Renovating your rental
April Property News
By offering a rental property in good condition you are more likely to attract the right tenants.
There are three major advantages to spending some time and money preparing your property before you offer it to tenants.
1. A property in good condition willachieve a higher rental figure than one that is fit for occupation but in need of a fair bit of TLC.
2. It will be more likely to attract a better quality tenant, who will look after it.
3. By carrying out some renovations and keeping your property in good condition, you will maintain and increase its value, always an advantage if you plan to sell down the track.
Areas to renovate
The main rooms to consider forrenovation are the kitchen and bathroom. If these are old, tatty and badly maintained and equipped, your property is unlikely to be attractive to good calibre tenants.
It’s worth renovating or replacingthese rooms and not in the cheapest way possible, either. While you don’t have to buy the latest designer equipment, make sure you’re getting good quality, or it will soon be worn out and need replacing again.
New carpet also makes a big difference to the appearance of a property but you don’t have to spend a king’s ransom on it. Rather than purchasing something plush it’s better to buy standard, medium grade carpet in a neutral shade and add some high quality padding underneath. Thishelps the carpet to last longer and gives itthat plush feeling without the extra cost.
A coat of paint in a light, neutral colour is another good way to freshen up a property. If you use the same colour throughout, you will find it easier in the future if you need to spot paint.
Getting organised
If you decide to renovate, you’ll want it done as quickly as possible, in order to get tenants in. That’s fine if you’re able to do the work yourself but, if not, you’ll need to make sure you have things organised. Work out the order in which the work needs to be done and try to line up the necessary tradespeople accordingly.
Once this is all done you can take in your tenants, sit back and let your newly renovated property work for you.