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All landlords have been first time landlords once. It is a huge learning curve for all first time landlords in Peterborough as there is so much involved in being a landlord. There are also lots of mistakes that you can make as a first time landlord, so we have put together these top tips to help you avoid the common, and often expensive, mistakes that first time landlords in Peterborough can make.

Rent Is The Priority

As a letting agency in Peterborough we are often surprised at how many landlords do not pursue the rent and late charges. If your tenants are not paying their rent or ignoring your contact when chasing the rent then you need to start the eviction process now, not months down the line.

By working with a professional letting agent they will chase this payment for you to ensure that you get your rent when it is due.

Screen Tenants Efficiently

Screening tenants is really important, it is often that gut feeling you had about a tenant when you handed over the keys, that comes back to bite you on the bum months later. You need to make sure they work at the company they say they work for, that they have references and that they can be trusted to look after your property and will pay their rent on time.

Again, by working with a letting agent, as a first time landlord in Peterborough, we can take away this stress for you as all tenants are screened before they even view your property.

Consider Extra Income Opportunities

Not all properties will have extra income opportunities, but some will. For example you could
consider installing solar panels and then sell back excess energy generated to the grid. Maybe there is an unused yet secure shed that could be rented out for self storage to the tenants or to a local business?

We can look at your property with you and make recommendations for any extra income
opportunities that your property may offer.

Know Fair Housing Laws & Regulations

Even if you are using a professional letting agency, there is no reason that you shouldn’t take the time to learn and understand the fair housing laws and regulations. There can be serious implications if you violate these laws and regulations so read up on them for the peace of mind that you’re doing the right thing as a first time landlord in Peterborough.

These are just SOME of the very many mistakes that first time landlords can make.

Being a first time landlord can be a very stressful experience when going it alone so why not partner up with the team here at Letters Group to help ensure that you are being the best first time landlord you can possibly be?

Many people think that trying to move house over the Christmas period is a big mistake, but in this article we would like to share with you some of the many reasons that this is no longer the case. If you can make your home visible online during the Christmas period, you could be surprised at just how well this could work out for you.

People have lots of free time over the Christmas period; they are often off work for longer than usual. They are also spending more times in their home and with their family, they have the motivation for a change in the New Year and this makes the Christmas period a great time to sell or buy a home.

By making your home visible on all major property portals like Rightmove over the Christmas period you will see your property gets a lot more interest than it could at other times of the year.

Property portals show that there is a massive spike in properties being viewed on Boxing Day.
However, if you are selling your home over the Christmas period you won’t need to worry about us calling you as you’re in the middle of celebrating, opening presents or eating dinner.

We know that Christmas is a busy time for families so we operate a ‘Do Not Disturb’ policy. This allows potential home buyers to click on your property through Rightmove and our website, but not view the property until the home seller is available and wanting people to view their property. In some cases this could be into the New Year.

Once Christmas Day is done, the turkey is eaten, presents unwrapped, chocolate consumed in mass and the Queen has done her speech, people will often turn to their mobile devices and start looking at properties on line.

Where could they be living this time next year?

Christmas time is when people are joined by families and this can often lead to decisions of moving closer to these family members, or in some cases, further away from them. On Boxing Day your property is viewed because people are still on ‘holiday mode’ and want to make changes for their future.

While Rightmove claim that Boxing Day is their busiest day of the year, we would certainly agree here at Letters Group.

If you are considering buying or selling a home during the Christmas period, then get in touch with our friendly team now.

Here at Letters Group we encourage our sellers to ‘stage’ their homes. This is a way of preparing your home for viewers and can really help make your home more valuable, but also help to sell your home quicker. We have put together some top tips below that will help ensure that your home is sold quicker, but also potentially add thousands to the value of your home.
Read more →

Here at Letters Group we love housing good tenants, and our landlords love good tenants too.

If you are a good tenant this will result in a much happier, easier, stress-free life living in your rented accommodation. It also means that when you do leave that rented accommodation that you will have a good referral from your landlord. It means that when you need things fixed or problems arise, because you are a good tenant the landlord will be more willing to help you.

But how can you be a good tenant?
Read more →

Karen Whyte, a valuer at Aberdein Considine, offers easy-to-follow advice on how to boost your chances of a quick offer

Selling or letting a property can seem a daunting task but it doesn’t have to be this way if thought is given to the simple things.

Read more →

Andrew Crowther, Assistant Resources and Energy Manager at Strutt & Parker, looks at ways to make a home greener. Here are five top tips to help homeowners to follow the three Rs – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

1. Water butts

British summers tend to swing from pouring rain to hose pipes bans. One of the best ways to make the most of our occasionally wet summers is by using a water butt. These can be installed in a garden or under the guttering and can store rain water for those days when the hose pipe ban finally takes effect.

A standard water butt can hold enough water to fill a watering can 25 times. If you live in the south east, during the year you could fill up your water butt 450 times a year based on average rain falls. Go for one with a tap installed for easier access.

2. Compost

Britain throws away around £12.5billion worth of food a year – that’s equivalent to around 15 million tons of food, but by using a compost heap, a lot of this unwanted food can be reused.

Compost heaps can be built in the garden and will take a range of foods, leaves, grass cuttings and other garden waste. Not only does it mean throwing less away but it also produces a great nutrient for garden plants.

Any of the following foods are great for the compost heap:

– Fruit and vegetable leftovers and peelings
– Baked goods and bread
– Rice, pasta and grains
– Egg shells
– Old spices

Remember to avoid any meat-related waste or dairy.

3. Up-cycling

It’s all the fashion at the moment, taking seemingly useless household items and making them into something useful – whether it’s funky lights from old tins or transforming a broken shed into a coffee table.

There are plenty of sites on the internet full of great ideas for up-cycling and many can be done at home with the family. It also means the previously unwanted goods won’t be going to a landfill.

4. Sort your bins

While the council might supply just one recycling bin, it’s worth asking for more. For starters, not all recycling should be sorted together with separate boxes for paper, glass and plastics preferable. Make sure you know what days the bins are collected, so you can fill the boxes at the right time.

Finally, it might be worth placing smaller bins throughout the house – the bathroom is often neglected but has plenty of recyclables in the form of old shampoo bottles and used toilet roll tubes.

5. Donate

If you’re planning to redecorate your home, don’t just throw away your old wardrobes, beds and sofas – put them on to Freecycle and give them away to someone who needs them. This saves them from going in to landfill and means their life span is extended by another few years.

Even items that you think have no use any more can be donated to local charities or community projects. Left over paint, unused wood from a building project or old curtains and cushions could help in the renovation of a community centre, or go towards a new home starter kit for someone else.

To find out more about recycling facilities in your local areas, simply enter your postcode on the Recycle Now website.

Strutt & Parker’s recent Housing Futures survey highlighted that recycling services were amongst the top ten most sought-after features people desire in their new home. To find out more about our findings, download the full report here.