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New Year, New Start
The start of a new year is the perfect opportunity to turn the page on the previous year and start afresh.
When the weather is still cold outside and the January blues are kicking in, getting organised and planning for the future is a good way to stay motivated.
We’ve put together our top 5 tasks for landlords in the New Year to get the year off to a good start and take steps to make 2024 your best year yet.
Review Your Budget
As a landlord, it’s important always to know your financial position. By carefully keeping track of your rental income and expenses, you can budget more effectively and avoid any nasty surprises.
The new year is a great time to run a cash flow forecast to get a detailed picture of your current financial position and areas where you need to make adjustments.
Mortgage rates are expected to stay high for at least the first half of 2024, so if you’ve got a fixed deal due to end in the new year, you could see your expenses rise dramatically. If you’re on a fixed rate or tracker mortgage, check when it is due for renewal, do your research and calculations to see what costs you’re likely to be up against when it expires and shop around for other deals. Make sure you factor the worst-case scenario into your budgeting for the year if your mortgage is up for renewal in 2024.
Aside from mortgage rates, the current cost of living crisis means the cost of almost everything is up – from property maintenance and repairs costs to gas and electricity bills! If you haven’t reviewed your budget in a while, the new year is a great time to check what you’re paying for everything and see whether you could get it cheaper by switching to a different provider or service. Once you’ve made any necessary changes, adjust your budget accordingly.
Keeping money in a savings pot is extremely important if you’re a landlord. You never know what surprises are lurking around the corner, and a savings pot can help pay for unexpected expenses like property repairs or void periods.
Create a Property Maintenance Plan
Keeping up with your property’s maintenance helps to keep your investment in tip-top condition, increasing its value and improving your tenant’s comfort and satisfaction. Happy tenants will contact you less frequently and may stay longer – reducing the time, hassle, and resources required to advertise and fill vacancies.
The best way to maintain your property is by taking a structured approach to what needs to be done. Pencil in important dates like property inspections on your calendar or landlord software and set reminders to book electrical and gas safety checks with qualified professionals.
Create or print a checklist to use during property inspections to ensure you get the most out of them, and compile paper or digital literature for tenants about safety and looking after the property. You could create a few different guides for different times of the year, like summer, winter, and the festive season. These guides could include tips on maintaining the property’s condition, such as ventilating the kitchen and bathroom during the winter to prevent the build-up of damp and mould, and safety advice for the holiday period when burglaries and house fires are more common.
Planning out what you will do to maintain the condition of your property at the start of the year can prevent any important dates or tasks from getting missed and ensure that you’re prepared well in advance with all the literature and information you may need.
Think About Your Long-term Goals
Many people think about their personal goals at the start of a new year, but what about your professional goals as a landlord?
Think about what you’d like to achieve this year or in the future.
Would you like to expand your property portfolio now or in the future? Although mortgage rates are currently sky-high and look set to stay that way for the first half of 2024, it looks as though the economy could start to recover in 2025, so 2024 could be a great time to start saving up and planning for expansion the following year.
Would you like to improve your existing rental property? If you would like to improve the value of your existing property or increase its rental yield with some smart renovations, now is the time to start planning your project and getting quotes from traders.
Perhaps your goal is smaller, like attracting more long-term tenants or reducing your void periods. If so, you’ll need to research and develop a strategy for achieving this.
Or perhaps you’re considering leaving the market in the next couple of years and need to plan your exit?
Whatever your goals are, big or small – the new year is a great time to start setting goals, targets for when you’d like to achieve them, and a step-by-step plan to help you get there.
Don’t just write a half-hearted list and then close your notebook. Create SMART goals, (that’s Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely ones).
Organise and Streamline Your Processes
Is your rental business running as efficiently as it could be?
Considering how you can streamline your existing processes and make things run more efficiently can help save you time, resources, and hassle in 2024. Put processes in place now that future you will thank you for!
There are now so many digital tools, apps, and software available to help make your life as a landlord easier.
If you’re still running on Excel spreadsheets and boxes of paperwork, the new year is a great time to take the plunge and modernise your processes! Specialist landlord software like Landlord Vision can help you scan in and organise all your important paperwork digitally, allowing you to easily search, retrieve, and access your important documents from any location. It also helps to simplify and keep you organised with tax returns, income and expenditure, rent arrears, mortgage payments, legal documents, and property tasks. If you want an all-in-one specialist solution, then this is your answer!
Otherwise, there are plenty of non-specialist apps that could help, including document scanning apps like Adobe Scan and to-do and reminder apps like ClickUp, Todoist, and TickTick.
Plan For New Legislation
Landlords must adapt to new legislation and regulations governing the rental sector every year. These laws are usually implemented to improve the sector and the services landlords provide. 2024 is shaping up to be an important year for legislative changes. The Renters Reform Bill will come into effect in the latter half of the year, perhaps around October time, and will herald some significant changes to how landlords operate.
Landlords will no longer be able to use fixed-term tenancy agreements. Instead, they will need to move to rolling contracts. They will also only be allowed to increase rent once per year. A private rented sector ombudsman will be introduced, and landlords will need to ensure that their rental properties comply with the Decent Homes Standard. Failure to comply with the new regulations once the bill has come into effect could result in penalties and even legal action, so it’s important that landlords familiarise themselves with the new laws and plan and prepare for them before they are introduced. To get the ball rolling in the new year, revisit your existing tenancy agreements and consider how these will need to be changed. Consider how your property and processes will need to be adapted to comply with the new regulations and create a plan for implementing changes before the bill comes into effect.
Once you’ve ticked off all the tasks on this list, you should feel rejuvenated, excited, motivated, and prepared for the year ahead. Here’s to a successful and profitable 2024.
