Rental demand continues to soar
Dear All,
I hope you’re all keeping well during these increasingly challenging times!
The weather has certainly cooled down since I last wrote to you during the summer heatwave but the demand for rental property has heated up! We are now in urgent need of more good quality homes – and also more landlords.
We very much appreciate your ongoing loyalty and positive feedback so if you’re thinking of expanding your rental portfolio, please do get in touch.
Likewise, if you know anybody else who wants to come on to our books, we’d love to hear from them!
Demand for rental property is currently at record levels, with often multiple applicants competing for homes as soon as they hit the market. This causes stress and worry, even for those with stable incomes and realistic budgets.
Average monthly rents have risen also, as a result of increased demand, with Brighton and Hove now being the most expensive city to rent a home in the UK, outside London.
Despite high costs, local demand is particularly buoyant. This is partly down to sustained interest from people moving to the coast, plus the large university student population.
As a result, Town & Country Property Services’ properties never lie empty for long. This highlights the benefit of our efficient marketing alongside robust, ongoing maintenance checks, with our colleagues at RDA Estates, to ensure homes are swiftly re-let, with no unnecessary “voids”.
With rising mortgage rates and financial uncertainty, I am anticipating that rental demand is likely to remain high – and may well increase – although I am no clairvoyant! However a steady stock of good-quality rental property is essential, for landlords and tenants alike.
Looking ahead, it’s important to stress that I am not qualified to give financial advice and nor would I wish to. Any mortgage, tax or financial issues are always best addressed by accountants or financial advisors.
However, as a responsible letting agent, we do encourage landlords to take reasonable precautions to protect themselves, financially. Please check out my recent blog, setting out the pros and cons of Rent Guarantee Insurance which coincided with a past newsletter:
Rent Guarantee Insurance – “dead money” or invaluable peace of mind? – Brighton and Hove Property News (brightonhoveproperty.news)
Fixflo
You hopefully recall that we recently installed Fixflo which is an on line reporting tool that tenants can use to report maintenance concerns. I am pleased to report that barring some teething problems the system is really functioning well and delivering what we hoped – namely more detailed maintenance reports leading to less wasted call outs.
One minor issue is that some of our clients have not been notified when works have been raised by tenants and this appears to be due to the initial welcome email having gone to junk folders. Please do advise me if you have not had an email from Fixflo and we can resend the link. This will then mean you can see in real time any reported maintenance and you can help make decisions as to cost of works and what is instructed.
I hope you have found this summary helpful and, as ever, if you have any questions or queries please do not hesitate to contact me.
