Property Articles

With the buy-to-let investments becoming more popular everyday, more and more people treat their investments like businesses.

As with any other business, the property investment should therefore aim to maximise the income from the rentals. This is a fine-balancing
act of keeping the property in a “desirable” state while ensuring that the vacant period for the property is minimal.

Naturally, it is not easy or realistic to find tenants that stay in the property for years. Currently, the average tenancy period seems to be
around 10-14 months in the South East of England. So, on average, the landlords go through a tenancy renewal once every year.

As a premier estate agent in Maidenhead, to help our valued landlords strike the right balance, Appleton Estates aim to achieve 2 key objectives
for our valued landlords while managing their properties:

1. Our main aim is to secure the next tenancy in advance so that there is either no vacant period or it is kept to a minimum window. Appleton Estates ensures this with our extensive and timely marketing strategy. We not only market the properties the local printed press but also heavily market them on the Internet well in advance so that a new tenancy can be secured as early as possible.
2. Our second goal is to make sure that the property is cleaned to a professional standard by the tenant who is vacating the property. As part of the change-over process we also ensure that the property is prepared for the new tenancy (cleaning, safety check, etc.). While this process may add a few days to the change-over period, it can easily be justified when considering the need for the property to be well-maintained and well-presented in the market place.

We have a network of highly experienced inventory clerks to ensure that the property is well maintained during the tenancy and is ready for the next.

It is also important for the landlords to consider what upgrades they need to keep the property in a desirable state and time the work well over the tenancy change-over. This would be the best time to carry out maintenance work such as replacing the carpets, repainting the interior walls or tiling bathrooms when the property is vacant.

Whilst novice landlords think that having a ‘back-to-back’ tenancy maximises their income, this may actually be counter-productive for the investment. This would cause long term deterioration and reduction of the asset value of the property. As with any business, the property business requires some ongoing investment.