Buying a house or flat to rent out is an excellent investment. It will bring in lots of extra money through rent, and even if you have a mortgage to pay on it, the rent should still leave you with plenty of profit if you buy carefully. You will need to make sure that you have got the property up to a good standard ready to rent out. Here is a quick general to-do list before your tenants move in:

• Make sure there is fire safety equipment. Check the regulations – these will differ in properties of multiple occupancy. However, it is generally good practice to make sure that your tenants have easy access to fire extinguishers and fire blankets.
• Check that fire doors are in place where necessary. These should again meet with regulations and will give you peace of mind.
• Redecorate. This won’t take a lot of work and you may even be able to do it yourself, but making sure that everything is finished off to a high standard can actually help you to increase your rental income by charging tenants more money.
• Get boilers serviced. If the boiler breaks down over the winter, this will be far more expensive and inconvenient, so make sure it is in good working order first.
• Decide whether you will go through an agency. If so, they will be able to find tenants and arrange contracts for you. If not, you will have to do this yourself and will need to ensure your tenants have your emergency contact details.
• Make sure there are plenty of electricity sockets fitted. This is something that is very easy for an electrician to install and it will make such a difference to a tenant’s quality of living – they won’t need to use extension cables for everything.

Follow these steps to make sure your tenants will be happy in your property and won’t have any complaints. It’s much more beneficial to have happy tenants who will enjoy living in your property and will want to keep extending their contract.