Are spooked buyers opting out of the sales market and finding the rental market just as tricky?

“The trees are about to show us just how lovely it can be to let things go”…

…well lucky as we are living and working around the Commons we can certainly see this to be true; it may not be New England but Wandsworth is looking glorious.

And of course in certain quarters it is a new England – the last couple of tumultuous months bringing pretty seismic changes to monarchy and mortgages.

Perhaps as it becomes increasingly prohibitive for potential buyers to make the leap into the choppy waters of the current sales market (despite a Rishi shaped lifebuoy) it seems that some are indeed letting go of the sales dream – at least temporarily.

The result of this is that demand for rental properties continues to increase exponentially.

The past may be Another Country and they do things differently there – very differently, recalling the days when a landlord would frequently ask what they needed to do to their property in order to secure a good tenant – frankly with demand outstripping supply, sometimes 10 fold, today’s answer might possibly be ‘just open the door and they will come’.

And yet, as we move towards the European model of long term tenancies with tenants looking for a real home and long term security it is arguably more crucial than ever to ensure that landlords and tenants are well matched.

Prime Ministers may come and go with alarming speed (who knows how long it will be before Westminster cries next and swipes left again) but your relationship with your tenant or landlord – well that’s the one for keeps.

So how can you possibly find your property soulmate?

There is no denying that this can be stressful for both parties; it may be difficult for tenants to garner much sympathy for landlords, we’ve all seen the pictures in the Press of tenants queuing round the block and heard the stories about landlords having to increase their rents dramatically to cover spiralling mortgage costs.

However, most landlords are reasonable people, they want to be fair and they want their tenants to be happy and they don’t like to let people down.

Just how do you choose between the bios of multiple ‘100% my type on paper’ tenants? The one who turns up with brownies, the one whose grandmother grew up in the house, the one who has the same name as your daughter (“so serendipitous”) the one who waits around the corner to watch you return and then delivers a letter extolling the virtues of your property – possibly borderline stalkerish behaviour, but these are desperate times after all !

At Rampton Baseley our lettings team have the experience to help both landlords and tenants navigate a challenging market, sometimes you just need to take the brownies and the bios out of the equation and look at the cold hard figures and sometimes you do find your property soulmate has a dog who reminds you of your childhood pet and that’s the tenant you choose.

So yes, it is tricky, but once you’ve secured your new home – well what a treat!

Annabel Hay

Associate Director