Sweet smells and aromas to banish bad smells in your property

We first came across aromas when our tenants left behind the IKEA room refresher. I wondered why they had not taken it with them. As soon as I tried to move it I could see why. When you buy it the bottle is sealed. Once you've opened it to use it, the liquid can spill. No way could they pack that in their suitcase to fly back home overseas. 

Why did they use it? Either to disguise smells from cooking or baby nappies. Or maybe they just liked the soothing aroma.

The White Shop sells aromatic soaps (£6) and shower gels and room refreshers. 

My favourites include Seychelles. It's rather expensive for every day but if you are looking for a birthday, wedding anniversary, or Christmas present and want something small enough to go in a Christmas stocking, here's one answer.

The household items include a spray or an infuser with what looks like incense sticks. Very good if you've had somebody smoking or causing another unpleasant smell (a dog, a person, mould, an empty house, for house owners, parents, morning after the party before. Also useful for a landlord freshening up for house viewings when renting looking for a new tenant - or a letting agent. A cheaper version is from IKEA.) The White Shops's rose and lavender are good.

An assistant will locate the tester for the aroma you want and spray onto your hand or hers or a piece of paper.

Ordering Curtains, nets, voiles, tabs, pleats, heights, widths

Do you need new curtains? Nets or not? Drapes and drops.

First thing you need is the inside measurement, width and depth of every window for the nets. You also need to know how the height above the window of the rail for the drapes. Do you want the drapes above the sill or hanging over? Is the radiator in the way? Will floor length curtains or curtains right across wall to wall make the room look bigger. (Or with dark colours or oppressive fussy patterns make the room smaller.

I would go for pull cords to save hand marks from people pulling on curtains. But my business partner (another member of my family) says that pull cords are a nuisance because either a tenant or their visitors often pull the curtains from the middle of the curtains where they meet, dragging the curtain off the rail and upsetting the pull cord mechanism.

Curtains which look old can be given new life. Some simple nets can wash on 30 degrees in a washing machine. I would use a protective net bag. it could take less time and trouble to order new curtains. I was amazed when a tenant's mother washed the nets. They looked like new.

Advantage of pinch pleat. Looks elegant.

Advantage of the big holes with tab tops. Quick to hang up. You don't need to spend half an hour with 16 spirals, counting the number of spaces between each, holding one end up whilst somebody else fixes each hook on the supporting holes.

Ordering nets
Some nets are cut off a roll and the side edges have to be seamed. You may have to wait 4 or 5 weeks.

Blackouts and thermals
In one property, the elderly residents have demanded that the outside lights are bright and left on all night to help those tottering about, and to deter burglars. As a result the tenants need blackout curtains in bedrooms. If you have a tenant who is using the second or third bedroom only for occasional visitors, they might not be so fussy. But with adult children living there permanently they may expect blackout curtains or thermal curtains.

If you don't have double glazing, you might prefer thermal curtains. You might think, that's the tenant's problem, but if you are a landlord, when the property is empty you might want to cut down on heating bills or keep the property feeling warm when showing around prospective tenants, for your benefit and a welcoming feel.

Useful Websites

https://www.wikihow.com/Measure-Fabric-for-Curtains

Crockery For Vegetarian, Hindus, Halal and Kosher Tenants

What's The Problem/Solution?
You might think that fussy people can sterilise a kitchen or saucepan. I'd heard from a Catholic friend who'd married a Hindu man, that when the vegetarian mother-in-law cleaning visited from overseas, she cleaned every saucepan with salt and sand. That might work on an iron wok, not on the non-stick surfaces of my saucepans. Another story I heard was that groups of Jewish students on a weekend away had used some kind of blowtorch to clean work surfaces - sounds dangerous - as well as using double linings of foil in cooking utensils - under strict supervision of a rabbi for religious laws and safety.

Why Do They Need Crockery?
I thought that if you used a dishwasher that sorted out cleaning the crockery to everybody's satisfaction. Apparently not.  

