There are quite a few items that you need to get ready before you list your proeprty to rent. Here are a few of them:

Accountant

Ensure that you have an accountant and/financial adviser who can provide you with all of the relavant information for your personal circumstances.

Repairs

Once you have a management agreement, or a lease then I suggest that you carry out all maintenace that needs to be done prior to the tenancy beginning - we can arrange this for you.

Please contact your accountant to ask more information regarding claiming the costs of the necessary repairs.

Smoke Alarms

The smoke alarms need to be up -to-date and installed as per the most recent legislative requriements - we can arrange this for you.

Pool

Ensure that the pool certificate is up to date - we can arrange this for you.

Ensure that you have a trusted pool contractor who can attend to service the pool regularly.

The tenants are charged for the cost of all chemicals and the property owner is charged for the cost of the servicing - we will pay the bill for the servicing of your pool and then charge the tenant for the chemicals.

Water Consumption

Ensure that you property complies with current water saving requirements - we can arrange this for you.

We ask that the property rates/utility invoice is sent directly to us and we will deduct the cost from rental account. The tenants have 30 days to pay so we pay 100% of the bill and then invoice the tenants for their water consumption portion.

Landlord Insurance

Ensure that you have a good quality landlord insurance policy. A specialist landlord insurance policy can save you thousands when you need to make a claim.

Remember not all claims for landlord insurance are the result of a tenant defaulting or ignoring their responsibilites. It can be the result of mental health, domestic violence, death, weather and accidental damage etc.

In my career I have dealt with 2 accidental deaths and 3 suicides. I have had a tower block set on fire accidentally when a tenant was refilling their "zippo" lighter, had properties condemned due to flooding and mould.

I cannot emphasise this enough - the cheapest policy is definitely not necessarily the best policy for your property.

Appraisal

It is vital that you receive an appraisal which you can keep in your files for future use. I suggest that you speak with your Accountant in relation to Capital Gains Tax as this is something you need to consider when renting your property. There are various ways to save/limit the amount of CGT payable.