Are you managing your rented property within the law? – Landlord Law

Are you managing your rented property within the law? – Landlord Law

11:22 AM, 9th September 2019, About 5 years ago 8

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Are you managing your rented property within the law? Many landlords think they are – only to find to their cost later that they are not.

There are four traps that landlords’ tend to fall into:

1. Thinking that managing rented property is easy

2. Thinking that they are bound to be a good landlord ‘because they are a nice person’

3. Thinking that having done one training course they can sit back and not do any more

4. Thinking that training is a waste of money

1. Thinking it’s easy

If you don’t know much about renting property you often think it is a ‘piece of cake’.  After all – what is hard about finding someone to live in your property, getting them to sign a document downloaded from the internet (why pay when you can get it for free) and then leaving them alone.

Experienced landlords will know that all of the above could be a recipe for disaster.

2. Thinking that being a nice person is enough

Sadly, it’s not.

I know of a very nice and well-meaning landlord whose tenant died because she did not know about or do any gas safety checks.

3. Thinking one training course is enough

Landlord and tenant law is a massive area and is constantly changing.

I have been working in this field for over 20 years and I doubt that I know everything (although I know quite a lot). Regular training is essential if you are managing your properties yourself.

Or indeed even if you’re not – how can you tell if your agents are doing a good job if you don’t have any understanding of what they should be doing?

4. Thinking training is a waste of money

Being a landlord is a business activity and all business owners will benefit from good and relevant training.

  • Some training will help you earn more money – for example by helping you improve your offering so you can charge more for it
  • Some training will help you save money – for example by avoiding penalties and fines
  • And some training will just help make your life easier – for example by helping you to do things quicker and better, with fewer mistakes

So where is all this leading?

I mentioned in a previous post that I was looking to do a new training course.  Well, this is now well under way and we have started taking ‘early bird’ bookings.

Its an interactive online course in five parts with an optional 5 hours CPD.

Plus, we have released, for free, our initial HMO 101 online course so you can see for yourself the sort of thing we are doing.

Essential for landlords renting to sharers

The HMO course is a ‘proper course’ and is designed to convey in an easy to understand manner the main elements that HMO landlords (or anyone renting to sharers) need to know about.

Please go and take a look at it.  It’s here.

The ‘Early Bird’ offer is here and will end on 20 September. There are separate versions with and without CPD.


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Comments

Alison King

10:25 AM, 10th September 2019, About 5 years ago

How much does this course cost please?

David Lawrenson

11:25 AM, 10th September 2019, About 5 years ago

Well, yes, there is so much to know these days and with legislation changing, there is a lot of new stuff coming out all the time to keep on top of too.

This is the reason why membership of the combined RLA / NLA, two of the larger landlords organisations is only 80,000, whereas there are thought to be over 2 million landlords.

Of course, a large number of those landlords will be one property only (mostly "accidental landlords") and landlords say just with two. They will probably not even regard themselves as landlords as such.

These people will trust to a letting agent to do everything "right" for them, but we all know, the quality of letting agents can be poor - with many seeing their fees as more important than your long term income.

I would say, for all people who let property and use an agent, one really key thing is to ensure they do not get the "tenant from hell". And to ensure this they simply have to set and ensure the letting agent has very robust standards as to what tenant they will accept - and have the final say. Referencing and income checks is key.

Getting a bad tenant is a thing that could be v expensive and could really make you very ill. So don't let a letting agent risk it for you.

For that reason, I wrote "Buy to Let Landlords to Finding Great Tenants", my second book for landlords. All it does is just look at that part of the process of finding a great tenant and I had in mind, not just un-agented landlords but agented landlords too, when I wrote it.

I'm sure Tessa's course is great, like all her stuff.

David Lawrenson
http://www.LettingFocus.com
Independent advice for landlords

Tessa Shepperson

8:00 AM, 11th September 2019, About 5 years ago

Thanks, David 🙂

Michael Barnes

14:29 PM, 11th September 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by David Lawrenson at 10/09/2019 - 11:25
"Well, yes, there is so much to know these days and with legislation changing, there is a lot of new stuff coming out all the time to keep on top of too.

"This is the reason why membership of the combined RLA / NLA, two of the larger landlords organisations is only 80,000, whereas there are thought to be over 2 million landlords."

I do not see how your second paragraph follows from the first.

Would you elaborate?

David Lawrenson

16:33 PM, 11th September 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Michael Barnes at 11/09/2019 - 14:29
Yeah, could have made that clearer.
What I said in next para was to imply that there is so much to know that the accidental landlord (who numerically make up the greater numbers of all landlords) simply gives up and elects to not bother and just trusts to the letting agent to "do it all right for them"

David Lawrenson

16:34 PM, 11th September 2019, About 5 years ago

...and for that reason most don't join a landlords organisation.

Michael Barnes

16:55 PM, 11th September 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by David Lawrenson at 11/09/2019 - 16:34
Sadly, they also do not realise that they are legally responsible for the failings of their agent. If they did, then they would either
1. not be in the business, or
2. get trained so that they can determine the competence of their prospective/chosen agent.

David Lawrenson

17:29 PM, 11th September 2019, About 5 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Michael Barnes at 11/09/2019 - 16:55
Excellent point, well made.
Yes, many landlords fail to appreciate what an "agency relationship" means for them (and so do many agents too).

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