How to avoid overcrowding in your rental property

Stories about overcrowding in rental accommodation have been in the news quite a bit of late.

One of the most extreme examples was witnessed in East Ham, Newham, where housing enforcement officers found 26 people living in a three-bed family home. It was one of the worst cases of illegal overcrowding seen in recent years.

Other examples of shocking overcrowding have been witnessed in Dagenham, Southall, Islington and other parts of London, as well as across the rest of the country.

The capital, in particular, has seen illegal overcrowding becoming a significant issue, with a lack of affordable housing, high rents and high house prices all contributing towards this.

In the case of the East Ham property, 25 adults and one child – from three or four different families – were being housed in a home fit for only seven people. Some seven tenants were found to be living in the property’s windowless cellar, accessed only by steep concrete steps.

What’s more, the home is also being investigated for a number of breaches of licensing conditions and a range of electrical and building hazards.

It’s not uncommon for overcrowded homes to have many other issues – on top of them being overcrowded – that help to make them barely habitable.

At Sandra Davidson, though, we’d never overcrowd your property with too many tenants in order to maximise rental income – any additional profit would be massively offset by the damage to your property, the potential fines and the failure to provide decent, safe and liveable accommodation.

Our guaranteed rent scheme ensures things are done the proper way. We make sure good practice is followed at all times to avoid incidents like the above becoming a reality.
We’ve been operating as a leading estate and letting agent in Redbridge since 1992, so we have the experience and knowledge to make the lettings process as smooth and hassle-free as possible.

As part of the guaranteed rent scheme – which ensures that rent is paid to you whether your property is occupied or empty – we will fully manage your rental home, carrying out monthly inspections to make sure that it is being kept to a high standard and conducting rigorous inventories at the start and end of tenancies.

Guaranteed rent doesn’t just give you peace of mind about the safety of your tenants and the good condition of your property, it also means that your net rent will be higher over time and all necessary legal costs will be completely covered.

We’ll also pay all utility bills and council tax on your behalf, while our customer care programme aims to get your property let for the best possible price, in as short a time as possible.

Our guaranteed rent scheme, which is based on 0% commission, will help to make your property top priority – it won’t be neglected or left to fall into disrepair.

While the shocking stories of illegal overcrowding still tend to be isolated incidents, it is becoming an increasing issue and therefore needs to be warded off in the strongest possible way.

Trusting us to look after your property as part of our Guaranteed Rent scheme is one way to make sure overcrowding isn’t an issue that bothers you.

For more information about what we offer, please get in touch with us on 0208 551 0211.

To find out about the Guaranteed Rent scheme in more detail, check out our previous blog here.

We also offer a free and instant lettings valuation tool to give you an idea of how much you could be charging in rent.

Why guaranteed rent is great news for landlords

When you’re a landlord, the one thing you want above all else is guaranteed rent. 

If you can be safe in the knowledge that you’ll be receiving a steady stream of rental income, your mind can turn to other things such as expanding your portfolio or further improving the look and feel of your rental homes.

 

At Sandra Davidson, we offer landlords 1 to 5 year 'Guaranteed Rent' scheme. Put simply, this is a hassle-free letting service with 0% commission that ensures rent is paid to you whether the property is vacant or occupied. 

What’s more, the scheme ensures that your rent starts within a week of handing over the property. 

So, for example, let’s take a home that is let for £1,700 pcm with a management fee (including VAT) of £204, meaning the amount of rent you receive per month would be £1,496. 

As part of our guaranteed rent scheme, the gross and net rent received on such a property would be £1,450 per month, but the associated costs and the costs of void periods would be nil. 

This means, in the case of the above, your total net rent across three years would be £52,200 rather than £48,864 without the guaranteed rent scheme. 

Net rent PCM without the guaranteed rent scheme would be £1,357.33 rather than the set in stone figure of £1,450, a considerable uplift. 

We believe that our proactive approach to lettings and our customer care programme can help to ensure that our Guaranteed Rent scheme gets your property rented out for the best possible price, within an appropriate and agreed upon timeframe. 

On your behalf, we will carry out the following: commencing rent within a week of property handover; paying rent directly into your account the same day every month via electronic transfer; paying rent whether property is occupied or vacant, with no rent breaks or stops; and paying all utility bills and council tax. 

We will also carry out all necessary void works before handing back the property to you, manage your property throughout the entire duration of the scheme (including carrying out full inventories and monthly inspections to ensure that the property remains at a high standard) and cover all and any necessary legal costs during the term of the tenancy with no impact on your rental income.

All of the above is on a 0% commission basis. 

We first opened an office in Redbridge in 1992, when John Major was Prime Minister, Leeds United were champions of England and the likes of Boyz II Men, Erasure and Right Said Fred were topping the charts! 

Since then we believe we have firmly established ourselves as one of the area’s leading local estate agents, using our experience and knowledge to help get homes sold and let in a fast and efficient manner. 

In order to do this, we always endeavour to provide a personal, professional and reliable service to all of our clients. 

We're also a member of The Property Ombudsman scheme, fully subscribing to the Ombudsman’s Code of Practice. It not only ensures the standards of service that we must provide to buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants, it also sets out the framework within we must operate.

To find out more about what we can offer you, please get in touch with us on 0208 551 0211.

If you would like to know how much your property could be earning you in rent, check out our free and instant lettings valuation.