LANDLORD RESOURCES – my favourite websites for research and information
There are literally thousands of websites offering landlord resources but in this article I’m going to focus on the landlord resources which you can access and use without having to spend any money.
Rightmove has to be the leading landlord resource doesn’t it? They have dominated the UK online market for letting and sales for as long as I can remember. They’ve even seen off the likes of Google. The section of Rightmove I like best though isn’t just their home page. Look across their navigation bar and you will see a tab for sold prices. If I’m buying or selling this is an incredibly useful piece of information.
Property Tribes is, without a doubt, my favourite property forum. It’s full of people who share for the sake of sharing and learn as a result of doing so. I love the features they have built into this landlords resource too, such as being able to customise the information you receive and mute out people whose opinions are of no interest (not that I’ve muted anybody of course, yet! LOL).
How can anybody not love Twitter if they can be bothered to understand how it works? It is the best way to contact people you may never ordinarily be able to reach. It’s not about broadcasting information such as what you had for breakfast as most people think, it’s about tuning into who and what you want to know about. Strike the right balance between broadcasting and engaging and Twitter is a little goldmine. Two years ago I’d have said I can’t see the point!
More Landlord Resources Tips to Follow
This article is far from finished, that’s where I need your help. Please tell me what your favourite online Landlord resources are by leaving a comment below. You will see if I agree if it pops up in my list next time I re-publish this article.
Update Number One based on comments to date – P.S. logos are linked to corresponding websites
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Comments
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Member Since August 2013 - Comments: 52
8:23 PM, 6th July 2012, About 14 years ago
Zoopla is very useful for working out the postcode of the property you’re interested in – use their “sold prices” option and search for the road name. If you get several postcodes, put each one in turn into Google Maps until you find the one that puts the marker in the same place as on the property listing.
Property Bee, while not primarily a website, is a very useful Firefox add-on that shows you the entire history of each listing on Rightmove and certain other property sites including ESPC (Scotland).
Member Since January 2011 - Comments: 12196 - Articles: 1396
8:30 PM, 6th July 2012, About 14 years ago
That’s exactly the sort of feedback I was hoping I’d get Lynne, thank you so much. This page could well become the wikipedia for Landlords if enough people contribute. Thanks again. Here’s another tip from me as you’ve mentioned the almighty Google. I find Google Earth and Google Street view incredibly useful for early stage desktop “Due Diligence” when deciding which of several properties to view, e.g. when you are looking a property auctions.
Member Since August 2013 - Comments: 52
8:37 PM, 6th July 2012, About 14 years ago
Yes, and Google Streetview can also enable you to identify the house number once you’ve worked out the postcode – provided that the frontage faces the road and enough houses have their numbers visible for you to work it out. Then you can use nethouseprices or Zoopla to look up its history, and even check ownership on the Land Registry if you’re so inclined.
Member Since January 2011 - Comments: 12196 - Articles: 1396
8:41 PM, 6th July 2012, About 14 years ago
Hi Lynne, just before you responded I had edited my post to include mention of Google Street View too. How’s that for great minds thinking alike!
Comments: 1108
11:42 PM, 6th July 2012, About 14 years ago
Another good site is mouseprice.co.uk, same as zoopla but quite useful for property info.
Comments: 1108
11:46 PM, 6th July 2012, About 14 years ago
a problem lots of new LL have is that they don’t know about all the info that has been mentioned.
It would be great for any new LL or one who has ben in the game for a while to find a site wher all useful websites are mentioned.
Collation of info on 1 site is so useful for a new LL
I have only become aware of sites by luck more than judgement.
It would have saved me fortunes and time if I was aware of a collation site for all info useful to LL.
This site could be that.
Not so many sites quote all useful sites as they are competition.
This makes it difficult for LL to locate ALL the sites that would be useful to them.
9:08 AM, 7th July 2012, About 14 years ago
Hi Mark,
Thanks very much for flagging up Property Tribes.
These are exciting times for us, as, as you mentioned, we have just moved from a free platform to a bespoke platform, so that we can better serve the Landlord community.
The whole philosophy of the new site is geared towards helping Landlords learn, share, and grow through customised inputs.
We are all aware that there is too much information out there now! We are bombarded 24/7. So the new Property Tribes allows Landlords to customise the inputs – both information and people – that they are exposed to.
This means that they don’t have to wade through tons of stuff that bears no relation to their personal business and property interests, or be exposed to posts from people with false agendas or troll tendencies. They can simply elect not to receive their posts in their timeline.
We have massive resources for Landlords, all in one place, including feeds from the best property blogs and some of the most high profile Landlords in the U.K. contributing.
The site is free to join and you can find further information about Property Tribes here:
http://www.propertytribes.com/blog/
Member Since January 2011 - Comments: 12196 - Articles: 1396
9:43 PM, 8th July 2012, About 14 years ago
What other websites would you like to see included Paul?
Comments: 1108
3:28 AM, 9th July 2012, About 14 years ago
I use landlordzone for free forms
I get free AST’s and lodger agreements from http://www.lettingexpert.com
legalhelpers.co.uk is useful for AST and possession advice.
http://www.limecastle.co.uk for free lodger agreements
http://www.easyroommate.co.uk for free lodger agreements.
discountlettings.co.uk for cheap listing service and cheap RGI
I think though out of all the sites I have used yours is probably the best for overall circumstances for what I would call the less than knowledgeable LL, like me.
But there is no need to pay massive fees for any service required by a LL.
As an example of how cheaper you can do things yourself
There is a free listing service just been rolled out by the Evening Standard.
Only it isn’t really free.
Yes it is free to the LL but not to the tenant.
They have to pay £60 for referencing the tenant for you!!
What use is that, the referencing is not good enough to be guaranteed for a RGI policy.
No my way is pay discountlettings £29 for listing on on the major sites,RGI referencing at £10.
RGI for a year £89
Why let the tenant waste £60 on referencing that I would ignore.
Quite frankly if a tenant can’t pass an RGI check why would you wish to take a risk on them.
Member Since June 2013 - Comments: 238 - Articles: 49
1:37 PM, 9th July 2012, About 14 years ago
There are a number of legal blogs if you are looking for legal information:
Nearly Legal : http://nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/
Pain Smith Blog: http://blog.painsmith.co.uk/
Anthony Gold (the landlord and tenant posts) : http://blog.anthonygold.co.uk/blog/landlord-and-tenant/, and
My Landlord Law Blog : http://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/blog/
All of these are maintained by specialist solicitors (and with Nearly Legal, barristers too) so should be fairly reliable.