When it’s time to find a new tenant: How reduce void periods
The most recent English Housing Survey released last month revealed that there were 1.1 million house-moves within the private rented sector in England alone in 2016-2017, compared to 792,000 moves 20 years previously. Not only is this as a result of the growth in the number of newly created private rented households, but also because private tenants are the people most likely to move home regularly.
People have a number of reasons why they choose to rent their home, but for many the flexibility to move to a new house frequently for their job is a key attraction. However, landlords with regularly changing tenants may be concerned about void periods, as they wait for new tenants to move in.
This month we speak to Lewis Wren, Divisional Director at Darlows about our Enhanced Marketing Package and why it could be just the solution for you when it comes to finding a new tenant for your property.
Q: Lewis, in a nutshell, explain what the Enhanced Marketing package offers
A: Our Enhanced Marketing Package is a solution that combines the best ways of finding quality tenants, in the fastest possible time, at the same time achieving the best possible price for our landlords by exposing properties to the largest possible market – a market that other agents simply can’t access.
Enhanced Marketing includes:
• Enhanced Photography
• FLINK
• flatfair
• Rightmove Premium Listings
• Rightmove Featured Property
Q: What are the benefits of each of these features?
A: Tenants are increasingly discerning, and they’re choosing to rent property that they can call their home. This means the days of listing properties to rent with limited photographs are long gone. Our enhanced photography will help ensure your property is being presented in the best possible light as we have trained our branch staff to take professional photographs, using specialist equipment.
The FLINK service is an exclusive service to Darlows meaning your property gets unbeatable exposure. This truly innovative tool turns the traditional agency model on its head – instead of a tenant finding a new home, FLINK creates pathway for the property to find the tenant. We take everything we know about marketing properties, add the insight and capability of social media, and target tenants who aren’t even looking yet. We establish the key selling features of your property and create a range of different adverts to distribute across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google+.
flatfair is a deposit replacement scheme that reduces the upfront costs for tenants wishing to rent a home whilst offering you even more protection than you’d usually get. This means we make the private rented sector more accessible than other agents and helps create a greater pool of prospective tenants. Of course, having access to a wide audience ensures we can select the best possible tenant, and achieve the best possible rental price. Additionally, the flatfair solution provides protection equal to 12 weeks’ rent rather than the six-week protection you get from the Government backed schemes. It’s also been designed to reduce void periods by speeding up any end of tenancy claims and releasing the funds to make any necessary repairs or replacements.
When a property is advertised as a Premium Listing on Rightmove it is twice as visible as a standard listing, therefore in the crucial few days after your property is listed for rent, it will be highly prominent on the listing service. Meanwhile as a featured property it will then get an average of a further 20% more views – which is particularly useful after the initial peak has passed.
Q: Why do you believe this particular combination will work?
A: At Darlows, we’ve been letting property for decades, and the rules are continually being re-written. The tastes of the modern tenant have evolved, whilst technology has dramatically changed the playing field. In the meantime, we’re in an increasingly crowded market, which means it’s simply not enough to place a basic photograph onto Rightmove and in a branch window in the hope someone makes an enquiry. When a landlord selects our Enhanced Marketing package their property will look more attractive, it will be advertised to tenants who aren’t even looking for a home yet, it’ll be easier for a tenant to move into, and it will be significantly more visible than other properties being advertised for rent.
Our responsibility to our landlords is to professionally market their properties to the widest possible audience. Our enhanced marketing package ensures this happens and critically for our landlords no other agents can access the volume of potential tenants we can.
However, we’re also conscious that landlords are feeling the squeeze. The combination of tax changes and the recent interest rate rise could mean that for some, mortgage costs may be about to increase. That’s why we’re offering this comprehensive package for £185 plus VAT, which is significantly lower than the cost of each of those individual elements which are worth £950 plus VAT. We will also discount this down to £148 plus VAT if we are instructed as your sole agent. Not only does this offer a welcome cost-save, but crucially it means you’re more likely to move a new tenant in to your property more quickly helping reduce void periods. With average rents across the UK now standing at £937, this cost is less than one week’s rent – yet it could help reduce the lost income from void periods and monthly rental amount by much more than this.
When you’re ready to let your next property, speak to your local Darlows branch about how our Enhanced Marketing Package can help speed up the time it takes to secure your next tenant.
