Summer Property Maintenance Tips : Sloane International Developments

Winter and the New Year are typically stressful periods for property managers (either private or commercial) and landlords: holiday-minded tenants are hard to reach, everyone is experiencing financial constraints and tradesmen are difficult to locate.

Summer doesn't have the same challenges involved, which makes it the ideal time to form a strategy for preparing and maintaining property in readiness for winter.

With this in mind, here are 9 tips for summer property maintenance:

1. Summer holidays? Be available and prepared

Tenants need to be able to get in touch with landlords and property managers at all times of year. Your relationship needs to be a solid one, based on timely communication, in order to future-proof against problems of a technical, financial, social or legal nature. Inform any tenants of your summer holiday plans as required, and provide them with your preferred contact details, an email address or mobile number typically being the most convenient for both parties. Request that tenants similarly provide you with travel plans and contact details in case of emergency.

If you travel, ensure you have online access and the following information to hand, whether it’s on your laptop, flash drive or in a storage cloud:

• Contact details for tenants

• Tenancy agreements

• Rent ledgers

• 14 day notices

2. Tenants hand in their notice? Ensure you’re marketing-ready while abroad

If tenants give notice during the holiday season, ensure you can proactively market your property even whilst on vacation yourself in order to avoid a potential fallow period between tenancies. Have photos, advertisements and marketing plans to hand, or easily accessible online if required.

3. Summer tradesmen on tap

In summer either you or your regular tradesmen may be away from the vicinity if a property emergency arises. Prepare for a worst-case scenario by confirming the potential availability of your regular plumber, locksmith, roofer and electrician. Build up your reference list of tradesmen who will be available in case you need additional trade support.

4. Gutters and Drains

Call in a tradesman to check and clean all drains and gutters; any cracks should be repaired to prevent against blockages and breakages.

5. House exteriors

Summer is the perfect time for roof care. Replace any loose or broken shingles. Check the exterior property siding for cracks or fissures and ensure they are mended. During warmer weather, ensure any pebbles or moss which may have collected during the winter months have been cleared away.

6. Summer lawn care

If you are responsible for lawn upkeep for the property, you’ll be aware that spring and autumn are the perfect times to fertilise the lawn to prepare it for extremes of sun and frost. The arid heat of summer can result in browning, but if you have maintained solid lawn upkeep throughout the year the grass is only dried, not dead. While you can ensure the lawn is fertilised and regularly watered in dry summer weather, consider that this may result in increased growth and spread of weeds like crabgrass, and also potential heat damage and disease resulting from the humidity of moist blades. Commercial and residential property maintenance companies tend to practice regular and minimal cutting of grass in order to avoid placing stress on the lawn by cutting it too short.

7. General garden care

If you are responsible for outdoor furniture, outdoor cooking areas and equipment or any outdoor play equipment, inspect them for health and safety standards and repair or replace them as required.

8. Filter It Out

If your property has an air conditioning unit installed, you will need to ensure the filters are changed at least twice a year, and ideally every month – a clean air filtration system will be particularly appreciated by tenants in summer. Change the filter yourself or have a professional air conditioning contract inspect and maintain the system.  

9. Stormy Weather

While a sunny summer is the ideal scenario, it is worth considering that lightning storms may also be factored into the weather. Thunderstorms may increase in autumn and spring, so summer is an opportune time to ensure all the electrical appliances in your property are protected from power surges and lightning. Consider having a lightning protection system installed on your property if one is not currently in place.

Discover affordable flats to let in Dundee :Sloane Developments

Dundee has never enjoyed a reputation as one of the trendiest cities in which to set up home. But with a £1,000,000,000 cultural-led urban renewal project underway, designed to reconnect the waterfront with the city centre, and where the new V&A museum will be housed, opinions are rapidly changing. Throw in the fact the city has made the shortlist in its bid for the UK City of Culture in 2017, and Scotland’s fourth-largest city is going places.
As you would expect from a city which has so much to offer, flats to let in Dundee can be highly sought after. Surprisingly, Dundee actually has the most affordable rents of any city in Scotland, which is why it’s never been a better time to find a property that comfortably suits your budget.
Indeed, one bed properties in the City of Discovery are snapped up for an average of £379 per month, with two bed flats in the area commanding a monthly rental fee of around £531.
Throughout this bustling city, you’ll find a wide range of flats on offer, from traditional but attractive tenement buildings, houses situated in converted jute mills (an industry Dundee is famous for and a setting that makes a spectacular home) and modern new builds.
Many of the old-style flats to let in Dundee were built in the 19th century, in response to the influx of workers as a result of the flourishing weaving industry – but that doesn’t mean the city is stuck in the past.
With two universities to cater for, Dundee is a city with a thriving population of students from all over the world. As such, it’s hardly surprising that dedicated student housing has continued to grow in the city.This expansion has moved students away from the traditional tenement properties that the city is famous for, and has led to a marked increase in available dwellings of this type.
Whatever impression you currently hold of Dundee, put it to the back of your mind – this is a city with a renewed purpose. If you are searching for a flat in Dundee, you really will be spoilt for choice thanks to the sheer quality and variety on offer. With an exciting future on the horizon, the rental market in Dundee still represents considerable value for your money.

London commercial property producing record low yields : Sloane Developments

Voracious investor demand for the best London real estate i.e Sloane Developments is approaching record levels that could trigger a price crash in popular areas such as upmarket Bond Street, property experts said this week. The luxury shopping strip that is home to Prada, Louis Vuitton and Cartier has ultra-low yields that mark it out as the most in-demand stretch of real estate in Europe.
The price of commercial property is dictated by the yield, which is the annual rent expressed as a percentage of a property's value. Yields fall as investor demand increases and push up real estate prices. The 2.75 percent yield on Bond Street properties should fall to 2.25 percent by the end of the year and could hit the world-record low of 1.75 percent in 18 months, says David Hutchings, of property consultant Cushman & Wakefield, adding that the record was set by Taipei, Taiwan, in 2011.
Such low yields could signal the top of the property market in central London, says Michael Marx, chief executive of British developer Development Securities. "Those sorts of yields are breathtaking," Marx said. "The problem is that when you get to the top of Mount Everest there is only way to go."
Rising rents would act as a brake on price falls, but they are unlikely to prevent a drop of a third or more, with the effect in London rippling out from the epicentre of Bond Street, he added.

When Bond Street yields hit 2.25 percent they will probably be below annual returns on ten-year British government bonds, which are likely to edge up from their current 2.4 percent as the economy recovers. And when yields on government bonds climb above 3 percent, the gap will mean that low-yielding property investments look markedly less attractive. Investors typically seek higher yields from property than bonds because real estate is more expensive and time-consuming to sell and also carries the risk of becoming vacant. "Some heat will come out of the (Bond Street property) market," Hutchings said.
Global investors have spent tens of billions of pounds on London property since the financial crisis, viewing it as a safe haven amid the volatility of global equity markets and the low returns in the bond market. The current yield on Bond Street property is below the ten-year average of 3.7 percent and the 5 percent yields for the best office blocks in London's financial district and central Paris. The Cushman & Wakefield data is based on the evidence from multiple transactions, but deals are being struck at even lower yields.
"We sold an asset at a 1.9 percent yield in Albermarle Street," said Marcus Sperber, head of real estate for BlackRock in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, referring to the strip than runs parallel to Bond Street. "Markets here could be in danger of an asset bubble."