The Letting Process

At Gibbs Gillespie we understand that your rental property is a significant asset and that as a landlord your principal objective is to maximize the return on your investment, both in terms of rental income and capital appreciation.

Letting out a flat or house can be a great investment, but there are a few things to look out for. We can help you find tenants, get the right price and manage your investment.

Here are some key steps to letting your home or investment:

Step 1: Preparing Your Property For Let

We’ve found that when a place just feels right, the first few minutes are often all prospective tenants need to decide.

This means that making your property look its best could be the difference between a quick rental and a long slog with an empty house or flat on the market and it doesn’t have to be hard work.

Presenting for rent:

Step 2: Get a Valuation

A little research can give you an idea of what the right rent is for your house or flat. Ask yourself:

• What’s the going rate in your area?
• Check your nearest office or search this site for similar properties.
• How much do you need to cover your mortgage and other expenses?

If you want a professional opinion on where to set your rent, get in touch with us: we’ll value your property for free and without any obligation to use us for letting or management.

To arrange a free valuation by one of our experienced local Lettings Managers, click here or call us on 0845 481 1640. We can usually make an appointment the same day.

Step 3: [befirst]

[befirst]; our online property match system, now offers tenants an easy and convenient way to find a new rental property.

For landlords, [befirst] is a valuable tool to help ensure minimal vacancy time. In fact, because prospective tenants are told about your property even before it becomes available, you may experience no loss of rental income at all. [befirst] is also useful to help find the tenant best suited to your property. Click here for more information on [befirst].

Step 4: Marketing Campaign

If you decide you’d like us to let your property, just give your nearest office a call and we’ll put you in touch with a Lettings Manager.

You’ll deal with a local lettings team who know your area well. It’s their job to know everything about your rental. They’ll keep you up to date on who’s interested in renting, when tenants are looking round and what they think of the property.

We’ll develop a powerful and effective marketing campaign using the advertising media at our disposal to make sure we attract as many potential tenants for your property as possible.

Components of the campaign will include the internet, where we will advertise your property on Gibbs-Gillespie.co.uk and the other four most popular websites: rightmove.co.uk, primelocation.com, findaproperty.com and zoopla.co.uk.

We’ll show prospective tenants around on your behalf and we’ll make sure it’s convenient for you and for any current tenants. It’s always best to show off a property in daylight, but evening viewings are no problem: we’re open until 7pm. We can also show people around on Saturday and Sunday, too.

Step 5: Property Management

Many tenants, especially corporate tenants, prefer to rent managed properties.

Instructing Gibbs Gillespie to manage your property gives both you and your tenant complete peace of mind. After finding you a tenant, we take care of both them and you throughout the tenancy, including everything from collecting the rent and handling all administration to assistance with more complex issues like repair. Find out how we can manage your property.

Step 6: Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)

You will need to provide an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) before your property can be let. We can arrange this for you.

Step 7: Safety Regulations

As a landlord, you have an obligation to ensure that your property complies with all the necessary regulations covering the safety of gas appliances, electrical installation and any furnishings supplied for the tenancy. Our people can advise you on this and arrange the necessary inspections and certificates.

Step 8: Tenant Selection and Agreeing the Let

When you’ve found the right tenants and they’ve agreed to move in, there’s some paperwork to be done before the tenancy can start. We’ll take care of this and send all the documents to you and your tenants.

We call this stage “let agreed”, and it starts with checking credit references. We maintain exceptionally high standards when it comes to selecting tenants to recommend to you. Stringent checks are conducted through nationwide databases and all previous rental, business and personal references are verified and employments details confirmed.

Next we’ll draw up a tenancy agreement that sets out exactly the terms of your contract with your tenant, including any special requirements you have. We’ll send you and your tenant copies to sign, all you have to do is check it, sign it and send it back to us before the tenancy starts. We will forward a copy of their signed agreement to you and your signed agreement to the tenant.

Finally, the inventory records the contents and condition of your flat or house at the point when your tenants move in. Because it’s so important that this is impartial, we recommend a specialist inventory company. They will give you and your tenant a copy of the inventory, and will do another inspection at the end of the tenancy to check that nothing’s missing or damaged.

Step 9: Taking a Deposit and Moving In

Before the tenancy starts, we’ll collect the deposit and the first rent payment on your behalf. As soon as this money clears, your tenants can move in.

Congratulations - you are now a landlord!