In this week's episode of Good Landlording, we discuss one of the most difficult aspects of our jobs as landlords, and that's handling rent arrears. Rent arrears are challenging, even if landlords use an agent. The essence of the agreement between a landlord and a tenant is that the landlord provides a well maintained and legally compliant property to live in. In return, the tenant pays rent. If tenants don't pay the rent when it's due, they are in what's called rent...

This week's episode is about a key issue for landlords: setting and increasing rent. Suzanne Smith and Richard Jackson kick off the podcast episode by discussing what the key rent indices say about what’s happening to rents now. Then they share tips about landlords should go about both setting rent at the beginning of the tenancy, as well increasing rent once the tenants have moved in. They also talk about how the Renters Reform Bill will change the way landlords will be able to...

In this week's episode, Richard Jackson and Suzanne Smith discuss what landlords can do when things go wrong with letting agents, and how to make a complaint. It's the third in a series of three episodes on what landlords need to know about letting agents. While the vast majority of interactions with letting agents are positive, it’s important for landlords to know what options they have when things go wrong. Richard and Suzanne discuss how to make complaints to the letting agents and...

In this week's episode of Good Landlording, Suzanne Smith and Richard Jackson discuss tips to help landlords understand what to look out for in the contract with letting agents, so they know how to strike a fair deal when signing up with them  This is a practical episode that not only gives the perspective of letting agents, but also explores the experience that landlords have when dealing with agents, the ins and outs of the different services letting agents provide, what to look out...

This is the second special episode of Good Landlording on the Renters Reform Bill. Richard and Suzanne talk about how and why the renter reforms may well start to come into effect in May 2025, and what this means for landlords. This includes the likely timetable for implementation of what will be the Renters Reform Act, and when the key provisions will start to apply to new tenancies. The new rules could come in for new tenancies as early as May 2025, assuming Royal Assent is in...

This is the second special episode of Good Landlording on the Renters Reform Bill. Richard and Suzanne talk about how and why the renter reforms may well start to come into effect in May 2025, and what this means for landlords. This includes the likely timetable for implementation of what will be the Renters Reform Act, and when the key provisions will start to apply to new tenancies. The new rules could come in for new tenancies as early as May 2025, assuming Royal Assent is in...

In Good Landlording Episode #3, Richard and Suzanne broach the big subject of letting agents by giving an overview of what landlords need to know about agents to help them make the right choice, in the first of a series of three episodes on agents. For many landlords, agents are a vital part of letting and managing their properties, while for other landlords, they prefer to manage every aspect of the properties themselves. As experienced landlords themselves, Suzanne and Richard...

In this special episode of Good Landlording, Suzanne Smith and Richard Jackson discuss how recent government amendments to the Renters Reform Bill kick the implementation of some unpopular provisions for existing tenancies into the long grass, and some welcome amendments. They include changing the way the abolition of Section 21 will come into force for existing tenancies. The government introduced these amendments to address "concerns" of some Conservative MPs about the Renters Reform...

These are the show notes for Episode 2 of Good Landlording. This week, Richard and Suzanne discuss the important topic for landlords of how to select good tenants. In this episode, they go through the processes that they both use to select good tenants, sharing practical tips about how they go about selecting good tenants the right way, without falling foul of the law. This includes the tenant application forms they use, the rules on holding deposits, what selection criteria you can...

Suzanne Smith and Richard Jackson kick off this new podcast by discussing with what's important to any business: our customers. And for landlords, that’s our tenants. For their inaugural episode, they talk about what makes a good tenant and what our red and green flags when we look for tenants.  This is an introductory episode on good tenants, focusing on affordability and what to look out for. Richard and Suzanne cover tenant selection and the application process in detail in GL #2:...

This is the trailer for the Good Landlording podcast, co-hosted and co-founded by Suzanne Smith of The Independent Landlord and Richard Jackson from Alphaletz. Good Landlording is a new weekly podcast that comes out every Wednesday, specifically for landlords and people who want to be landlords. It is also helpful for property investors, housing providers and property businesses who want to understand the issues that matter to landlords. Good Landlording officially launched on...