Letting Property with Harry Harper Sales & Lettings

If you haven’t yet got your property, speak to us first about demand and yield.

Demand: The highest demand is usually for small three bedroom family houses with parking – located near a station is also a bonus. The more modern property you have the better as it will be less maintenance and more efficient.

Yield: When choosing your investment the most important factor is yield. Gross yield is the annual rent divided by the purchase price. So if a property lets for £850pcm and you buy it for £170,000 your yield is 6% per annum. To work out your net yield you need to take off the rent, any costs (fees, tax, maintenance etc). Also some landlords (airing on the side of caution) feel 10 months paid rent per year could be more prudential for their figures. If you are looking at properties pop in and see us and we will work this all out for you.

As a Landlord in Wales, you will need to register both yourself and your property with Rent Smart Wales. If you appoint Harry Harper Sales & Lettings as your agent to manage your property, you will need to invite us via your Rent Smart Wales portal and you will then be covered under our license. If you are managing the property yourself, you will need to obtain a license direct from Rent Smart Wales. Failure to have a license will mean you are in breach of the regulations.

We access all of our let properties on a regular basis. We look at other similar properties to decide an amount per calendar month a tenant would pay. We don’t believe in losing a great tenant for £10/£20 per month though. We always make our suggestions to a landlord and give guidance and advice. Rent can only change once per year.

Letting can be labour intensive. Yes, when a tenancy is perfect it can be easier but busy landlords just want to know everything is right and get the rent in their account every month. Some tenancies we have managed, we have had to visit the property with tradesmen more than once a week. Boilers not switching on, leaky tanks, fuses blowing, air in the radiators the list goes on. We also monitor our telephone calls and emails night times, Sundays and bank holidays. We remove all the stress and work from the landlord.

You will need a smoke alarm on each level and it is highly recommended to have a Carbon Monoxide alarm in every room with a solid fuel burning appliance. Properties with any gas appliances will need a current annual gas safety certificate (we can help with this) along with a Legionella Risk Assessment. It is also recommended to have your electrics safety checked. You will also need an Energy Performance certificate of at least an E - these last 10 years - we can organise this for you.

If you have a mortgage on the property you will need to ask their permission before you let it out. You will also need to keep up buildings insurance in the property – some offer a landlord's policy if not check with us as we can arrange this. Our landlord’s insurance covers you for non payment of rent and legal protection if you need to take a tenant to court.

Harry Harper Sales & Lettings will takes your instructions on whether you accept children, pets, smokers… etc

We want to remove as much risk from a tenancy as we can. A regular paying tenant who receives housing benefit is great, and we always ensure that they have a UK based guarantor who is a home owner and working full time as well as being in a position to still pay their first months rent and bond upfront themselves. In our experience, tenants who claim housing benefit generally tend to stay much longer, and really want to make your house their home!

When you let out your residential property, the tenancy will now automatically be an assured shorthold tenancy (AST) under the Housing Act 1988 – unless you specifically agree another form of tenancy in writing (eg a company let).

Harry Harper Sales & Lettings will prepare this for you, we have our agreements checked annually for current new legislation. If you want to see a sample one before we commence – just ask.

The tenants pay a deposit, this is safeguarded in a government approved scheme. There are procedures in place to sort out problems about the deposit at the end of the tenancy, should they arise. The rent is paid in advance usually per month. Some tenants if their income is not high enough to pass the referencing as if they can pay six months in advance. The landlord should be drip fed this monthly but it may be difficult to get landlord’s rent insurance if they fail the referencing.

The inventory should be checked and agreed by both parties, then signed and dated. Our comprehensive inventory details everything about the property with lots of photographs.

Harry Harper Sales & Lettings will organise this and advise the relevant parties of the changeover, this includes service companies as well as the council.

Harry Harper Sales & Lettings do regular inspections and report back to you, the landlord. We legally have to give a minimum 24 hours’ notice with the full permission of the tenant.

The minimum fixed term is currently six months, after that you can renew. At the end of the fixed term, a new fixed term agreement is often made or the tenants move out.

If your tenant advises us there is a problem we first try to sort this out with the tenant. If a tradesman is needed we have our own vetted panel that we trust or you may have your favourite – whatever happens we like to get the problem sorted out properly and swiftly without paying over the odds.

This could be late payments on rent which we chase straight away or not looking after the property. Luckily this is very rare as we do thorough referencing before they move in as well as home checks and regular property inspections. We like to deal with any problems straight away and we would keep you the landlord in the picture at all times.

You will need to complete a NRL1i form, once HMRC agree you can then do self assessments to pay tax. Until then the letting agent will have to withhold tax from the rent.

This can happen from time to time and it’s never easy explaining to a tenant you need the property back. We would give as much notice as possible after all it is the tenant’s home. This cannot happen during a fixed term we would issue a Section 21 notice with two months notice.

Sometimes a tenant may pay rent via standing order, it can take a few days to clear. When this is processed and sent to a landlord’s bank account via BACs this takes another three working days to clear.

Although we act for you the landlord, it is the tenant’s new home, which must be respected.

Our view is firmly – a happy tenant is a good tenant.