When is a good time to rent out my property?

The months of July, August and September are notoriously the busiest for lettings in London. It is the time that students look for properties, and families want to be settled ahead of the new academic year.

If you list your property (regardless of its size, type and exact location, and even if your target tenants are not students nor families) in these months, you will likely get 10% more than if you were to list at quieter times of the year (generally November through to March – though December and January can be busy!)

That isn’t to say that you should just sit on an empty property for months if you find yourself with one of course. Pro rata it is usually worth renting it out ASAP than having void periods for any length of time. But if you do have the choice then this is our advice.

And of course bear, this in mind when allowing break clauses in your tenancies – you want any break clauses to fall between July and September where possible, not February!

Should I rent my property as furnished or unfurnished?

This largely depends on the type of property, though marketing photos almost always look better with a bit of furniture in them.

If you/we can get your marketing photos done looking ‘lived in’ then this is usually the preference. However if you are wondering whether to buy furniture that you don’t already have we would usually say don’t for a house or a property of 3 or more bedrooms as those tenants usually have their own (and you’d run the risk of being asked to remove everything anyway) but that usually it is a good idea to be willing to for a 1 or 2 bedroom place. We would usually say offer the property ‘as is’ but say that you are willing to furnish it, if they want. This covers both bases and saves you any wasted costs.

Can you manage my property if another agent has already placed tenants?

Yes absolutely! Our ‘management only’ service is for exactly this.

We can come along at any point during an existing tenancy and take care of those maintenance issues and ongoing checks and safety checks for you and your tenants.

If you already have an agent doing both the lettings and management services but you are not happy with how it is being managed then you can almost always sever that part of your agreement with them (usually with 1-3 months’ notice) and just retain the lettings part whilst you come to us for management.
Likewise, we can just find tenants for you and let your property only if you have a preferred managing agent or if you want to manage it yourself.

Is now a good time to sell?

Probably the number one questions agents get! And unfortunately, it completely depends.

Even London cannot be categorised as one place (despite the media often doing so) as every borough is different depending on, for example – how many new builds have been built recently / are still sitting unsold, whether it’s a very student-heavy area (e.g. South Kensington for Imperial College), or whether it’s a very Airbnb-heavy area (e.g. most of Zone 1…) etc.

Sometimes houses sell better as families move further out from central London in search of more space for their money (which pushed Fulham and then Putney prices up many years ago, as people moved out from Kensington and Chelsea) and sometimes foreign investment comes into certain areas, oftentimes seemingly randomly.

This is why we stick to South West London postcodes for sales, so we can keep abreast of the developments and trends and best advise on how you should market your property.

Where is the next big change in South West London going to be?

We have been keeping a close eye on the site of the old Earls Court Exhibition Centre for the best part of 12 years now and the proposals have changed many times.

The latest plans include a few high-rise buildings which is not proving popular with residents, and they also deliberately have no car parking at all! (They say, all in the name of being eco-friendly).

We continue to monitor the situation with interest.