We serve landlords and tenants across Rotherham and take enormous pride in our reputation for looking after our clients.
During the years running a lettings and property management agency there’s not much we haven’t experienced.
This guide shares the top twelve things that every landlord, regardless of the size of their portfolio, needs to know and understand.

1. Choose your agent very carefully.
This is probably your biggest and most important decision. Look at the agent’s track record and ask to speak with landlords they work with.
Don’t be shy about asking what qualifications they have, which industry organisations they are members of and ask to see copies of their insurance policies if needed.
Above all choose an agent with experience, professionalism and one you feel you can have a positive and mutually beneficial working relationship with.

2. Price your property competitively.
In order to secure the best tenant you need to ideally have several applicants interested. Good quality applicants look for “a good deal”, or “value for money”. They don’t say to themselves, “I want to spend every penny I possibly can on renting a property.” No one thinks like that.
Rents are already higher than ever, so whatever you get can be already be considered as “very good”

3. Stay on the right side of the law
Pay attention to the legal side of the business, and it is a business. The industry is becoming very heavily regulated and getting even small things that go wrong can come back to haunt you and cost you so it is vital you are aware and well informed.

4. Be ready for unexpected costs
Budget for unexpected expenditure on the property as well as for void periods.
A good idea is to have a separate bank account where money towards maintenance and improvements is saved.
Landlords who do not have the finances in place to survive void periods tend to struggle and are under more pressure to let without properly vetting tenants.

5. Get Covered
Seriously consider taking out landlord insurance. This will typically include rent protection and legal protection. Rent protection will pay rent when the tenant defaults and a good legal protection policy covers you against virtually any legal dispute with your tenant.
In our experience this is often money very well spent.

6. Take out a British Gas Homecare policy.
Besides the assurance of one cost per year covering parts and labour, you can be assured of a prompt response at all times of year.
Independent contractors are often in high demand when the weather turns cold and might not be able to attend for several days, or even weeks!
A cold tenant is a very dissatisfied tenant, and the compensation claims soon come flooding in.

7. Use Gas and Electric Experts
When getting your gas and electric safety checks done, try to use a company which specialises in testing only.
This is usually better than choosing a company whose main income is derived from carrying out repairs and replacements to defective items.

8. Meet your Tenant in Person
This is a very important tip.
Try to meet your tenant before signing on the dotted line. It’s important that you feel comfortable with the long-term relationship you are about to embark upon.

9. Cheap is Rarely Cheerful
When carrying out repairs/refurbishments, don’t go for the cheapest options. Poor quality materials usually have a short lifespan and will cost you more in repairs and early replacement later on.
It’s usually more economical to go for better quality materials that will last considerably longer and prove a wiser investment.

10. Protect your Money
When instructing an agent to represent you, check that they have Client Money Protection insurance.
If things go wrong and your agent can’t or won’t pass on your rent to you, you could end up losing that money without this vital insurance.

11. Take time to Understand your Tenancy Agreement
Read the tenancy agreement early on. Check that it is appropriate to your property and your circumstances.
If you have any questions a good letting agent will have no issue in answering them and being fully transparent.

12. Choose Legal Advice Wisely
If engaging a lawyer for legal advice, ensure that they have in-depth knowledge of this very specialised industry.
Over the years we’ve heard stories of solicitors taking clients’ money claiming to know what they are doing and then going on to make a mess of it.
This can be a very frustrating and expensive experience for the landlord and is one that can be avoided by doing some research and recommendations.

Thanks for reading and if you have any other property related questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us – we’d love to help you.