If you are letting property furnished, and your tenants are arriving as expats employed by the military or diplomatic service, or students, or have their own goods in storage or in transit, so they arrive with just a suitcase of clothes, you may want to provide crockery. You'd think that would be easy.

Short Lets - Small Sets
For short lets, as in house swaps, and holiday rentals, it's easier to put away your treasured heirlooms, buy a cheap complete seat of four of everything. That way they have to wash up after every meal and can't rush off for their flight leaving you with more than one set of crockery that is congealing in the kitchen sink or simply not quite clean.

(You must inspect an empty property - all of it. Not just the crockery. Every cupboard. I once found after a flat was empty a few weeks - after my father died in hospital - potatoes in a top kitchen cupboard had grown to fill the entire cupboard like Jack and the Beanstalk!)

A family of four might easily need eight of everything for a two course meal, or if they eat three meals and leave dishes to soak and wash up at the end of the day.

One set of six month tenants expected a complete set of everything, times twelve, so they could entertain. Going to stores, you can spend hours counting whether you've got 11 plates or 12 or 13, then you find that they have only 11 saucers in stock because one is broken or in a window display.

So, I thought, you can pick up a boxed set of four of everything cheaply in a supermarket and stick it straight in the boot of your car. Annoyingly, most boxed sets nowadays don't have a cup and saucer, just a mug.

The easiest way to match everything is to go for white. You may find that your property looks too bland in photos, so you can brighten with accents such as a red tablecloth and a couple of red cushions.

You might think that white or black is most neutral. Black makes the place loo small and funereal. White is a bit bland. Colours clash.

I found a lovely design of white and red poppy plates in Poundland. Unfortunately I had trouble getting bowls. Many of the items in the shop were chipped. I managed to come home with only one which was already chipped. And one which had scraping on the dinner plate surface, probably from the underside of the plate above. They are sold interleaved with a circle of corrugated paper for good reason. The plates have rough rings underneath. I once bought a set of espresso cups made in China which were rough underneath. They were damaging the kitchen work surface as well as the dining table top and side table polish. Fine if you knew and remembered to use a cheap scratch-proof fabric table mat, but you cannot expect tenants to do that. I tried to smooth off the underside of one cup with
an emery board, then heavy duty sandpaper (from the DIY section of any large store). To my surprise that was effective. Good for retrieving crockery bought by mistake. But a tedious waste of time if you have a choice and can buy crockery which is smooth underneath.

The poppy design has now changed.

Back to white crockery. I then had a set of white crockery. After the tenants left, looks ok. Before next tenants arrive I re-check. Only one piece broken. (I should have bought 13 of everything. Cheaper than buying another set of 12. But at least if you have white, you can add one nearly matching piece and the chances are that nobody will ever notice.)

I thought I was well equipped with crockery until the vegetarian tenants moved in. They kept asking, 'Is this new?' Apparently you can decontaminate metal, but crockery is porous so they want new crockery.

At this point as a landlord or landlady you might lose the desire to upgrade a flat with smart crockery, or crockery you would like in your own home if you ever decide to move in. You can't supply brand new sets of 12 of everything every 12 months, or 6 months, two if they give notice, which even on a 12 month let they are entitled to do. (The nicest and most honest tenants could opt to buy, lose their job, fall ill, get divorced.)

Unless you have a flat with a succession of tenants who are vegans, or all kosher, or all halal, you will run the risk of having to keep buying new sets (cluttering up your storage area). You need to allocate a locked cupboard for landlord's property. Then you could keep one set of kosher, one halal, one vegan.

To my surprise Poundland was not the only supplier of inexpensive crockery. IKEA has two ranges of
inexpensive white crockery. If you have tenants who like IKEA, you can either order from IKEA, keep receipts, mark the inventory with the additional crockery, or tell the tenants to keep the receipt and deduct the cost from their first month's rent.

Sorry, I have to go now, and count the cups.

