Landlord Voice Magazine November 2015 - Edinburgh | Página 18

Landlord Profile: Alex Stafford

F

“I
WANTED
TO MANAGE
ALL ASPECTS
OF THE
PROPERTY
MYSELF”
Trivia Time
Q - Which Edinburgh-born
author wrote Trainspotting?

18 | LandlordVoice | November 2015

or many landlords the
decision to invest in a
rental property is often
preceded by fears over bad
tenants, rent arrears and
the myriad other problems
initial research can throw up
– which often leads them to
abandon ideas of managing
one themselves and handing
over the reins to professional
letting agents.

But with the right
research, a little IT knowhow, some common sense
and a little bit of graft it is
possible to be independent.
Landlord Voice chatted with
one landlord to get her tips on
self-sufficiency.

Alex Stafford bought
her first rental property this
year after coming into some
money when her father
passed away.

The ex-marketing
and PR professional took
the common-sense route of
buying somewhere close-tohome, in this case Redhill,
Surrey, where she had a sense
of what was a good property
and what was on the horizon
in terms of local investment.

“I think a lot of people
buy in areas they know but I
was looking for somewhere
within walking distance of the
train station,” said Alex.

“Although it’s the southeast and everyone thinks
prices are over-blown there
are still towns in the classic
commuter belt which are upand-coming.”

By knowing the area
well Alex was aware that from
December this year new,
faster off-peak Thameslink
trains to London Victoria will
be running through Redhill
and from December 2018 the

station will be served by four
Thameslink trains per hour
to London Bridge and other
central London stations.

Plans for a new £40m
cinema, restaurant and
shopping complex complete
with residential units in Redhill
Town Centre are also in fullswing, with several big brand
restaurants already registering
their interest.

Once Alex had secured
the right property she set
about marketing the property
for tenants.

She said: “I spent a
month bringing the property
up to scratch but it was a fairly
new property and did not
need a lot of work.

“I wanted to manage
all aspects of the property
myself and used an online
letting service to help with
the property management. I
tended to be drawn towards
the online services as I did not
want to pay anyone to take
photos and write descriptions
when I could do it myself.

“It all worked
incredibly well – I put it up
on the Monday and by the
Wednesday I had over 20
people wanting to come
and see it. I now have a
professional couple in the
property.”

Alex also used an
online inventory app for her
property, as one of the main
causes of tenancy deposit
disputes at the end of a fixed
period is disagreement over
the original condition of a
property.

“I think the quality of
some of the professional
inventories can be quite poor
but with an inventory app you
can go round taking photos

and uploading them with your
own comments.

“It showed every
nook and crack in the house
and took me a morning to
complete. I also use the app
as a tool I can refer to when I
visit to do an inspection.”

“I only inspect every
three months and so far
I have not had any major
problems – I think letting to
the right tenants seems to
have paid-off down the line
but this also depends on the
type of property you have.”

In light of the much
talked-about recent changes
to landlords’ tax relief Alex
is fortunate enough not
to be reliant on her rental
income to pay a mortgage but
acknowledges the importance
of keeping up-to-date with
constantly-changing rules
surrounding the privaterented sector by subscribing
to various landlord blogs.

She said: “Legislation
such as right-to-rent, where
you have to check a tenant’s
immigration status is the kind
of thing you might not know
about if you were not a fulltime landlord.

“But, for my part, I was
ignorant to the costs you can
incur as soon as you take
ownership of a property.

“I assumed I would
be able to claim council tax
exemption for the first six
months but I quickly learned
that is not the case and if you
are renovating you may find
even the basics can cost a lot
more than expected.”

You can find out
about current and upcoming
legislation affecting landlords
by clicking here.
November 2015 | LandlordVoice | 19