If you believed all you heard from many online letting agents you’d probably think us ‘traditional’ agents are a dying breed.
Thankfully reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated (thanks to Mark Twain for that quote).
Firstly, let us clarify what we mean by ‘traditional’ agents and online companies.
As a traditional agent (sometimes referred to as a real agent) we have an office people can visit, we meet many of the landlords and tenants who we work with and am based in the area we serve.
Most online agents do everything, unsurprisingly online and can often be based miles away from the areas they are touting for business in.
There are many reasons why good letting agents are still thriving in these digital days. We emphasis the word good, as not all agents are.
Here are just a few of the reasons why in our opinion good ‘traditional’ agents are better than the online equivalent.
An experienced local letting agent is more likely to find a better, more suitable tenant in a shorter period of time and, quite possibly, at a better rental.
The lettings industry is and always has been a ‘people’ business. Does a landlord really want to rent their property to somebody they (or their agent) has never met before? Somebody that’s just filled in a form online and then been processed via some automated procedure?
Personally vetting tenants (and landlords) is one of the most important (and valuable) things we do as agency. We’ve seen plenty of situations where good references have been forthcoming however the tenant has turned out to be unsuitable.
By meeting potential tenants you can learn a lot about them. A face to face meeting can give an insight into their personality in a way which digital correspondence can’t.
We’ve also seen situations where referencing has been very much borderline.
Online agents tend to use the ‘computer says no’ approach and dismiss some applications due to criteria without speaking to the applicant first.
A quick phone call can sometimes unearth information that wasn’t on the forms and often gives you a feel for the person and whether or not they will make good tenants.
Every tenancy is different and every tenancy is individual. An automated process can never deal with such individuality as by design it’s set up to be process rather than people driven.
A good local agent will know each of their landlords and tenants personally, as well as know the property and the area – in detail.
They will tailor the tenancy agreement accordingly, and likewise respond to maintenance issues with the benefit of background knowledge.
Another point where good local agents differentiate themselves from online rivals is in terms of their availability.
Many online agents run their operations from call centre type set ups and don’t have out of hours office systems in place.
We take calls from landlords and tenants in the evenings and weekends in cases of emergency and as you’ll only have point of contact with us you will never feel you’re problem is being passed from pillar to post.
A good local agent is going to take care of EVERYTHING for the landlord. This frees up a landlord’s time and provides reassurance that everything is being handled with maximum efficiency by someone who does this day in, day out and in our case, for the past 21 years and counting.

Thanks for reading and if you have any other property related questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us – we’d love to help you.

PS: If you want to let your property quickly, professionally and cost effectively call our team on 01709 365584 or email: enquiries@bricknells-rentals.co.uk for honest, expert and friendly advice.

Everyone likes to get value for money and in the list below we show landlords eight ways to make money go further.

They are in no order but in in our many years as letting agents we find they all save landlords money. It’s not about being a cheapskate but it is about getting the best value for money.

1. If using a letting agent ensure you check their full list of fees before instructing them – not just the headline ‘instruction grabbing’ rate. Check any ancillary charges as well. You might be surprised at some of the things some agents charge extra for.
2. This is a potentially huge one. Check your mortgage. Consider using a good mortgage broker – it could be that there are better mortgage offers available and the saving could potentially be hundreds if not thousands of pounds over the year.
3. Don’t try to let the property for the absolute maximum possible. Every day the property is empty is a day’s lost rent. Set the rent right and you will be more likely to have a number of interested people within days. Set it too high and you may have virtually no one interested in a whole month.
4. Where possible rent your property unfurnished. You won’t necessarily get higher rents for a furnished property so why go to the expense of providing / buying items? In our experience, there’s very little for landlords to gain but a lot to lose when marketing and managing a furnished property.
5. If you are providing white goods always ensure you have a fridge freezer in place. Fridges with a small ice box area are unpopular with tenants and for a little extra you can get a lot more for your money.
6. If you have a garden, keep it simple. Elaborate outside areas require much more maintenance.
7. UPVC window frames, doors and fascias last longer than timber ones so represent a better investment if you have to replace these at any point.
8. A lot of the cheaper carpets on the market look exactly that. Cheap. They feel bad underfoot, don’t look good either and have a shorter life span than better quality carpets. Often by increasing your flooring budget by as little 20 % you’ll add years to the length of time the carpet will last.

There’s several more ways landlords can save money without cutting corners.

Thanks for reading and if you have any other property related questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us – we’d love to help you.

PS: If you want to let your property quickly, professionally and cost effectively call the Bricknells team on 01709 365584 or email: enquiries@bricknells-rentals.co.uk for honest, expert and friendly advice.

