One year on!

With the letting market strong at the moment, its the right time for buy to let says Ben Cannon

Firstly I would like to thank all those that attended Lanes Lettings first birthday celebration and to say that it was a great success with lots of people attending (check out the Absolute magazine, latest homes and the Argus Weekly and you will see us and the cheeky girls). I look forward to doing business with all the people that I met on the night and the venue itself went down very well, the Eastern Eye restaurant just round the corner from our office it’s a great place for a curry and has a great atmosphere

I am finding the lettings market at the moment a little frustrating as we are letting so much property (having another record breaking month for Lanes Lettings in July), but there just isn’t enough new property coming on to the market. This may be due to the dissolution of HIP’s, from the people I have been speaking to who had rented there properties out due to the fact they couldn’t sell are now giving it another go as it wont cost them anything upfront, but saying I am finding that the lettings market at the moment is very strong and we are letting properties the same day they come on at higher rents than before. It is definitely a great time to own buy to let properties as there’s less on the market giving you a better return on your investment

Events @ Lanes Lettings

Lanes Lettings will be hosting some forth coming events, the first being a free seminar on the lettings market with advice from solicitors on some of the laws that you should know about and an accountant/tax specialist to help save you some money on your investment property! The second will be a workshop giving you advice on how to achieve the best value for your property be it sales or lettings and the third will be a charity fundraiser supporting our chosen charity The Rocking horse Appeal. Further updates can be found on our monthly newsletter.

The Lettings doctor at the Wednesday surgeries are still proving to be a great success that it may need to be extended to twice a week, if you don’t want to miss out on some free friendly advice be sure to book a time well in advance. Lanes Lettings have also just started a monthly newsletter; you can join this by registering at www.laneslettings.com

Challenge Us!

Lastly for all you landlords out there I want you to take the Lanes Lettings 3 week challenge! If we don’t let you property within 3 weeks of instruction we will give you 3 months FREE management – no strings and after that 3 months free you will still be only charged 7% per calendar months. What have you got to lose call today!

 

 

 

Positivity slowley returns

Landlords get a leg up from the new HIPS replacement policy

HIP HIP HOORAY.... I know you may have seen that phrase quite a lot in the press recently and you are probably thinking Lanes Lettings dont sell property  so why would the cancellation of HIPS be  such a cause for us to celerbrate for us? Well with a lot of the accidental lanlords starting to go back to the sales market, this gives more encouragement for them to return, which is great for proffessional landlords as it means less competition for tenants and a higher demand for your property and getting a more desireable rent.

RICs (Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors) reports that a net balance of 30% of chartered surveyors ar now reprting rising rents. This is in comparison with a completely flat response (signifying no rise at all) at the begining of last year, a record net balance of 58% reported falling rents, showing that stability has returned for the buy to let landlord, so now is a great time to own a rental property. Another encouraging sign for landlords is that 30% more respondents are seeing an increase in demand for rental property. This shows that people still intend to rent, despite increased mortgage availability.

Its all well and good saying its great to own a buy to let property but there is still a lot more involved than simply 'sticking' a tenant in. There are many laws and regulations that you have to abide by, and in inexperienced hands you could end up getting fined or worse a prison sentance! By using Lanes Lettings you know that you can rest assured that the people dealing with you rental property know what they are doing and abiding by the law, giving you that peace of mind to sit back, relax and know that everything is being taken care of. You also get you rent on the due date, not 7 - 14 days later.

If you need some advice or simply want Lanes Lettings to take over the management of your property, call me today on 01273 600068 or alternatively pop into one of our 'wednesday surgeries' (you will need to book in a time as appointments go quickly). We are still finding the surgeries hugely popular and have had a great response to them so remember to call well in advance to avoid dissapointment.

I would like to thank Sarah from Hove for her suggestion of a 'quiff competition' as a charity event, i dont know if that was a direct hint at my hair but she suggested we get loads  of people with quiffs to pay to enter a compatition and get judged as the best quiff in Brighton and Hove with a donated prize and hopefully press coverage for the winner. As always your suggestions really help and it goes to a good cause, The Rockinghorse Appeal.

With this in mind, Lanes Lettings have been having an amazing couple of months with lots of property being let and as always we need more. If you have a property that is coming up for rent or is currently empty, dont hesitate to contact us.

The No 10 effect

Ben Cannon from Lanes Lettings in Brighton discusses the affect the new government could have on the letting market.

Welcome back! This month (and what a month it’s been), I will be looking at the fallout from the General Election, and how the current political situation will affect you as a landlord. I will also be looking at a recent case study brought to my attention during the Lanes Lettings Wednesday surgery. These surgeries are proving to be a great source of information for those attending; we are considering extending these to Thursday too.

Letting made easy

In my last Wednesday surgery, a landlord who had been recommended to me through a tenant came in to see me. He had a property on with another agent but things were stagnant, and didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. The agent kept saying they had a tenant but then kept moving the date of when he was going to move in. He kept adjusting the date further and further back until the tenant didn’t move in at all. The agent had blamed the time it takes to secure references and conduct credit checks – he was outsourcing the function to another company. I could see this was going to be a real problem and luckily managed to assure the landlord that we will do all of these check and references online and in-house, and he could avoid these rather tedious delays. We quickly gained the landlords trust, and managed to let his property in the afternoon of the day we met. He has subsequently put the bad experience with the other agent behind him, and we are now looking to manage two other properties that he has in his portfolio. Nowadays references can be done online, any credit scoring is also done electronically and a rent guarantee can be confirmed instantly. As soon as the first months rent hit our account it was transferred straight into the landlords account, proving to him that letting his property can be easy, and with a minimum amount of stress.

A political move

With the political situation now resolved, and with all parties loving each other so intensely (well two out of three isn’t bad), it appears we have the making of a secure government. The Bank of England must be fairly happy, as they have kept interest rates low, and with the economy and the weather appearing to warm up we seem to all be in post-election euphoria. Ok there may be cuts in just about every public service available but at least with property there will always be someone wanting to rent it from you.

Can you help us with our charity?

One other thing I would like to talk about is charity. We at Lanes Lettings are avid supporters of the Rockinghorse appeal and will be hosting charity events throughout the year, and would like to invite you to send in some ideas of things that we can do to raise money for them. Please feel free to email me with your suggestions and we will mention you in next months edition. Finally, do you know someone who has a property to rent? Recommend them to us and once we let and have received the first months rent we will send you a £50 high street voucher of your choice to say thank you.