Poundland's poppy plates. You can see the protective paper between the plates.

You might also enjoy my blog posts on travel.

Calculate The Costs - Of Selling

Stamp duty is a hefty sum. Stamp duty is the last straw that breaks the seller's bank, and resolve to sell. Stamp duty is payment for no service whatsoever.
  The seller does not only pay only stamp duty. When a property is sold, the seller has to pay the agent, the solicitor and stamp duty and capital gains tax.
   If you are selling your parent's or uncle's or granny's Dad's house or flat there's also inheritance tax.       Plus possibly six months wait - paying council tax, while slow-moving solicitors handle all the paperwork. You can't let unless you pay to remove the furniture because if the labels aren't on it you can't prove it's fireproof.
  When selling, to get your money in the bank quicker it might be worthwhile to pay more to a solicitor who acts faster. But if the other party has a slower solicitor that could spoil the speed.
   I tried to buy a property with a prospective tenant already on view. But by the time the seller's solicitor had completed the paperwork, I had lost the prospective tenant.  

Landlord and letting agent dispute

In the Evening Standard I read about a court case between Foxtons and the landlord lawyer Jonathan Bloom. Date of article Friday April 11th.  

Water Leaks At Weekends - What To Do - & What Not To Do!

My Sunday was fraught with a water leak.
The Problem
1 A tenant (speaking a Middle Eastern language) reports to third party (furniture removers speaking an Eastern European language) that water is leaking out of a radiator.
2 A tenant whose English is not good enough to explain the problem to me or the plumber.
3 My usual plumber, supposed to be changing valves shortly, was out of phone and email contact, probably away with family at the weekend.
4 I don't know if my insurance covers this. Or what the policy number is nor the phone number to call. Where's my paperwork? I'm in the middle of family Sunday lunch. And a delivery of furniture from the tenant's flat back to me - and my co-manager. My co-manager and I spend a while researching phone plumbers from the online search engines but even those advertising weekends and 24 hours don't reply.
5 We phone the building's porter. Their plumber does not operate at weekends. Can the water to the radiators be turned off by the porter - will the tenant be able to fill a kettle in advance - too complicated to explain to tenant.
6 My co-manager picks the nearest plumber and agrees to pay the £100 weekend callout fee.
7 We phone the tenant back to say help is en route and please wait.
8 Plumber reports no reply from tenant.
9 Two hours or more wait and worry.
10 My co-manager goes off for the evening on a social engagement.
11 I eventually chase up plumber and learn he has changed a valve. He will give my co-manager feedback tomorrow, Monday. I manage to get the plumber's email. (My co-manager did not ask for it, assuming that plumbers don't do emailing.)
12 I am trying to find out how to translate what I want to ask the tenant, "Do you know how to turn off the water - the stopcock is under the fuse box?" I think the tenant is from Afghanistan but there are two national languages. Even if I can use google translate and get stopcock and fuse box translated into the pashtuns' language, he might speak another language. When I was translating packing into French and Spanish it took me two weeks to get the correct translation of nail file (two sorts of nails, two sorts of files). After half an hour researching Arabic and Aramaic alphabets I realise translating plumbing terms into a Pashtun's Farsi or Urdu is is a lost cause. Even buying a phrase book and dictionary won't help.

LESSONS LEARNED
***1 Have all emergency numbers of insurance and plumbers /electricians etc on a list by the phone - with your policy number to quote.
2 Ask all services such as plumbers if they can be sure to finish the job before the weekend so the problem does not escalate and go wrong over the weekend.
3 Traffic may be quiet at the weekend, but it's harder to call insurance and services to solve problems and you cannot get to shops selling spares.
4 Try to have tenants who speak your first language or your second language. Unless you know the urdu for, 'this is an induction hob requiring special pans'; and 'do you know how to bleed a radiator?'
5 Keep on the property's old phone line so you can call the tenants easily when you want to contact the visiting workmen or the tenant.

