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Renting your property Our expert guide

Bennett Residential understand that a rental property is one of your biggest assets, whether you have a vast portfolio of properties or if this is the first time you are looking to let your property. Bennett Residential are experts in the Lettings market and will work with you to get the best tenant with the maximum amount of rental income with the minimum amount of fuss.

Here are some key steps to letting your property or investment:

Step 1: Is my property ready for letting?

We have found that most tenants have a high standard when it comes to the condition of properties, this means that you have to ensure your property is at its best, and this can make the difference between renting your property out in days rather weeks or even longer.

Presenting your property in its best light:

Keep it clean, inside and out, well cared for properties and gardens always make a great first impression

Look for damage or any significant flaws, don’t overlook them just because you don’t mind them.

Reduce clutter, get rid of everything that is not needed.

Decorate neutrally, tenants like to be able to see it as their home.

Step 2: Get a Valuation

Researching the rental value yourself is the quickest way to see how much you could achieve for your property, the way to do this is by looking on websites such as Rightmove or Find a property, however, this will only give you a rough guide.

For professional opinion on where to set your rent, get in touch with us. Bennett Residential will value your property for free and without any obligation to use us for letting or management. When we come to value your property we will bring comparable evidence of properties that have been recently let in your area to give you a more accurate rental value.

To arrange a free valuation with our experienced Lettings Manager, use the request a free valuation link on the website or call us on 01895 812 244. We can usually make an appointment the same day.

Step 3: Marketing Your property

Once we have been instructed your property details will be entered onto our dedicated database along with digital photographs and will be instantly matched with our large list of waiting professional tenants.

We will start marketing your property as soon as you instruct us to do so, we will market your property on our website and all other major property websites including, Rightmove, Find a Property, Vebra and Primelocation.

It is our job to know everything about your rental. We will keep you up to date on who’s interested in renting, when tenants are looking round and what they think of the property.

We conduct all viewings on your behalf and we will ensure that it’s convenient for you and for any current tenants. It’s always best to show off a property during the day, however evening viewings are no problem as we are open late till (7pm) and we can also show people around on Saturday’s.

Step 4: Deciding which service suits you

At Bennett Residential we offer three different levels of service to suit your needs and level of involvement that you want, please see our Guide to different services for more information.

Step 5: Property Management

Many tenants, especially corporate tenants, prefer to rent managed properties.

Instructing Bennett Residential to manage your property gives both you and your tenant complete peace of mind. After finding your tenant, if you wish for us to manage your property we can take care of everything from collecting the rent and handling all administration to assistance with more complex issues like repair. Please see our guide to different services to find out how we can manage your property.

Step 6 : Safety Regulations and laws

As a landlord, there are a few regulations and laws you will need to adhere to ensure your property is suitable for letting, these include, Gas Safety regulations & Certificates, Electrical certificates, Energy Performance Certificates and Furniture Fire regulations. Our helpful lettings team can advise you on these regulations and laws further and we can also arrange for any necessary inspections to be completed.

Step 7: Tenant Selection and proceeding with the let

Once Bennett Residential have found you the right tenants and have agreed the move in, there will be some paperwork to do prior to he tenancy commencing. But don’t worry we will take care of this and send all the documents to you and your tenants.

The first stage is processing the potential tenants references, once this is done we will provide you with a copy of their reports, we use a third party referencing agency to ensure you get the most accurate information, the referencing agency will check and verify the following:

• Address history for past 6 years
• Current landlord reference
• Employment reference
• Character reference
• Full credit check
• ID check
• Guarantor info (if applicable)

If you are happy with the information the referencing company supply we will then draw up a tenancy agreement which sets out exactly the terms of your contract with your tenant, including any special requirements you have. We’ll send you and your tenant copies to sign, all you have to do is check it, sign it and send it back to us before the tenancy starts. We will forward a copy of their signed agreement to you and your signed agreement to the tenant.

Step 8: Moving in day

We will collect the first month’s rent and deposit from the tenants on the moving in day. If a professional inventory has been organised this will also be conducted on the moving in day, the clerk will go to the property and conduct a “check in” with the tenants and take meter readings etc, they will then get the tenants to sign the check in and hand over the keys. Once the report is typed up we will send a copy out to you and the tenants for your records.

We always recommend a specialist inventory company conduct an inventory at the commencement of the tenancy, and they will do another inspection at the end of the tenancy to check that nothing is missing or damaged.