When letting a property a landlord has two really big decisions to make.
Both these key choices can have huge implications on their health, wealth and quality of life.
It’s really no exaggeration to say that if a landlord chooses the wrong letting agent and compounds that error by going with a tenant who has not been properly vetted, one thing is usually guaranteed – trouble. And often a lot of it.
Poorly vetted tenants cause the most problems and letting agencies that don’t have stringent checks in place leave their landlords vulnerable.
At Bricknells Rentals, we’ve always believed that one of the most important parts of our role as Lettings Agents is to ensure the right tenants are placed in the right properties.
So how do we ensure we get good tenants for our landlords? Well, during our many years in the property lettings business we’ve learned (sometimes the hard way) what to look out for.
The first stage of the vetting process is the initial enquiry. Be it a phone call, email or someone popping into our office we’re looking for signs to show us whether they will be a good or bad tenant.
Experience pays dividends here.
So what makes a good tenant?
Simply someone who pays their rent on time, respects the property, is reasonable to deal with and gets on with the neighbours.
These are all factors which can contribute to a successful long term let (unless the landlord is looking for a short term tenancy).
The next part of the process is one where less well equipped or experienced agencies often fail.
A good quality referencing agent is vital for ascertaining credit history as well as ensuring the tenant has the means to pay the rent.
Referencing covers employment, credit and previous rental history and while it is very important it’s not a 100 per cent guarantee that the tenant will be a good one.
But when done properly and used with the first stage of the process it is usually a very good indication of the calibre of the person applying to rent your property.
Once a tenant has been selected it’s important for the property to be professionally and ethically managed. Keeping a tenant waiting for an unreasonable amount of time for a washing machine / boiler repair could lead to problems in the future.
We also apply a vetting process to my landlords. Someone not willing to repair or maintain their property properly will usually cut corners elsewhere and be a problem to deal with.
If a lettings agent over prices a property’s rental value it could lead to extended void periods. These costly episodes put pressure on the landlord and the letting agent to fill the void as quickly as possible and this can mean the vetting process is not rigidly carried out.
Which as we said at the start of this article can lead to a lot of trouble.
Thanks for reading and if you have any other property related questions please don’t hesitate to get in contact with us – we’d love to help you.
PS: If you want to let your property quickly, professionally and cost effectively call Bricknells Rentals and our team on 01709 365584 or email: enquiries@bricknells-rental.co.uk for honest, expert and friendly advice.

Section 1
The last weeks have unquestionably been one of the most life-changing times we have seen since WW2, not only the direct life threatening consequences of Covid 19 but the lockdown has changed our methods of working and the concept of social distancing has impacted how we operate and interface with others.
We have been asked how lockdown has affected our operations. Needless to say in the beginning it was challenging but as time progressed we have adapted well to working from home.
Building on our ‘cloud’ based CRM system we have learnt how to carry out Zoom calls and have documents signed remotely.
Inspections however have stopped and only essential maintenance is being carried out, all observing social distancing rules.
We are currently embracing technology to be able to carry out 3D viewings of properties, so all in all we can say that the lockdown has challenged us to embrace technology to enable us to provide a better service to our clients in the future.
It is difficult to see what the future holds but we do believe that a combination of home and office working will become the norm.

Investing in Rotherham buy to Let property in recent years has become somewhat different than in the past.

In the good old days of the five years after the turn of the millennium, we had double digit house growth, mortgage companies (Northern Rock, HBOS and the others) were so desperate to get on the BTL bandwagon that they were offering unsustainably low interest rates and a cursory nod to any regulatory intervention – in those days anyone could make money investing in property.
Then we had the crash, and then the unexpected upturn in the property market with the post credit crunch jump in 2010.
Yet over the past 5 years there have been new challenges and the screws have slowly turned on Rotherham BTL investors.
With the change in taxation rules on mortgage relief starting to bite, plus a swathe of new rules and regulations for landlords and mortgage companies its not surprising that many landlords are exiting the market and others pausing on their portfolio expansion.

However nowadays Rotherham landlords can no longer presume to buy a property, sit on it and automatically make a profit.
Before landlords sell off their properties they should remember that properties produce income in the form of rent and yield. The focus on Rotherham BTL property in these times should focus on maximising rents and not be preoccupied with just house price growth.

Rents in Rotherham PRS have increased by 2.02% in the past 12 months but since 2008 have not kept pace with inflation. Meaning it is cheaper today in REAL TERMS than it was 12 years ago and some landlords are realising this with our help.
Looking at the last few years in the graph below it can be seen that there is still a modest margin to increase rents to maximise your investment yet still protect your tenants by keeping the rents below those ‘real spending power terms’ of the 2008 levels.

BTL must be seen as a medium and long-term investment…….

Rents in Rotherham are 6.66% higher than they were in January 2016 and property values are 15.22% higher.

…. And for the long term, even with the barriers and challenges that the Government is putting your way – the future couldn’t be brighter if you know what you are doing.