Useful Websites

https://www.wikihow.com/Detect-Water-Leaks

Can tenants do self-assembly furniture?

Find out how tenants feel about self-assembly furniture. You might find that tenants are resourceful and only too happy to assemble flatpack furniture.
   When the prospective tenant asks for an extra bed, sofa or chairs, assembly may be vital.
   Nobody wants to move in and find half a sofa or half a bed with the vital screws missing. The landlord may have to report any missing or broken parts to the carrier/sender/manufacturer within 24 hours. If you arrive to assemble furniture and then have to wait for a missing part, that's another trip, and another 24 hours before tenants can move in (if they need a bed).
   Most landlords would prefer to have furniture delivered ready assembled. You want to know if a major part is not there and needs to be ordered, such as the headboard or drawers for the bed - and if it's the wrong colour or wrong bed, single instead of double, you don't want to put it together, take it apart, and re-assemble.
  If the family have one or two children, including a baby or toddlers, you don't want them risking being injured and touching drills and swallowing nails.
   I looked at J D Williams catalogue. Beds say self-assembly. No good to me.
   One alternative is to simply say to a tenant, order what you like. The budget is so and so. Take the money off the next rent.

Beds & Furniture To Buy

I've made these notes for my own reference but they might be helpful to you.
1
www.landlord-furniture.com
They say in an ad they deliver within 48 hours nation-wide including weekends and evenings at no extra charge.
The President Double divan bed is 'only' £209.99. It has two drawers underneath. Very handy if you have little or no wardrobe space in the room, or want to store mattress protector or new pillows for your next tenant.
What size is their so-called double?
Is the headboard included?
Do I want one?

2 Mattressman.co.uk
Their advertisement says orders over £45 qualify for free next day delivery made before 4 pm Monday to Thursday.
tel:0800 5677625.
They charge £30 extra for Saturday.
They can't phone ten minutes before delivery.

A memory foam mattress was £179, in stock with free next day delivery, depth 16 cm, width 180 cm, length 200 cm.

The king-size mattress is made to order and needs a 14 day advance order before delivery
When using a carrier they have a one man delivery unless you order and pay for a second man, and deliver downstairs only (fine - if you've only got ground floor flat), although they say to the front door of a building - I hope if it's only a few feet to your front door they will move it - can't block the entrance to a block of flats.)
mattresses, for example, are 14 cms high at £199, 20 cms high at £215, 24 cms high at £269, 27 cms high at £329 and 28 cms at £459.
Delivered direct from suppliers
14 cm high at £139, 16 cm high at £192, 24 cm high at £205.

3 Prelet.co.uk
You can email your queries and order a catalogue

UK

IKEA offers a flatpack furniture assembly service for an extra charge.

Useful Websites

https://www.wikihow.com/wikiHowTo?search=measure+bedding

https://www.wikihow.com/Buy-Bedding

Showing Your Property - Stopping Showing - Deposit

   

I just had some agent feedback. One agent found a prospective tenant who made a low offer. The landlord agreed in principle. A second agent came back with another prospect. The first agent wanted to gather all the background checks and meet up ready to sign.
    The landlord said he would not gazump the first agent, having given his word.

    Meanwhile the second agent, hearing the first had produced a low offer tenant, wanted another viewing and said, "You should not stop showing the property until you have received a deposit".

What Can I Ask About the Tenant? Does It Matter?

