Whatever the age or state of repair of your property – or properties – there will always be the need for some ongoing maintenance. If you’re lucky, this can be minimal, but it will never be none!
Even if nothing ever breaks, malfunctions or leaks, remember that between lettings you’ll need to have a place prrofessionaly cleaned – or at least cleaned to a professional standard; and even if you do it yourself, this should be counted as a cost if it deprives you of doing something else that would earn you more than the cost of cleaning!
You may need to re-decorate – you certainly WILL need to decorate every few years, if you want a place to let well. You may be able to get away with a quick lick of paint, or you may have a rotten floorboard or two under the bath.
Even model tenants rarely take care of a place as they would their own home, as first time landlords quickly discover.
So, you will be well advised to use the cost of maintaining your own home property (and then adjusting this according to the relative size and age of your home compared to the investment property). And one you’ve worked out that cost, you can pretty much add around 30 per cent to it.
It’s not just about tenants who don’t alert you to the first sign of wear and tear or damage or who are careless; it’s also all the other things you will need to spend money on that come under the heading of maintenance – an annual inspection of the gas boiler by a qualified professional, for example.
And, while many tenants won’t bother you at all by alerting you to problems before they escalate, others will be ultra-zealous and demand immediate attention to seemingly trivial repairs, plus other more serious matters that will need professional (and therefore expensive) attention:
And so on…
With thanks to BuyAssociation.
