Faced with the double whammy of a recession and COVID, many people are having to move for work or are moving to smaller rented properties and letting their own home out.

Here are our top ten tips to make renting out easier:

1. Pack away anything you’re not leaving.

Even if you’re staying in the house until the last minute, you need to present it to potential tenants exactly as it will be. Some landlords lock off a room, garage or shed. If you choose this option, make sure you understand the rules regarding what you’re permitted to store as a landlord and accessing the property while tenants are making it their home. (We’d love to point out that we’re to help you store as well – we even collect and help pack!)

2. Look for health hazards

Jagged edges, things that haven’t been repaired properly: these can all cause you and your tenants issues. Fix them professionally. Cheap fixes will cost you more in the long run.

3. Gas and electric certificates

Make sure your gas and electric are properly installed, maintained and safe. Most gas and electric companies can help you with this, and many offer packages for maintenance and emergencies.

4. Alarms

Make sure that you have smoke alarms in appropriate places, and, importantly, carbon monoxide alarms. Apart from the legal aspects, keeping your tenants safe is as important to you as it is to them. (Make clear to tenants that they MUST test and replace batteries)

5. Legal requirements

Make sure you understand the legal requirements imposed on you when renting out. These will include safety, deposit protection, energy performance certificates and safety. A ten point checklist on a storage supplier’s site is useful to get you started (we hope!), but can’t account for changes or local differences. A great place to start is government websites such as https://www.gov.uk/renting-out-a -property

6. Decoration

Neutralise your décor. Freshly painting all walls in boring white, beige and magnolia are your best friends in creating a clean, fresh appearance that tenants can move their things into without clashes. If a place is nicely presented, tenants are more likely to leave it that way.

7. Carpets

Your carpets will say a lot about the home, help define the rental price/rentability, and how the tenant treats the place.

If your carpets aren’t up to scratch, consider whether new ones might make an overall improvement, especially once any furniture you’re not leaving has been moved, leaving marks!

Of course a great carpet cleaner can return a carpet (within reason) to fabulous condition. Moreover, if you’ve had carpets cleaned before they move in, tenants can reasonably be asked to do the same when they move out.

8. Inventory

It’s worth getting professionals in to create your inventory, but if you have to do it yourself, make sure you capture the small details. It goes without saying that cupboards and drawers should be spotlessly clean before storing things there, especially if you want things handed back the same way.

9. Manufacturers guarantees and instruction leaflets

By law, you need to leave instruction manuals for any appliances left. Impress your renters by creating a small folder with instructions for the things that are staying, like boilers, kitchen fittings etc. Moreover, it’s a great chance to reinforce that they MUST look after things.

10. Deep Clean!

Once you’ve sorted what’s staying, what’s going, what’s being stored, time to call the cleaners in. It’s a valuable investment, as it’s something you’ll do once and can insist that tenants pay for when they leave. Moreover, if tenants are unhappy with anything not being clean, the company that you use will come back and sort it: one less thing for you to think about.

Of course, easyStorage can help you meet any storage needs while your home is let out – and we come to you, help you pack, help with inventory of what you pack. It’s what we’re here for.

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