Yesterday I was told that I should not ask my letting agent the race, religion, nationality nor language of a prospective tenant in case I am breaking the law by asking, or he is by answering, especially if I don't like the answer and refuse to let on those grounds.
   Apart from prejudice, are there any practical reasons for wanting to know?  These are the thoughts going through my mind. What are the chances that somebody from overseas will want to return to another country? What if they are here illegally and get deported so the landlord loses the rent? Can you check references if they have just arrived. (Often if somebody from overseas has no income nor credit history in this country, the landlord or agent will ask for the whole year's rent in advance, or the tenant will offer it.)
    From an insurance point of view, your insurance might not cover a property left empty, so you might want to put in a contract that if the tenant goes overseas, they must tell you when they are coming back and leave contact details. Otherwise, supposing they left the flat completely empty, how would you know whether they intended coming back? They might have been taken ill, died or been imprisoned overseas.
   It is also handy to have a forwarding address. They may say they are not expecting anything important. But then your mailbox is full of items addressed to them and others, including council tax bills, doctors, parking fines, possible bailiffs visits, electricity bills.
    You may also want to consider their particular habits or needs. For example, vegetarian tenants might want all plates and cooking utensils removed. They might accept only new items.
   Would a cake or a bottle of wine served at the signing, or sent as a moving in gift, be welcome, or cause visible embarrassment to a vegetarian, kosher or Halal teetotaller?
   My family is on the management committee for a block of flats. One tenant took out a new electricity contract and was sent a box of chocolates as a gift. She looked most confused and eventually handed them to the landlord. The chocolates were in the shape of pigs.
   Such a pity. They were very nice chocolates.
 

Who's Making The Profit? Check charges in small print

One landlord advises: We carefully checked the small print and we found the agent was going to make extra charges for lots of small things. I want to make some profit out of renting at the end of the day. Otherwise I may as well just leave the property empty or allow someone to live in it for free, instead of running up removal or storage costs, provided I can keep all my furniture and belongings stored there as before. 

My friend's property agents

 

1) One of my friends has just chosen an agent who gave a warm and sympathetic service, answering email queries promptly. What did the other agents do wrong? He had problems were about the quality and speed or communication, as well as price of service. If you are overseas and going for management as well as rental you need somebody who answers emails as you cannot pop into their office and chase them. 

   

2) Regarding management price, one agent told a landlord partnership they needed new carpet and called in a carpet/laminate company. The carpet and service price they were charging was a lot more than three other sources. 

    The agent said the carpet shop was dearer but most reliable. However, the shop did not have the choice and display of carpet and lino. The cost would have been several thousand. 

I found a cheaper carpet shop.

   The agent said she would not bring any more tenants to view as they were put off by the carpet. So the landlord moved back from his flat (which has laminate in bedrooms, hall, bathroom and guest toilet) and rented out the other property in another area 

   

 The agent claimed they got no percentage from the carpet shop referral. The landlord thinks they did.  

    One agent's contract lists charging a management fee which includes however many visits they have to make and all trouble-shooting. Admittedly, the flat owner gets to veto or approve the extra cost of any outside purchases and services (e.g. plumber, new boiler, new certificate). 

   

 Another agent wanted to charge the annual management fee - PLUS maximum three callouts per year, after which they charge per callout. 

    A third agent wanted to charge for every callout, in addition to the management fee - purely for listing the property on their books. 

    My biggest mistake - not marrying the estate agent I met when I was a teenager.

Agents In Your Area

Zoopla website lists estate agents (US property agents) in you area. You can see the number of for sale, and the number of rental properties. The site also lists the average number of weeks they've advertised each property. And the average price of a sale or rent.
    You might want to go for the more successful agent with lots of properties. or the smaller agent with only a few, so they push yours. You can also see if your will be the top of the range or the best bargain. What do you think? Tell me.

Rental contracts - adding clauses

Property Agents, especially those who manage property, often have a standard rental contract. This will usually stipulate the length of the rental agreement, conditions under which both sides can end the contract early, and conditions and obligations of both landlord and tenant. These may cover who is responsible, numbers of people allowed to occupy the property, any sub-tenants, obligations on keeping the property in good order, who pays for services and repairs, agreed monthly or yearly price, deposit, gas, electricity, water, furnishing and furniture.

   

Both landlord and tenant sign every page of the agreement, adding the date.
   You might wish to add other clauses. For example, regulations laid down by the building management about car parking, noise, smoking, keys, spare key holders.

