You pay for what you get – Top 15 tips when doing maintenance on your rental property 1. Put hard tread matting in...

You pay for what you get –

Top 15 tips when doing maintenance on your rental property

1. Put hard tread matting in the entrance to encourage your tenants to wipe their feet.

2. Paint the exterior door step black – a lot better than touching up white every tenancy agreement.

3. Put laminate flooring in your living room/diner- these are your traffic areas and while more expensive, laminate will last longer than carpet.

4. Fit a UPVC ceiling in your kitchen/bathroom – you will no longer have condensation problems on the ceiling and you will no longer have to touch up the ceiling after every tenancy.

5. Tile the floor do not fit vinyl- your tenant will just rip the vinyl when they drag their washing machine across the floor or when they take it out at the end of the tenancy.

6. In wet areas (kitchen and bathroom) remove the skirting boards and replace with tiles for your skirting. Looks fantastic and you will never have to touch up your skirting boards again.

7. Instead of tiling the reveals in your bathroom, put UPVC reveals instead. These are the areas that are most prone to condensation and your tenants generally will put their washing products on the window sills causing the grout to discolour over time. If you use UPVC instead for this area then you will never have to re-grout your reveals and sill.

8. Tile your bath panel instead of fitting a plastic one. A plastic one will just crack over time and will always need cleaning in between tenancy agreements next to the lip.

9. If you fit a new bath, make sure you use longer brackets than supplied by most suppliers because they do not provide the best fitting to the wall. You will find that your bath will have a bit of movement in 1-2 years of it being fitted and you will have to pay for the seal around the bath to be done again as a result.

10. If you have a typical working/benefit semi-detached/terraced property in the North East, in my experience you do not need to supply white goods. If you have an integrated cooker and hob remove them between tenancy agreements to reduce your future liabilities/ maintenance costs.

11. If you are re-fitting your bathroom change the pull cord light switch to an external light switch. Over the years you will find that you will have a grubby light cord that will need reattaching to the ceiling through excessive wear and tear.

12. Use bigger door bars (grip from both sides) than standard fittings. If you buy cheap door bars for your carpets – you will just find that 2-3 years down the line, your carpets will just start to fray.

13. If budget is key, fit a white kitchen rather than a coloured one because you then do not have to spend additional money on end panels to match your kitchen fronts because they are already white.

14. When fitting extractor fans make sure that they always come on when you turn the light on. Do not give the responsibility to the tenant to be able to turn them off and on.

15. If you need to fit an internal door fit a solid wooden one not an egg boxed door. While they are more expensive, they will last a lot longer. If you go into a council property, all doors are solid wood- there must be a reason!

The reason why we have been so successful at NGU Homelettings is that we are landlords ourselves. We know the inside tips that you need to be aware of to make sure that your rental property goes to plan. If you want to be with a letting agency that pays attention to the small details we are ready to help.

If you have found this e-shot interesting please click on the below link to take you to other articles on our blog:

http://blog.nguhomelettings.com/

Yours

Chris Fitzakerley

Managing Director

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