With experts predicting that rental homes will make up around 20% of the property market by 2021, now is a great time to invest in a buy to let home. But finding the right property is only the beginning of the journey for without good tenants, it won’t be long before you run into problems. So how can you attract the right tenants for your buy to let home?

Tenants from Hell

No landlord wants to end up with the tenants from Hell. These people trash the place, don’t pay the rent for months on end, and are so familiar with the system that it takes you months of time and money to secure an eviction order.

Marketing a Rental Property

In areas where rental properties are in hot demand, you may be lucky enough to have potential tenants queuing up outside as soon as they get a sniff that there is a home available to rent. In this instance, the only problem you will have is weeding out the unsuitable people and reference checking the rest.

If this is not the case, marketing the property in the right places will pay dividends. Opting to use the services of a letting agent will take this problem out of your hands because the agent will be responsible for finding you a tenant. However, if you decide to manage your own property, consider listing it online or placing advertisements in the local press or shop windows. Advertising online is the best way to market a property. Look at Gumtree and other online listings websites—these are where the majority of would-be tenants start their search when they want to rent flats or houses.

Have a Well Maintained Property

It stands to reason that if your rental property is scruffy, uncared for and needing a fair bit of work before it could reasonably be described as ‘attractive’ you are not going to attract good quality tenants. Instead you are more likely to end up with tenants who don’t look after your property and who probably can’t be bothered to pay the rent, either.

Check References

Always check references before you take on a tenant. Check a tenant’s employment details, credit history and personal references, and don’t be swayed by how ‘nice’ they seem. It is not unheard of for nightmare tenants to be charming and polite in the early stages. Use your best judgement and if something doesn’t feel ‘quite right’, listen to your gut and do some further investigation. The internet is a great resource for digging up information on people, so use it.

Stay Competitive

The rental market is very competitive; so make sure you are charging the right rent for the type of property and area. And remember, sometimes it is worth dropping the rent a small amount if the right tenant comes along who can’t quite afford your property.

Once you have found the right tenants, try and build a good relationship with them. Over time this approach will pay dividends and you can avoid the horror of dealing with tenants from Hell.