Keys
    Regarding keys, what happens if they break their key in the lock? From a landlord's point of view, it can be costly and stressful if a tenant takes the building or flat keys overseas and does not come back. If there is a water leak from overhead and you need access in a hurry.
   If you have no forwarding address but the mailbox keeps filling up with letters from their doctor, the council tax, TV license, and all sorts of catalogues which won't let you call without giving a secret number. (Even if you've time, the law says you can't open others' letters.) So it's very handy to wish them well and keep in touch.
    

Lost Keys - Where's that key?

How often do you lose a key or hear of somebody locked out of a car, hotel bedroom, conference room or their own house. I've had two tenants in my block of flats locked out, somebody locked out nearly every time I go to a large conference hotel. Gym locker room keys cause constant trouble with forgotten numbers, or lost keys.  
   Many hotels have a system where the key is kept near the door of a hotel bedroom. In fire or darkness, as your right hand reaches for the door handle - (to check it's not hot - meaning fire outside - go back towards window) your left hand reaches to brace yourself against the wall and grab the key. If your escape is blocked, there's smoke, or unknown persons outside, you might need to get back in. You can also see at a glance whether you have the key before allowing the door to slam shut behind you!
   My dream is to have every key in my own house and my own family properties with a hook by each window and door and a neatly labelled and colour coded key.
   Two sets of keys in your own house is enough to cause confusion - the back door and the front door - then the shed and side gate. Add on your rental property set of keys.
   Then the sets of spare keys you take to copy. Best to copy the original, not the copy.
    Label each set, one, two, three. Then if you are missing a set you know whether you or the tenant lost it. You know to phone them, or search your own bags and pockets, or your colleague's car or desk.

DATE AND NUMBER ORDER
   You may wish to not have the address of the keys on the keys in case they are dropped in the street. Another solution is to follow the photographer's system. Label each key (or photo) with the number of the date it was made or acquired. Keep this master list in a big hard-backed book. (If necessary photocopy a page.) Then each key has simply a date or number on it. If a key turns up under a car seat or in a pocket years later, the clue is in the date. That must be the flat we lived in during such and such a year.

COLOURS
   Another system is to colour code each property's keys. You cn buy sets of colours to fit over some Yale keys. And coloured key or suitcase tags.  For example: The green keys are your house and garden. The red keys are the first rental property. The blue keys are the third property.
   You can even tell a child, can you see a key with a blue label anywhere in the house? With dozens of sets of keys and a child or foreigner, the colour system could be faster than trying to describe a bunch with a a Yale or Chubb lock when you have several.

LABELLED HOOKS
   Another system for keys kept in an office, as opposed to jumbled in your pocket or bag, is to label the hooks. For example, front door key on far right, back door in centre, garage or gate or postbox or shed key is always on the far left.

HOOKS NEAR PATIO DOORS & WINDOWS
   To escape a fire in less than five minutes in an emergency, you don't want to have to go into the hall in the dark looking for the keys to the patio door. Police and security services may suggest it's safer not to leave keys visible in doors. The reason is that a person outside can break the glass and then unlock the door with the handy key. or a person sneaking in through the front can sneak out of the back.
   However, to escape in a fire, and not have to hunt through a  dozen keys in the dark, it's good to have vital keys near the door or window. One solution is to have them on a hook near the door, hidden from outside view by whatever object is nearby, but visible or known to everybody likely to live in the house, sleep over or babysit.

PHOTOS OF KEYS
   Take a photo of the keys. Then, if you are missing a key and your colleague has several, you can email the picture and ask, 'This is what I'm missing - have you got it?'

   If your tenant/colleague rings to say the key won't operate the lock, you can email the photo and ask, 'Are you sure you are using the building key and not the flat's front/back door key?'

CABINETS & Their Keys

You can tape a key to the cabinet. The duplicate key can be kept by somebody else at another address - labelled.

CABINETS STORING KEYS
   On line and in stores you can find key cabinets, and shelves with hooks below. You have to decide whether your priority is to hide the keys or make them easily visible and 'a place for everything and everything in its place'.

