Whether you’re renting your place out as a first-time landlord, a veteran landlord, or branching into the world of student residential letting, knowing what tenants are looking for is one of the best ways of ensuring that what you are offering is attractive to those looking to rent a property.
With rental properties bringing in a valuable monthly income which can act as a buffer on your existing income or even cover the mortgage payments on the property each month, ticking the following boxes will help you to get the most from your rental property both now and in the future.
Location
This will depend on your target tenant clientele – for example, families will want to be near schools and parks, while students will want to be near campus and town centres, and commuters will want to be near train stations or city centres. Location is prime, not only in determining who you will attract as a tenant but also how much you can charge.
When it comes to buy-to-let (buying with the intention of letting the property out), consider who that property and location will attract, and whether that fits with your goals for the tenancy.
A clean and well maintained property
The focus here is to make sure your property is prepared for the rental market. It may seem obvious, but presenting a property that tenants can see themselves living in is the most important thing you can do to get a signature on the dotted line. Some of our tips include offering a clean and neutral interior style which can be personalised with the tenants own possessions and furnishings, keeping fittings up to date and working well, and bringing in a cleaning firm to do a deep clean before you open the property for viewings.
Transport links
We already touched on how important train stations are to potential commuters, but when it comes to transport links this is something you will want to highlight and point out to any potential tenant regardless of their position. From buses to trains, local airports and even access to major roads, helping tenants to see themselves living in your property means letting them know how your property will support their lifestyle.
Security
When potential tenants come to view a property, they want to feel safe and secure – like they could arrive home at any time during the day or night and still be safe. Now, not all of this can be fixed by you as the landlord – there are certain gut instincts which come with viewings, and you may find that a feeling of safety has as much to do with the location of your property as the external security fittings, but focussing on things like the front door, exterior features, and even security cameras, will put potential tenant’s minds at rest.
Plenty of storage options
When people move, they bring with them a lot of stuff. Whether your potential tenants are coming from a previous tenancy, from a flat share, or even coming straight from a home they owned themselves, you never know how much they will bring or what their previous situation was in terms of furnishings – so you have to be prepared for them to bring lots of stuff with them.
Storage is something which is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate with the modern trend of minimalist homes and streamlined interiors, but the more you can offer to tenants the better.
Internet
With more people than ever before working from home or logging into work from home at least one day a week, the internet speeds in your rental property have never been so important. Work out the best providers before opening your property to the rental market, and then either factor high speed internet into the monthly bills and sort it for them, or provide long term renters with the best providers to contact when setting up their own internet.
Parking
Last but not least, people looking to rent will want somewhere safe to store their car – with off-street parking one of the most coveted amenities in modern housing. Parking adds value to the property and is something that many tenants are looking specifically for in a rental property – so work out what the parking situation is around your property and make sure to communicate it.
Finding the perfect tenant is a mixture of good luck and great advertising but ticking all of these boxes will certainly go a long way in making your property as attractive as possible to the right tenants.
