Use some of these tips from Unipol to help you let your student property this year.
Letting Your Property
Think about the basics and review your photos, presentation is key.
If photos are in need of updating, you could ask your tenants to take a few for you. The promise of a pizza or a treat night may motivate them to help out!
If you have received various good reviews from other students on Rate your Landlord, direct potential tenants to the site.
Finally, read your advert. Does is stand out from other adverts?Things to consider including within the ‘extra information’ box:
- Have you described the property?
- Has anything been recently refurbished, fitted or decorated?
- Are you including a bills package option?
- Does your advert point out local amenities?
- Does it highlight the best features of the house?
- Does the property have a usable outdoor space?
Individual lets
Many first year students have not had the opportunity to make friends and therefore many of them find themselves without a group for house hunting. It may be that more students are looking for individual lets rather than being committed to a joint and severally liable contract.
Any Unipol advert can be amended to show that rooms can be let on an individual basis. These rooms would then be available to students searching for on their own.
Viewings
Although viewings can still take place, the government website says “initial viewings” should be done virtually “wherever possible”.
Virtual Tours
Use our handy step-by-step guidance to create and upload a virtual tour to enhance your advert.
Why not work with your tenants and offer them an incentive to create a tour for you? You might even want to ask them to say a few words about the property and you as a landlord!
“Due to current restrictions I was dreading having to go through all the performance of re-advertising my rental property. How were potential tenants going to view the property? In fact the process could not have been easier, especially facilitated by Alex (info@unipol.org.uk)
Under his guidance I made a video, uploaded it to him and he added it to my Unipol advertisement. On the advertisement becoming live with the online video option I immediately had an increased number of views of my advert and had two positives enquires.”Conrad Szamocki
Join us for an online workshop to explain how to create and upload virtual tours. Click here to find out more.
My property was rented out within 48hrs as a direct result of an online viewing Result! I’d advise anyone not to hesitate doing a detailed virtual tour and let your future tenants see your property for themselves without having to visit the house in lockdown
A valuable easy tool in getting your property rented in these difficult times
Physical viewings
If there is no way to avoid physical viewings the following measures, as stipulated by the government, must be in place for the safety of viewers and existing tenants:
- Masks must be worn (unless exemption applies, but there must be prior notice of this)
- No more than 2 people viewing a property. They can take photographs or a video for their friends
- Open all internal doors to reduce touchpoints
- Provide handwashing facilities and paper towels
- Tenants to vacate property
- Tenants to wash down surfaces and handles after viewings
- Viewings to avoid touching anything
- Social distancing
- Do not show groups around a house
- No open house viewings