Tips, tricks and tales from the lettings world

I'm excited to see my first column in the local property paper today:

Welcome to my first fortnightly article. I am a private landlord living in Chichester and have recently begun offering a lettings service to other landlords. Alongside this I continue to scour the internet and local paper for additions to my own property portfolio.

In the coming months I will keep you up to date on the local property market, investigate different buy-to-let opportunities and discuss whether property could prove to be a good investment for you.

I will provide advice about managing your property and how you can avoid handing over the keys to the wrong people, such as:

- ‘Professional bad tenants’, who know the law as well as a solicitor and prey on unsuspecting landlords to feed their habit of moving from one property to the next without paying rent. Thorough tenant referencing is key to sidestep this ploy.

- Criminal gangs who target rental properties to perform illegal activity, such as creating cannabis factories. Alarm bells should sound if you are offered six months rent up-front, in cash, but told you mustn’t regularly inspect the property as a result.

I will also be providing a few lighter-hearted stories from my time as a landlord / letting agent, as well as answering your property related questions.

Having witnessed first-hand and heard some of the horror stories from both landlords and tenants, I intend to reveal a few of the practices some letting agents would rather keep hidden in their small print.

The way I see it, regardless of your property’s size and location, the costs of letting out a property are fairly similar. So why should landlords pay more for the management of their property simply because it happens to be in a good area like Chichester?

In fact, a more expensive property in a nice location will generally appeal to more affluent tenants, who tend to be more reliable paying their rent and looking after a property - making a letting agent's job simpler!

This is why I apply a quality over quantity approach to lettings. I only take on properties that have been well looked after, which will attract better tenants who should face fewer maintenance issues throughout their tenancy.

But enough about me, what do you want to talk about? E-mail me your property or lettings related questions, along with any particular topics you want to hear about or issues you’ve faced in the property market.

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If you are looking for an agent that is well-established, professional and communicative in Chichester, then contact us to find out how we can get the best out of your investment property.

E-mail me on clive@crjlettings.co.uk or call 01243 624 599.

Don't forget to visit the links below to view my previous buy-to-let deals and Chichester Property News articles:

Follow The Buy-To-Let Property Investment Market in Chichester

Chichester Property Market LinkedIn Page for Clive Janes

CRJ Letting Agents Chichester Facebook Page

CRJ Letting Agents Chichester Twitter Page

Chichester Investment Property Management Specialist CRJ Letting Agents Website

c/o CRJ Lettings, 30B Southgate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1DP

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