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Maximising your income

Some landlords seem to think that the key to maximising income from a buy to let business is simply to increase the rent.

The level at which you pitch your rent, of course, has an important part to play but you need to be realistic and what you can charge is naturally constrained by the prevailing rental rates in the neighbourhood in which your let property is located.

So, you might want to think again about raising rents as the only way to maximise your income:

Offer added value services

  • have you thought about the add-ons you might offer;
  • some tenants will appreciate you offering them additional services such as guaranteed car parking locally, laundry services and perhaps regular cleaning – these are all things you could charge for and hopefully make a healthy profit on;
  • there may be other options of a similar nature, perhaps even including your provision of certain home entertainment systems and so on – though you’ll need to be cautious, of course, about providing expensive equipment, as this may be an issue in terms of your contents insurance and its associated risks of theft or damage;

Charge for furniture

  • an unfurnished let property typically attracts a significantly lower rent than one that is furnished;
  • in a posting on the 14th of April 2022, estate agents Kaytons suggested that you invest in suitable furniture and enjoy the pay-back of many months of additional rent;

Charge for late payment of rent

  • if your tenants pay their rent late, that is costing you money one way or another either in lost interest or in your time and effort in chasing up payment – so, it needs to be made clear in the tenancy agreement that overdue payment will incur charges;
  • make sure that your tenants understand and agree to this in advance – don’t just spring it on them as a surprise, unless you look forward to controversy and friction;

Review your insurance costs

  • shop around to find the best landlord’s insurance quote possible, or at least one that is both suitable and cost-effective for you – and here at Cover4LetProperty we can help you do just that;
  • remember that sometimes maximising your income can be at least in part related to reducing your expenditure;

Avoid unnecessarily lengthy gaps between tenancies

  • when your property is available for rent, but you have no tenants in place, this is called a “void” and you are then earning nothing at all in rental income, of course;
  • sometimes you may have little or no alternative but to have gaps between tenants but in many cases, this happens simply due to poor planning on the part of the landlord concerned;
  • so, whenever you know that tenants will be vacating, act immediately to secure new tenants and don’t wait until the last minute before doing things such as advertising the vacancy and lining up your next tenants;

Investigate deposit accounts opportunities

  • admittedly, it’s difficult these days to secure higher interest rates on very short-term deposits – but those rates may vary significantly between banks and other deposit-taking institutions;
  • so, try to put any surplus cash into an account that offers a higher interest rate than a current account but which at the same time guarantees you fast access in an emergency – the additional money you earn may not be huge, but every penny counts!

It’s not simply a question of raising the rent if you want to maximise the income from your buy to let property. These – and many other – possibilities are worth exploring.

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