What are we up to?
With the Festival just around the corner we are all gearing up for a fantastic few weeks! The city is buzzing and the venues are all beginning to set up. We are looking forward to meeting our Festival guests but in the meantime we thought we would give you a brief update as to what is going on here.
The Festival this year runs from the 7th – 31st August and demand has remained consistent with last year. The trend has been for Festival visitors to book earlier this year presumably as consumer confidence increases with the economic recovery.
The summer months are also the time where we see movement in our long term properties and it is when we advertise and process tenants for student properties. Demand remains very strong in the long term market, particularly for student properties.
Staffing
We are delighted to say that following our previous update regarding recruitment for a full time Property Manager, Annabel Swiers has joined the team. We are very lucky to have her on board and her previous Festival letting experience comes just at the right time. Going forward she will be focusing on the short term business.
New Legislation for CO Alarms
The government has issued new statutory guidance around CO alarms that comes into effect from the 1st December 2015. From this date, landlords must provide a long-life battery or mains powered detector in any space that contains a carbon-based fuel appliance (excluding cooking appliances) e.g.
– Gas/oil boiler
– Gas/oil fire
– Wood burning stove or open coal fire
There should also be one in any bedroom or living room which is bypassed by a flue.
While the vast majority of our properties already have at least 1 CO alarm, we will be assessing all our properties in line with this revised guidance and advising where new alarms need to be placed.
Government Consultation on Changes to Private Rental Sector
The Scottish Government’s consultations on changes to the Private rental sector that we discussed in the previous Newsletter are now closed and responses being analysed. Once the analysis is complete it is expected that the proposed new legislation will be drafted in a Bill that will be debated by Parliament from autumn into 2016 with the legislation likely to be implemented in 2017.
Landlord Referral Scheme
If you know anyone who is considering renting out their property then please put them in touch. We will be happy to offer them advice on any aspect of lettings with no obligation. Should we subsequently let their property on any of our full management packages then we will happily offer you £50 as a wee thank you!
Feedback
As we strive to offer the best service possible to our landlords and tenants we would like to ask you to provide us with your feedback. If you have anything to say we would love to hear from you. Thank you for your continued support!