KEYS FOR CLEANERS/GARDENERS
  A company called Rottner makes key boxes for keys for cleaners and carers. The key is never taken off the premises, so it can't disappear if the person using it changes jobs, falls ill, goes away on business or holiday, but it is replaced every time for the owner or the next cleaner/carer. If you are using a key box for which the only access is via a code, the code can be changed regularly and given to the user on the day they need it.

These are simply my ideas. If safety suggests otherwise, or you have better ideas, I'd be glad to know. This information is simply so that you can assess the problem and find your own best solution for safety, security and convenience.

Useful websites

https://www.locktrader.co.uk/Window-Lock-keys-for-Chubb-8K100-and-8012-Window-Locks.html
rottner-security.co.uk

Confirm rates in writing at moment of agreement

As a landlord you agree a good rate with an agent. He promises to agree in writing. By the time you drive home you and your colleague can't agree on which rate you agreed. Two days later You are negotiating with two other agents. By this time you can't be sure what you agreed with the first agent, nor that he won't change his mind or forget.
   One solution is to text your colleague and copy the agent, or vice versa, immediately.
If there's any disagreement, they must get back to you at once.

Helping agents help you

Should the letting agent also manage the property? Do you live nearby? Do you want to be called out in the evening and weekends? Is the property of sentimental value? How's your budget?
   How much should they charge? Just the letting fee? For the year one only? For years one to three?
How much are they doing for you? Are they charging an annual fee with unlimited callouts covered? Or a maximum of three callouts? Or three per month - average. Or three in any one month? Or a management fee just for adding your name to their list and doing nothing, then a fee for every callout?

How much should you pay?
   10% 8% 6%. Nothing when the contract is renewed? The same charge every year? Or half for the second year. Another landlord might complain - 'what for - they have done no more work!'
Are they charging for renewal and also charging charge for renegotiating the contract? On the other hand you have a second year's rental, no hassle. Half the first year's fee. Compare with other agents. Negotiate.
   Is the money to the agent spread over the months, or do they take the first month's rent? Can you afford this - first month with no rent. How's your cash flow? What if the tenant moves out after two months and the agency goes out of business?

Should you give your keys to the letting agent?
   Is it safe to do so? How easy will it be to get a key back, if they are not managing or another agent lets the property. (With one agent still holding a key, you might need to have the lock changed and only get two new sets of keys, for about £150 - plus the cost of every extra set off keys. What does the insurance company say? Will the building insurance or management association allow various tenants to have keys. One agent will complain that the first agent would not give them the key, with the reason/excuse that their member of staff was out for the day showing tenants around properties.
More answers soon!

