However new laws are being brought in to protect landlords.

The end of a tenancy means a lot of work for all parties involved. This list of Dos and Don'ts should help to simplify the process.

It's a niche market which could speed up the rental process and see you earning more money.

What would your must have luxury feature be? Hopefully it's a little more extravagant than the top feature on this list...

From the 6th April 2007, it became law for tenants' deposits to be protected. This was in response to rogue landlords keeping tenants’ deposits unlawfully and spending the money as they pleased. Before this law there was very little a tenant could do to reclaim their money aside from taking the landlord to the small claims court.

Now in its 9th year, Tenant Deposit Protection is not a new thing and has gone through a few changes over the years.  The latest change was with the Deregulation Act 2015 which cleared up many misconceptions within the law; yet many Landlords are still tripping up on some of the basic requirements for compliance and putting themselves at great risk. 

Storm damage, burst pipes and damage from break-ins were the top reasons that buy to let property investors make insurance claims, new research has suggested.

The most common claim was for storm damage, which cost an average of £1,500 to repair, followed by damage to ceilings, walls and carpets caused by burst pipe with an average £4,500 repair bill.

Landlord training courses in Swansea with Rent Smart Wales are filling up fast and are now fully booked until July. 

McCartan Lettings are urging all landlords who have a property they let in Wales that the manage, or have an interest in the management of the property to secure their training slot as soon as possible. 

From 23rd November 2016 it will be a legal requirement for all landlords to be registered with Rent Smart Wales and if they manage a property then a licence will also be required. In order to obtain a licence a landlord must undertake the day training course and pass a test at the end. 

We are almost 6 months into the 12 month grace period where Landlords with property in Wales are required to be registered and if they manage their own property, require a licence. Part of the application process for a licence is to undertake training. In this article we have listed the approved training providers by Rent Smart Wales and some of the up and coming training dates for the Swansea area. 

Online training should be available within the next few months for those Landlords who live away or unable to travel, as soon as we have confirmation this is live we will be letting you all know. 

Landlords and property investors are faced with more uncertainty in the industry this week with the Government’s announcement that they are planning on reducing buy-to-let (BTL) mortgage approvals by 20%.

The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority says that this should reduce buy-to-let approvals by between 10% and 20% by 2019 in order to reduce the risk of another ‘property bubble’.

To choose a good letting agent, landlords need to focus on the service they deliver rather than the price that they charge.

To help property landlords ensure that they are getting the best deal from their letting company, Hannah McCartan, Managing Director of Swansea-based McCartan Lettings has come up with the following guidance notes for landlords.

The Housing Act (Wales) 2014 is almost upon us and many Landlords are still unaware of what this new legislation will mean to how they manage their properties.

It is intended that the legislation will result in:

•   improved standards of letting and management practice in the private rented sector

•   more information on landlords available for tenant verification and for local authorities to assist with strategic intervention and dissemination of information

•  raised awareness by landlords and agents of their respective rights and responsibilities

•   in turn, raised awareness by tenants of their respective rights and responsibilities.

We are still eagerly awaiting the update for when Landlords and Agents can register on the new Rent Smart Wales website and as soon as we have this news we will be in touch with you all, but in the meantime for those who would like a re-cap please carry on reading. 

A petition to ‘Reverse the planned tax relief restriction on individual landlords’ has reached the required 10,000 signatures to require a Government response. The petition follows the Summer Budget announcements which will see many buy to let landlords affected by reduced Mortgage Interest Relief (MIR) to the basic rate of 20%. If you haven’t signed the petition please consider doing so now. 

The Residential Landlords Association has also been asked by the Treasury for alternative Tax Solutions, so if you have any ideas yourself, please follow the link to submit your thoughts.

On a lighter note, The Telegraph reported last month that Lego was a 'better investment than gold or shares'  

We have had quite a few Landlords and contractors ask us recently what our plan is for when it becomes mandatory for all letting property to have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors installed in October. 

The proposed legislation is only applicable for properties being rented in England only, so although we highly recommend getting them installed in all properties (even your own home!), it won't be a legal requirement to do it here in Wales. 

July has been another busy month here at McCartan Letting with seven properties letting in the last 4 weeks, all on the first viewing!

So what did all these properties have in common to let so fast? .... We stuck by our 5 top tips for presenting your property for let! 

We would love to hear from you if you are or know of someone who is struggling to find their ideal tenant. In the meantime, we have shared our top tips with you ...

We would love to hear your thoughts and feedback about our monthly newsletter. 

Would like us to publish more about a particular topic? Just let us know and we will look to feature it in future publications.

Email your feedback to: [email protected]  

This month we helped a Landlord secure a let in the first week of marketing by ensuring the property was looking its best for the marketing brochure and viewings. 

Looking to move this summer? Fancy something a bit different?!

Check out this converted chapel in Clydach !

https://www.mccartanlettings.co.uk/brochure/P1626

Housing (Wales) Act 2014 – Mandatory Licensing of Landlords in Wales

At the beginning of the month, I attended the ARLA (Association of Residential Letting Agents) Welsh conference in Cardiff where I met with the Managing Director of ARLA David Cox, President of ARLA, Valarie Bannister and Anne Rowlands from the Welsh Assembly (who is heading up the registration and licensing of Welsh Landlords), to discuss the impact of this new legislation and how it will affect Landlords and Agents in Wales.

In the next few newsletters we will be focusing on the changes coming into effect for Landlords with properties in Wales, so please keep an eye out and save our newsletters to forward to your friends and family with property investments. This month we are focusing on the licensing of Landlords and Agents in Wales. 

This month Hannah and Georgia attended the national ESTAS awards in London hosted by Phil Spencer, from Location Location Location, as a shortlisted agent for Wales. 

It will be the biggest change to the way we rent, let and manage tenancies for over a generation, and will completely rewrites residential tenancies in Wales.

The £12 million investment in the Kingsway has been welcomed by business leaders and traders in the city, and this news marks the first tangible step in the regeneration promised by the Swansea Bay City Deal.

Landlords, now is the opportune time to check up on your tenants and your properties to make sure they are ready for winter before the cold snap really kicks in.

With families overtaking young couples as the most common household type to rent, now might be the time to consider reviewing and expanding your portfolio.

Enforcement officers will start working with local authorities from the deadline, initially targeting those landlords and letting agents who have yet to start the process.