rest at ease knowing that digital evidence is your best friend when it comes to making sure the space was presented in the best possible shape by checking an inventory.

Property viewing checklists are also very important. These help make sure a house is operating in the right way after the tenancy. For example, if there was a set amount of furniture in a home and then after the tenant moves out there were some missing. The property inventory would be able to pick up on this.

A part of landlording should include telling tenants that they should have responsibility for some of the property. If there is damage, it should be made clear that the value of the damage will be taken from the tenant’s security deposit.

Accounts & compliance management

Landlording is also about staying on the right side of the law. If you’re good at landlording, you can potentially reduce your tax bill so when you submit your tax return to the HMRC you end up paying less. It’s great to have a fantastic return on your investment but even better when you do not get a letter from HMRC about a tax bill you might be liable for now that you are in receipt of rental income.

Having the right professionals around to assist with accounting and other such enquiries means fewer potential headaches that might land on your doorstep while managing your properties.

Things like making sure there is the correct HMO licence available to add on to a property is a crucial part of compliance management too. It could be that you have to hire someone who is familiar with the law in this area to produce the right result for your tenancy.

Social media & property advertising

Before you post any videos, pictures or any type of media online, ask yourself the question of if you’d want to rent the house yourself.

In order to garner the right interest for a house, you will have to take professional photos with some good lighting. Especially if you are operating as a landlord without a letting agent, the tenant acquisition process will be very important in order to find the right tenants.

It is extremely difficult to find the right tenants if you’re not marketing online using photos in this way or at least not giving the right media to an estate agent to do this process for you.

 You can’t imagine the lack of interest you would receive if you did not have professional photos in place with good lighting showing off your hard work on the design and all your investments in the best furniture and white goods.

If you are able to get this right, you can enjoy the hard work the content will do for you as it will stand out from the rest and get you many more inquiries. Rightmove and Zoopla listed properties you can find here, that have good quality images and information will always drive more interest and traffic than low-quality rushed images. 

Like the sound of everything so far? If you can commit to the above you will be well on your path to earning your badge as a pro property landlord, loved by tenants and your team of contractors!

Is landlording a real word in property?

Contrary to popular belief, landlording is not actually a real word in the English dictionary. However, the term was made popular due to the book “landlording on autopilot”. This book is a guide by Mike Butler who was able to retire from his role as a police officer early by becoming a landlord early in his life.

Nonetheless, the term landlording is sometimes also used in a professional sense too, even though it is not a professional word. It is completely normal for someone to refer to the process of managing a tenancy and growing a portfolio as “landlording”.

Is landlording worth it?

Landlording can provide a range of advantages as opposed to never deciding to become a landlord and invest time into doing landlording well. Those who do not do landlording will not find themself as a landlord and never be able to benefit from all of the advantages that owning a house provides. This include being able to:

• Benefit from tax benefits
• Produce long term passive income
• Have the option to sell the asset later on

Those who take landlording very seriously may be able to completely remove themself from a job and do it for a living. Also, if you don’t want to do that for a living, you may want to outsource some of the work and benefit from the income it provides at a reduced rate.

For example, someone doing landlording may want to take their rental income and spend some of it on letting agent and property management fees so they can have more time to do other things. In this way, they are still a landlord and get to benefit from all of these advantages but are not investing as much time in this process.

Is landlording unethical?

Whether you view landlording as being ethical or not is up for debate as some people who have had a bad experience may insist that landlording is unfair and takes advantage of people.

Having said this, if you are following the rules and regulations of being a landlord in the right way, then it is likely that you’re doing things right and you are ethically managing a property business.

Typically, if a landlord is seen to evict a tenant too easily, or charge unfair rents, then they may be viewed as unethical. Also, landlords who don’t maintain the standards of safety and property maintenance that is required by law may need to reconsider how they are dealing with tenants.

Either way, there are rules around the minimum a landlord must do in order to maintain their landlord status and you can Click here to read more about the morality of being a landlord if you’re not sure that landlord is right for you.