There are many landlords in the country who have a large portfolio of property to rent and who are well aware of the laws and legislation and the pitfalls and problems. However, some homeowners end up renting out their homes for a short period of time – perhaps because they are going abroad for a while or maybe they have bought a new home before finding a buyer for their current home.

Whatever the reason, here are a few tips to make the renting process run more smoothly.

Do find a good letting agent who will find and screen tenants on your behalf, advertise your property for rent, draw up contracts and conduct the inventory when tenants move in. Your letting agent should also provide a Gas Safety Certificate for tenants.

Make sure your letting agent is aware of the type of tenants you require. Are you happy to rent to families with young children? Do you mind smokers or pet owners moving in?

Smarten up your house before putting it on the rental market. Make sure you paint walls in a neutral colour and that flooring is clean.

Do make sure that you thoroughly clean your home before you rent it out. It may be worth hiring a team of cleaners for a day to make sure everything is sparkling. If it is thoroughly clean, before tenants move in, then you can insist that tenants leave your home in the same state when they move out.

Leave a folder containing instruction manuals for the boiler and central heating system, the oven and other white goods. Make sure you leave any keys which might be needed to open gas and electricity meters.

If you are planning on a Winter break, whether it’s for a fortnight or a couple of months, do make sure that you keep your central heating system ticking over. This will help to ensure that your system runs efficiently and also helps to prevent pipes from freezing. So, turn down the thermostat, and make sure you set the timer to come on once or twice a day.

Secondly, make sure your gutters are kept free of leaves, moss and other debris. If water is prevented from flowing freely and unable to escape from the guttering, then it will cause damp spots in your house. You can fit gutter guards, which are grates or brushes which prevent debris building up whilst still allowing the free flow of rainwater.

For problems with your drains, then it is recommended that you have them professionally jet washed. To prevent the build up of fats, do not pour excess fat or cooking oil down the sink. Instead, pour it into a tin and throw out with your weekly waste collection.

Make sure that you regularly check wooden windows and doors for flaked paintwork and rotten frames. Flaked paint and bare patches on your woodwork can let water in, which will eventually cause the wood to rot. When repairing wooden frames and sills, make sure you scrape out all the rotten wood, and fill with a good quality exterior filler, before sanding and painting.

Finally, examine the exterior walls, checking for loose pointing, cracked render and paintwork. A good masonry paint will provide good protection for outside walls.

Over the last 10 years or so, grey has been a very popular colour with which to decorate a room.

Depending on the function of a room, will depend on the intensity of grey that you should use. If you are mainly in a room during the evening or always have the lights on, then you could opt for a darker shade of grey.

Rooms, like a kitchen, for instance, which are busy and are in use all day long, require a shade of grey which works with both natural light from the windows and skylights and light from electric lights. For daylight hours, a dark shade of grey will work well with a room which receives plenty of light. Try painting your kitchen walls with a stronger, darker shade of grey whilst making sure that the flooring is of a light colour and the kitchen cabinets are also light.

However, for colder, north facing rooms, make sure you choose a warm grey for the walls. For a formal dining room, you may want to consider using a dark grey as this will help to maintain an intimate atmosphere when you are entertaining friends. However, if you use the dining room for all the family meals, then choose a light shade of grey.

Grey is one of those colours which helps to bring out the depth of other colours in a room, whether from furnishings, drapes or other objects of interest on shelves and walls.

There are many things that you should consider when you need roof dome installation. Roof domes will really help you to utilize natural light in your home. Not all contractors who claim to know how to install roof domes are actually qualified for the job. The most important thing that you have to do is find the right contractor. When you find a good contractor, you will be sure that the best job will be done. Here are the simple things that you should do when you want to find the right contractor;

Ask a contractor whether he is familiar with the job

Do not hesitate too ask a contractor whether he has done the job that you want him for you before. You are more likely to receive quality services when you are dealing with a contractor who is experienced. Experience is very important in this type of work. When you hire a person who is not experienced, you are basically giving him a chance to experiment with your installation. Avoid a contractor who has never done the job that you want him to do for you before.  (more…)

At this time of year, when we are keen to keep the warmth inside our houses, mould and mildew can start to grow at an alarming pace, especially in damp areas like the bathroom or kitchen. If you do find mildew settling in, then try to ventilate the room as much as you can and draw back blinds and curtains, allowing as much sunlight as possible to creep in.

For removing mould and mildew from non-porous surfaces, like ceramics and tiles, you will find it easier to use a bleach based cleaner. Many of these come as spray cleaners allowing you to easily direct the cleaning agent onto the affected area. For cleaning mildew on tile grout, scrub with an old toothbrush dipped in a bleach cleaning solution.

If you dislike using chemical cleaning products, then you can try using white distilled vinegar in a spray bottle. The vinegar smell will disappear after a while. Alternatively, try making a paste with one cup of baking soda, a teaspoon of washing up liquid and hot water and rub this on to the affected spots in your bathroom. Add a few drops of lavender or citrus oil to create a pleasant aroma.

Baking soda is ideal for cleaning mildew from shower curtains too. Wash the shower curtains in your washing machine along with a couple of towels. Put half a cup of baking soda with half a cup of your normal washing powder in the dispenser and you will soon have a spotless shower curtain again.