Investment is the key word here … in the Old days anything with a front door and roof made money – yet now it doesn’t. Tenants will pay for the right property in the right condition.
Do you know where the hot spots are in Rotherham, whether demand is greater for 2 bed or 3 beds. Whether town centre terraces offer more ROI than suburban semis.
With all the regulations Rotherham landlords are looking for advice and guidance not only in managing their properties, taking on the worries of property maintenance, the care of the property and their tenants behaviour but also the future of their portfolio.
We can give in house specialist advice or from professionals we can trust on the future of your portfolio to meet your investment needs (by judging your circumstances and the need between capital growth and yield), specialist finance and even putting your property empire into a limited company.

So if you do need help and guidance don’t hesitate to give us a call 01709 365584.

When I meet landlords the common theme is why is the government picking on landlords in the Private Rental Sector.
In the main we all recognise that regulation of the letting industry is in itself a good thing and possibly long overdue. However, one cannot help think that some of the initiatives have been of neither benefit to either Landlords or Tenants.

One has to recognise that being a landlord is a commercial operation; it is a business and needs to be operated as a business. It has to comply with the regulations in providing good and safe rental accommodation and it needs to make money for it to survive.

The 3% stamp duty on second homes, the section 24 tax changes all have restricted landlords ability to receive a return on their rental asset.
One cannot view the industry through the London bubble as landlords in the North and Midlands operate in a different universe.
In Rotherham average property prices are £125,386 and with average rents at £500 per month this results in average yields of 4.8% – I am sure you would agree not exorbitant returns?
To keep burdening the sector with regulations that inflict punitive charges will and does drive landlords from the sector.

In the last 10 years we have had 10 housing ministers and only 2 of those have remained in post for more than 2 years. During Theresa May’s 3 year tenure we had 4 housing ministers. Hardly giving a perception that the Government takes housing seriously and that there exists a master plan to tackle the housing crisis.

The vast majority of landlords and agents welcome well thought out regulations that support rather than contradict government objectives.
But the ad hoc vote catching initiatives are making it difficult for good landlords and agents to keep up with the changes and make a return that encourages them to remain in the sector.

The RLA & NLA issued a joint statement calling for an immediate action to reverse the decline in supply as present more landlords are selling than buying and others for tax reasons are switching to short term or holiday lets.
Confusion about the discussion around section 21’s and level of compliance with the incoming electrical checks unnerve landlords and do nothing to retain confidence in the sector.

With the Spring budget almost upon us I doubt that the new chancellor and new housing minister have been able to thrash out any policies to make this budget but all eyes should be on the next to see whether there is revision of existing and introduction of new policies that show that the Government is serious to mend a broken housing sector.
Enforcement of housing policy is fundamental to drive out bad landlords and agents The tax policy within the sector needs to be reviewed, scrapping the 3% stamp duty will stimulate supply and there needs to be some understanding how landlords can comply with CGT changes.

Good landlords through the National Associations and Agents through their Association ARLA have a part to play in contributing to a balanced introduction of policies and regulations that the aim to provide safe and affordable housing whilst retaining landlords within the sector through a return on their investment.

Lets hope that the housing minister impacts positively over the coming years and that the Government recognises that a flourishing private rental sector is vote winner and is able to invest time and effort to improve the situation for both Landlords and Tenants alike.

At Bricknells ‘Strive to be better’ is one of our core values, and we are constantly thinking how we can provide a better service for our landlords.

Mostly tenancies progress without a hitch, but sometimes problems can occur – the tenant falls behind on payments for whatever reason or a section 21 is served and the tenant doesn’t vacate.

The only recourse for the landlord is to seek possession through the courts all of which involves time, loss of rent and costs.

Did you know that the average time from issue of claim to eviction is 322 days and court costs have increased 225% since 2013.

If you are a landlord seeking possession through the courts it can be a costly and frustrating experience.

So with that in mind we have re-organised our service packages, Gold and Silver are our fully managed offerings and Bronze is a ‘Tenant Find’ service suitable for the experienced landlords who prefer to self manage.

The key features of the Silver service is that it has legal expense cover up to £50,000 in case of eviction due to non-payment of rent or lapsed section 21.

The Gold includes the £50,000 legal cover but also includes a Rent Guarantee whereby you will receive your rent every month whilst the property is occupied. This is a real benefit for landlords who require the rent to meet their mortgage payments.

For us at Bricknells we believe that these packages provide a better service to our landlords giving security and peace of mind in the renting process.

If you need to know more don’t hesitate to call 01709 365584 and we can see how we can tailor our packages to suit your needs.