Flats to Rent and Houseshares - Tips to Find Tenants Quickly

Many landlords choose to advertise their flats to rent or rooms in houseshares by themselves without the help of an estate agent.  This can be a good option as not having to pay agent’s fees to find tenants can save a considerable amount of money.  However, many landlords have struggled to find tenants for their flats to rent quickly by advertising themselves.  This can be due to a number of reasons and often results in landlords spending a lot of time on showing the flat or house to rent only to find that the tenants will decide to rent another property elsewhere.  By placing the right adverts and preparing for the viewings in advance, landlords can save a considerable amount of time.   This targeted approach ensures that only tenants with a high likeliness to rent the flat will be calling to arrange viewings. Advertising Flats to RentThe property advert for flats to rent should give enough detail about the apartment without being too long.  Tenants will look through property adverts quickly and not read a two page description.  Brevity is key here and it is important to provide the tenant with the key facts they are looking for.  Do not dwell on unimportant detail in your description text.  Nothing makes it more likely for the tenants to immediately hit the back button and look at another rental property.  The key information which should be included in the description is the number of bedrooms, approximate size of the flat to rent in square meters or square feet, a quick description of the finishes and special features such as balcony, garden, garage, etc.  It is also a good idea to include the heating type, which most likely will be gas central heating or electric.  The advert can then be rounded off by including some information about the local area.  Do not be shy to specify what type of tenant you are looking for, for example that the flat to rent is ‘ideal for young professionals’ as this increases the probability that the advert will attract the type of tenant you are looking for.  This can save you a lot of time by arranging viewings with only prospective tenants that match your criteria. Advertising HousesharesThe general information provided in an advert for rooms to rent in a houseshare is similar to that of flats to rent, however tenants looking for a room will also expect to see a few other details.Because tenants renting rooms will be mostly students or young professionals, the minimum rental period they are required to commit to will be an important factor.  If you are letting rooms on an Assured Shorthold Agreement, the minimum tenancy will be six months.  It is a good idea to state this in the advert.  If you are renting out large rooms, you will frequently receive enquiries of people looking to rent a room for a couple.  Depending on how big your houseshares are and how many people they can accommodate, you might prefer to rent each room to just a single person. In this case, simply state ‘sorry no couples’ in the advert.