Hannah McCartan of https://www.mccartanlettings.co.uk explains some of the expenses Landlords need to be aware of when letting properties in the Swansea area.

What expenses should landlords be aware of?

It is really good to get into the mindset of being aware of possible expenses even if it is your own family home which you want to keep as an investment, treating it like a business from the very beginning.

Make sure you know your finances inside out as you would need to do if you were setting up a business. The worst thing is that a maintenance issue comes into play and you don’t have enough money to fix it.It sets a bad tone obviously with the tenant.

So make sure you have budgeted for your set up costs. Obviously as an agency we have set up costs, but landlords need to be thinking about other legal requirements that need to be in place, like gas safety certificate. You will also need to pay for an annual service on the boiler. We highly recommend it in the same way that we service our cars.

Electrical safety is really important.

Now with landlord licensing legislation you will need to pay for a licence if you are going to be managing your own property.

You also need that you have enough cash-flow throughout the year to pay for the random incidents of maintenance and you never know what is going to happen; it may be a breakdown for example that will affect the tenants comfort within the property.

So, we always say it is really important to look at your insurance policies and your mortgages before you start. The aim is to reduce your cost as much as possible to give you maximum cash-flow.

And again, with all of our networks, we have mortgage advisors and insurance brokers that can advise specifically for those areas because we want to make sure our landlords are successful.