Believe it or not, we’re coming to the end of the academic year. Soon enough, many of our tenancies will be coming to an end, as students depart Aberystwyth to head back home or onto pastures new come May or June. What does this mean for us? Well, a great time to look at improvements that can be done over the summer months, in between tenancies and getting ready for the next academic year – 2018/2019, here we come!
We’ve had a flurry of new landlords advertise their properties with us this year, and as we visit their houses for the first time, we also give them some feedback on improvements we feel need doing straight away, and improvements that will mean renting those houses with the first viewing. So what do we mainly look for?
- As with anything, your first impressions are key! This means decor. Bland houses may have been popular a few years ago, but more and more the houses that rent fast are those where a little bit more thought has gone into the colour theme. Now, we’re not saying you need to colour all of the rooms, but add a splash of vibrancy in the communal areas, and if you’re feeling really adventurous, think of painting a feature wall in the bedrooms. Adding colours doesn’t even mean paint, you can accessorise with curtains, lampshades, cushions, rugs…
- Keep the paintwork fresh – we recommend painting a property throughout every 3 years, with touch ups inbetween. There’s nothing worse than chipped gloss woodwork to put people off – if you let it chip, what other things are you letting slide?
- Make a house a home – students don’t want to live in bleak houses anymore, they want comfort, somewhere they can chill with their friends and binge on TV. If you start to think “home” rather than “student house” when you carry out your improvements, you’ll find the house much more popular to rent. This includes things like quality matching furniture, underlay on the carpets and good quality curtains or blinds.
- Based on the past 2 years of working in the student market, we’d always recommend double beds where you can fit them. Nearly all of our student enquiries request double beds and bills included. Sounds daunting, but you can get some good deals on the beds. When looking at bills included, remember to allow roughly £12 per head in a house of 6, and always make sure you have a fair use policy in your tenancy agreement.
- Old bathroom? A few of our landlords have invested in totally redoing their bathrooms, which has resulted in houses renting much faster. No one wants to shower in a bathroom that has silicon patched up over years, or tiles that are beyond clean (and never will be again).
- Go the extra mile – what we’ve done in Redfern is also include contents insurance, which covers tenants for £2000 contents and £1000 laptop insurance. You may also wish to cover the internet bills or TV licence. The more you offer, the more attractive your house is.
So some food for thought for you! We’re always happy to come out and give you our recommendations and of course opinion on rental amounts – no obligation of course. Just contact us today and we’ll arrange a meeting!