Letting a Property

If you watched property programmes on television over the last few years, then you could quite readily come to the conclusion that most people have a property that they let out to tenants and that it is a nice and simple way to get a steady income.

Typically someone may be seen to buy a property at a knock down price, give it a lick of paint and a few bits of furniture, an estate agent walks around and says how much rental income they could get, and everyone is very happy.

However, the reality of letting a property is that it is not as simple as this, and that is one of the reasons why it is not as ubiquitous as it may appear. Letting out a property takes a lot of thought and consideration, and there are various different ways in which a property can be let, depending on how much involvement the owner of that property (aka landlord) wants to have.

The main decision is whether to let it out yourself directly - this is known as letting it privately - or alternatively going through a letting agent. Whilst letting it privately has the potential to theoretically earn you more, you have to consider that would only be the case if you put no value on your own time, and if you want to be relatively hands off then you will probably decide that it makes more sense to go through a lettings agency and letting them take at least some of the strain.

Particularly if you have a portfolio of properties or if it is the first time you are letting property then it makes sense to get professional advice and support from a letting agent. You don't necessarily even need to have considered to be in the buy-to-let property game, and may not have bought a property specifically with the idea of selling it on: perhaps you have inherited a property but don't want to sell it, and so on.

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Letting a Property