Other Costs That Need To Be Considered
Last week we examined some of the costs that a landlord will have to pay whatever happens. This week we will be considering other costs that should be taken into consideration. They are not going to come up all of the time but when they do they can be pretty expensive.
Repairs To The Property
When you are a landlord you are responsible for the upkeep of your property and the appliances in it. You cannot avoid this and there is always unpredictability in this area. Heating boilers can fail in the middle of winter. There can be problems with the plumbing. Cookers and fridges just stop working for no apparent reason.
These things tend to balance themselves out over time. Many landlords go for years without incurring expenses like this and then suddenly things start going wrong. You really can be talking about thousands in repair bills and that can be really hard to take. The thing is that all property owners face these issues.
As far as the property itself is concerned you can really be at the mercy of nature. High winds can blow down fences and damage your roof. Trees can fall onto your property and a host of other things can happen that you would never predict.
And of course there are those tenants that cause so much damage to your property that the deposit they gave you wouldn’t even begin to cover the cost. You just never know but you had better have a contingency fund to cover these unpredictable costs.
You can help yourself a bit here too. There is special landlord insurance available that covers the cost of electrical faults or plumbing problems. You can get extended warranties for the appliances and there are also landlord emergency repair services.
If your property is old then be prepared for more maintenance issues. If the electrics or the heating system have been there for some time then they are bound to go wrong at some stage. The roof can be an issue too.
If you have a large house then there are more things to go wrong due to the size of the place. If there are children living there then the likelihood of problems will be multiplied. There could be many breakages and a lot of wear and tear.
Decoration
You need to be prepared to re-decorate the rooms of your property every three years or so. If you have a high turnover of tenants then you may need to do this more often. Expect to lay new carpets and completely paint the walls again.
Solicitors Fees
It is assumed that you are going to be a good landlord and cover yourself by following through with your legal obligations. If this is the case then the only solicitor’s costs that you are likely to encounter are if you need help with a problem tenant.
You had better prepare yourself for problem tenants as they are more common than you might think. You can spend a lot of money on legal fees and also miss out on rent at the same time. Not a great scenario.
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