By Mashum Mollah
There’s a noteworthy demand for rental properties in the UK. In many cases, this demand can come from students seeking temporary lodgings for term time; in other instances, people might simply seek to rent as an alternative to paying prohibitively high house prices.
These situations open up an opportunity on which you can capitalize. However, if you still have misgivings about the idea, take yourself through the following stages to help strengthen it.
Verify that a lucrative market exists for your property :
You might already be eyeing your own home for conversion – but, before you proceed with that plan, check that rental flats are in enough demand in your area.
Following this particular advice can involve you researching the market and asking an agent for their insights into which properties are getting offloaded quickly and in what areas. If one-bedroom flats are selling well, for example, dividing your property into flats could be a good idea.
Some parts of the UK noticeably better others in their recorded buy-to-let yields. This is MONEY.co.uk reports that, while London fares relatively poorly in this respect, Newcastle’s NE6 postcode has a 9% yield while Middlesbrough’s TS1 has an even better 11%.
Both of these high-performing postcode areas are in the North East of England – where, fortunately, seeking professional roofing and building services is not tricky. The Hartlepool-based Findley Roofing & Building comes particularly recommended among roofing companies in the North East.
Apply for planning permission to convert the house :
Once you have decided that you would indeed like to convert your house in this way, you are likely to require planning permission – and, to obtain that, you will need to contact your local council’s planning department. After you get this nod, there will be Building Regulations to heed, too.
Calculate the conversion project’s probable cost :
It can be tricky to pin down the precise cost of a conversion unless you have a good idea of the form that it will take. This could entail you factoring in the property’s size and condition as well as the number of flats to result from the conversion.
For a basic conversion, you can anticipate paying roughly £25,000, says Landlord Today. That price would typically cover – for example – erecting walls and fitting bathroom and central heating.
Take precautions for tenants’ health and safety :
The UK Government’s website sets out landlords’ obligations for protecting the health and safety of tenants. Landlords should ensure the safe installation and maintenance of electrical equipment in a property for which they also need to provide an Energy Performance Certificate.
As a landlord, you would also be responsible for fitting and testing smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms and adhering to fire safety regulations for flats adapted from your house.
Your rental property might also be visited by the local council, which could conduct a Housing and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) inspection in the building to check that it isn’t potentially hazardous. Worrying signs for which they might watch out include uneven stairs.
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