Useful Websites

https://www.propertymark.co.uk/

Clearing and Cleaning Your/Their Flat/House For New Tenants - Ten tips

Clearing a flat - now is your chance to repaint without the nuisance of moving furniture. (Some decorators and carpet layers refuse to move furniture or will move only three items.) It also reduced the risk of damage if you paint a room with no furniture, then put down fresh carpet.
    If the carpet is old, you can clean to remove stains and carpet beetles or insects which might infect furniture. Dust, get in the corners, remove mould. Paint with mould-resistant paint, allow the paint smell to disappear.
   Before or after this you may need to remove your own or the previous tenants' leftovers. Dust the tops of high shelves and cupboards. Down comes dust (which otherwise upsets your skin, or lands on new paint). You may find small items, CDs, packaging, rolled up posters, items you'd lost or forgotten. Also look behind shelves, bookcases, sideboards. Out come lost bills, library tickets, Xmas cards and more.
   Check wardrobes and cupboards. Identify screws and tubes. Save them. A day later you'll notice the loose shelf and wish you still had that bracket and screw you found on the floor and chucked out.
   Check behind, beside, and inside in all the white goods. The bathroom cabinet will have old toothbrushes and q-tips. The tumbler and washing machine are hiding the odd socks.
   I've lived overseas, moving there and back. Even with professional packers items get left behind - such as the post in the postbox, the washing in the washing machine.
    Inside the washing machine and tumbler are old clothes which started dirty, or went mouldy because they were left damp. The dishwasher may have dirty items starting to smell. Or clean ones - the fourth, sixth or tenth or twelfth item missing from the set of cups or plates or cutlery.
   If there's a postbox, check that. Oops - council tax. That's for you.
Departed tenants' medical records - your local doctor in the UK is still claiming the NHS payment for the year and maybe turning away new patients, whilst your ex tenant has missed the call for a checkup or who knows what vital test result.  Tesco card coupons, Xmas catalogues, National Trust membership, and vital bank statement, bills, court demands, unknown documents, labelled urgent, which you must return to sender because you are not allowed to open them.
    Before throwing away packing, check boxes for guarantees, and proof of delivery and proof purchase for tax.
    Finally empty the fridge of the milk you took for your tea and coffee while waiting for the removal men or the letting agent.
   And the fridge! You need a cool bag to transport all frozen food. And it keeps open bottles away from your Or time to dump unwanted or defrosted items in bins as you leave.
   When you reach your destination unpack as soon as you can. otherwise 24 hours later you find wilted plants, milk going sour, frozen food which must be eaten now and can't be re-frozen.

Tips
1 The size of items you need to transport mysteriously doubles.
2 The van your hire or borrow is dirty so everything must be covered.
3 If you life anything from the top, the top comes off, or the bottom falls off. The bottom breaks. (We carried a simple white painted board bookshelf, base, middle, top. The top came off, fell and broke.)
4 Plastic bags are shredded by anything with a corner - even a lightweight half empty box of Cling film.
5 Large sheets of thin card, bubble wrap, or blankets or car rugs are needed to protect large items such as mirrors, posters.
6 Boxes not needed for the original items will be handy for grouping other items.
7 Keep a large clipboard with vital information such as the address you are going to.
8 Check you have all keys before going to destination. This includes: Key to the building's communal front door. Yale key to the front door.  Key to the other Chubb or mortice dead bolt lock - even if you don't usually use it because somebody else such as your work colleague, letting agent or tenant might have thought it wise to use the additional lock. Key/instructions to turn off the fire alarm you might set off as you open the door.
Key to the back door. Keys to windows. Keys to postboxes. Spare keys for the letting agent.
9 Phone number of letting agent / porter /neighbour, other keyholder in case you are locked out. Ideally vista your property during the keyholder's office hours in case of emergency and needing the spare key. If you are delayed in traffic, the other key holder can let in removal men, painters, new tenants, whoever.
10 Charger for your phone in case you stay longer than intended and need it.
Lastly, or firstly, light bulbs.
   Yes, I've arrived missing the vital key, seen my bookshelf split when carried, missed catching the china vase out of the car boot, broken the table lamp, and needed a ladder/chair to replace light bulbs ... 
   Yes, lastly light bulbs. Never mind being too thin or rich. You can never have too many light bulbs, except when you are short of the spare plastic bags, already packed, the chairs and ladder, already gone, the last light bulb goes pop, and hands full of surplus light bulbs,  you crash out through the front door ....

Why buy to let? Or keep inherited property to let?

How do you get the best income? If you can save, where do you put your savings?

Inherited property

 If you inherit a property, should you sell it and invest the money or keep it and rent it out.
   When your income from other sources is low or high, property is one of the options. If you have lots of money, you are advised to spread it in several directions so that you can minimise losses and maximise your chance of having some investment in the rising or jackpot area.
   My late father advised me to get out of property and put money in a building society or shares. His reasoning was that managing property is a nuisance. In his grandparents day you put your money into property to use the rents as a pension, even if you rented your own home. But during their lifetime my parents experienced various problems with property.
    However, when the banks and building societies are threatening to lose all your money and interest rates sink, property again seems a safer income or investment.