Blog Posts
Hiring Contractors: A Landlord's Guide to Finding Tradespeople you can Trust
Whenever you ask someone if they know a good contractor, you'll never be far from a tale of woe: the plumber who never turned up, the electrician who 'bodged' the job; the builder who overcharged and left a huge mess!
The Niche Landlord: Perfecting a Lettings Formula for Repeated Success
Specialise or diversify? That's a big question for many landlords when it comes to expanding their portfolios, and if you look around Google long enough, you'll find arguments for both.
Essential Advice Before Buying a Dream 'Chocolate Box' Thatched Cottage
For many people, buying a dream home in the country means falling in love with the classic picture postcard look. Timber-framed thatched cottages may epitomise the quintessential English countryside home – but these types of homes don't come without challenges. If you have your heart set on one of these historic beauties, you need your head to be equally engaged.
Sold With Tenants: Your Landlord Checklist for Buying a Tenanted Property
As a fast and chain-free way to start or add to your lettings portfolio, buying a tenanted property can be an attractive proposition. Before you make an offer and start incurring legal fees, use our checklist here to ask the right questions.
Accidental Landlord? All You Need To Know To Make It A Success
An accidental landlord is someone who becomes a landlord by circumstance rather than by plan, and it can happen for several reasons. You could be relocating for work, moving in with your partner, or having trouble finding a buyer for your current home. Or you might have inherited a property. Becoming an accidental landlord is more common than you might think.
Five Ways to Increase The Value of Your Rental Property
The rental market has grown up. Tenancies are running for longer, and with stays of four or more years increasingly common, tenants have higher expectations around the place they're willing to call home. But which improvements make the most difference?
Letting Agents: How to Pick The Best One
Whether you've been a landlord for years or you're just starting out, finding a letting agent you can trust and build a long-lasting relationship with is a big deal. Letting agents will be competing for your business left, right, and centre, so how do you begin the selection process?
Rent Arrears - Finding A Balance Between Compassion & Collection
Although rent arrears are a hot topic during the pandemic, it’s far from being a new subject. That said, if the discussion has taught us anything in the last year, it’s that anyone can be affected by economic events: no-one is immune, however high their income.
5 Simple Secrets To Make Your Inventory Watertight
Inventories are essential to have complete clarity over the condition and contents of your rental property: without correct preparation, you could risk a costly deposit dispute at the end of the tenancy.
Deposit Disputes: Why do so Many Landlords Lose?
Why do so many Landlords lose deposit disputes? How do things go wrong? And how can Landlords do things differently to avoid issues over deposit disputes at the end of the tenancy?
How to Build a Portfolio of Popular and Profitable Lettings
Do you think it is possible to be popular AND profitable as a landlord? Perhaps you feel that one cancels out the other; that it’s a choice between hard-nosed business and being nice, but that the two are fundamentally incompatible?
Is A Managing Agent Worth Your Money?
It takes a certain character to be a managing agent: the job has a reputation as a thankless task with days full of complaints, emergencies, breakdowns and hassle. And if we’re honest, rarely does anyone call with news that everything’s just fine.
New Year's Resolutions for Landlords - Let's Get Organised!
From giving up smoking, to a change of diet, or starting a new exercise regime, now is the time of year when all sorts of new year’s resolutions are being made and declared. Health and fitness are the usual areas we concentrate on, but there are also things to consider in terms of your wellbeing as a landlord.
Professional Help - Do You Really Need a Letting Agent?
PROFESSIONAL HELP: DO YOU REALLY NEED A LETTING AGENT? Most people can do almost anything if they put their minds to it. You could service your own car or repair your own washing machine but are you the best person for the job?
No Vacancy - Keeping Your Rental Property Occupied
Vacant days are money lost for landlords but are void periods entirely down to chance and luck? Is there a way to influence the number of days your property remains empty? This article focuses on how to keep your rental property occupied in the long term so that void periods don't become a regular nuisance.
Do I need to have an EPC to rent out my house if it has a Grade 2 Listing?
One of the Government's key initiatives to increase energy efficiency in our homes is the MEES regulations but these have led to confusion when it comes to the requirement to have an EPC for older properties and those with a Listed status.
What is Landlord's Rent Guarantee & Legal Cover?
Rent guarantee and legal cover is often available as an optional add on to ‘basic’ landlord insurance. Landlords can never predict a tenant falling on hard times, losing their job or becoming ill and then not being able to pay the rent. This type of cover can protect Landlords against tenants failing to pay the rent for any reason.
Frequently Asked Questions About Letting Property
I never get bored of being asked questions about letting property! Here are just a few of the questions most commonly asked by Landlords.
Piccolo Property outlines the importance of the Inventory & Schedule of Condition
Landlords continue to ask “Why do I need an inventory? The property is unfurnished – there is nothing in it”.
Do we really need ‘real’ letting agents in this internet age?
If you believed everything you heard from online letting agents you might think that ‘traditional’ agents are a dying breed. Here are just a few reasons why in our opinion, good ‘traditional’ agents are better than the online equivalent.
Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020
On the 1st July 2020, new regulations governing electrical safety in rental properties came into effect. From this date on, if you are renting out a property in England, any tenancy you create or renew will require an electrical safety inspection and a report on the condition of the property.
WE ARE OPEN FOR BUSINESS
WE ARE OPEN FOR BUSINESS! The Office in Wilton has now re-opened and we are very much open for business. All members of the team are set up to work either from home or in the office so you can contact us as normal.
Is your driveway just crying out for a new car?
It’s not just houses you can rent! Take a look at the pros and cons of leasing your next car.
The Tenant Fees Act - A Piccolo Perspective
The Tenant Fees Act 2019 came into effect on 1st June 2019 and across the country letting agents have had to madly update all their documents to ensure compliance with the new rules.
Six Super Tips to Make Renting Easier
Six quick tips for people looking to rent a property in the Salisbury area.
Landlord Legislation Checklist
As a landlord, it is important to understand that there are numerous pieces of legislation which cover the private rented sector. Here is a summary of just some of the legal requirements for renting out a property in the UK.
Should I put the rent up?
As a Landlord you may be wondering whether or not to increase the rent.
Tenancy Deposit Protection - A Binding Decision
On Monday 25 January 2010 PainSmith has a case appearing in the High Court which should provide the first binding decision on Tenancy Deposit Protection under the Housing Act 2004.
