Testimonials

SurreyLets is always proud and pleased to get a positive testimonial from my Clients. Here are just a few on the ones I have had recently...


It has been a genuine pleasure to have Surrey Lets as one of our service providers. Sally has tremendous experience in the lettings arena, and is truly committed to offering exceptional service to both Landlords and tenants. She offers a highly personal and professional service which is what makes her stand out in the over-crowded lettings world.
Vanessa Warwick / 4wallsandaceiling

Surrey Lets provided an excellent service and took away all the worries of letting my property. They went to great lengths to find tenants, and once they found them, they did everything to sort out any problems however big or small.
Mr Heard - Landlord

Every time I called Surrey Lets they went the extra mile, even out of hours. Refreshingly good service. Mine was a complicated home move; Surrey Lets made it simple.
Mr Poulton – Tenant

"This time I failed to let my Guildford studio flat through the usual channels, and then I found Sally at SurreyLets. She introduced excellent tenants and handled the whole business with courtesy and efficiency."
Mrs M - Guildford Landlord

We would like to thank you for the efficient, personal and friendly service that you provided with finding us a suitable tenants.(they are amazing!!)
From completion to our first tenant was less than a week, therefore this worked out to be very cost effective and profitable. We have been very impressed and would recommend you way above any high street agency. We wish you all the best for SurreyLets

Mr M & Mrs J Smith, Guildford

The Green Green Grass of home. Cannabis Farming in the Private Rental Sector.

I have written a few blogs on the rise in Cannabis Farms in private rental accommodation. However this week I received a call from a Landlord in Surrey who had been alerted by neighbours (not his managing agent!) of their suspicions. As the police attended, the remaining tenant was seen rushing away from the scene. Upon entering, it was plain to see, that the property was indeed another statistic of Cannabis Farming in the Private Rental Sector. It seems to be happening more nd more in Surrey.

I do not use the word devastation or devastated lightly. The former being the state of the property the latter the state of the Landlord. What choked him was entering his child's bedroom that still had all the trappings of a nursery in its decor had been vandalised beyond most of our comprehension.

A beautiful, normal family home, turned into something that felt somehow corrupt.

In the pictures in this blog you will see the ducts that the tenants have installed to vent the property, these go up the chimney. You will see the holes in the walls that have been butchered to accommodate these vents. Floors covered in plastic with mounds of soil that had leaked and penetrated the wooden floors and carpets beneath. The bolt holes across the ceilings where high voltage heat lamps had hung, and a mountain of wiring. Every room demonstrating tens of plug sockets overloaded as the tenants had bypassed the meter and tapped into the mains, bhich has since been cut of by the supplier.

The stench of cannabis, or soil and of damp hung in the air and penetrated the very fabric of the building.

It begged one question to me. How on earth did these people get to rent this property?

Times are tough in the lettings market. Landlords are keen to get empty properties occupied, agents desperate for the deals. Does this make our vision a little less clear, do we take slight risks. Is the temptation of cash just too much?

In this case not. The references, I am told, seemed OK. There was a bank account and rental was being paid. However this is common, after all, no criminal actually wants to appear as one!

In my experience, there are warning signs to watch out for.

1) Potential Cannabis tenants like properties to be a little more secluded, but with access to main road links. (This property had open fields in front of it and was detached, this is not unusual)

2) Properties are often in communities where comings and goings are not going to be questioned. However the property needs a degree of privacy. Often drive in garages are a plus as are older style properties with a chimney

3) One of the first things the tenants do on a viewing is look at the electricity meter. They are looking to see if it can be over ridden.

4)The tenants typically seem to have a beauty business of fast food business and the property is for either staff or them with a large extended family.

My advice of Letting a home to combat this?

Agents need to be absolutely aware of who it is renting a property. Take NI number, driving licence number and a copy of a passport, these are "traceable" Ids. A 6 week deposit does not touch the surface of this sort of damage.

Landlords ensure you have good insurance that would cover you for this eventuality.

Don't be tempted by cash deals unless you know the circumstances in which you are accepting it. Cash over good reference checking and ensuring the agents see genuine ID a false economy.

Lastly, trust your instinct. Its normally right.

Canabis farming in the private rental sector is alarming and can be avoided. Look out for some of the behaviours listed above and please ensure the checking is thorough and there is tracable ID taken.

For any advice about Letting your home and how to avoid the pitfalls, please call SurreyLets

OFT vs Foxtons - Update 8th May 2009

I have spoken to David Oliver at the National Federation of Property Professionals this morning who has advised that the Foxtons / OFT case was heard on 27th April and the Judge has asked for time for the case to be considered before making a verdict. The decision is thought to be expected at the end of May. Watch this space!

Avoid an empty property creating you a void period

Excess supply and falling rents is a ‘pattern replicated over most of the UK’ according to the FindaProperty rental index. There is an increase in properties being let by “Accidental Landlords” who have decided not to sell and let and as a global recession is stronger in Europe than the UK there has been a decline in Corporate Relocation, there has been more empty stock in the upper end of the rental scale, all of which has contributed to the falling rents.

So as a Landlord - what do you have to do to ensure your property is the one that is getting the viewing's and most importantly, securing a tenant?

SurreyLets are keen to explain to Surrey Landlords that in your property needs to stick out from the crowd. If the property is furnished, it should be staged to best demonstrate what rooms are used for and what space is available. Property should be sparkling clean and neutrally decorated. Externally the property should have kerb appeal, clearly identifiable with a number or a name and the front looking really smart and well cared for.

Once you are satisfied the price is right and the presentation perfect and the property is still untenanted, SurreyLets suggest you try some tenant incentives like a "rent free" period (after all - if the property is going to sit empty for another month two weeks free is irrespective if your tenants move quickly) or a "cash back" upon checkout at the end of the tenancy. I know of one Landlord at the moment who has a holiday let that's sitting empty, so she is advertising a weekend away to her tenants, another Landlord in Cobham offered 2 weeks rent free and within days the property was let above others in it price range - do anything to stand out and attract prospective tenants to your property.

The way we do business is changing......

The way in which we do business is changing. As a nation we have gone from the cottage industries where we shopped locally and knew the name of the bank manager and only did business with those who we knew and trusted, to the 90’s world of overseas call centres and automated calling. The world wide web offering making the world a contactable smaller place, the rise of the large and faceless corporation and the relief when we heard we were only 5th in the queue to now, 2009, the last part of the first decade in the third millennium. The phrase “Third millennium business” is becoming more frequent, but what actually is it and why is a Letting Agent writing about it?

Third Millennium business will bring together the era of Web2 and the rise of social media. As we are more conversant in technology than ever before we will use the web to upload and share more. Facebook was one of the largest rising social network groups amongst middle aged people. We use the web to find businesses and services and to find and share information with other people. We use people in our friend groups and contact lists on social media sites to link into business and products. The faces and contributions of people on these sites become people we trust and want to do business with. Third Millennium business cuts out the larger corporations because people buy people first and gravitate to do business through people they trust. We no longer automatically trust the suited corporate bankers, the hard sales person and the politician. This form of Authority is not what it once was, we want to do business with people we trust, people with a profile, we want honesty, transparency, accountability, communication. We want to deal with people

SurreyLets uses these principles in its marketing as an online virtual company. It offers a complete lettings and property management service, corporate and private relocation, home search services and add on products like rental guarantee. You deal with the director, Sally Asling, who is a Fellow member of ARLA and been in Lettings for 18 years has an impressive CV covering all aspects of the industry. SurreyLets is the vision of Sally Asling who wanted to offer a more personal and professional service to Landlords and Property Investors. Recognising the changing pace of third millennium business SurreyLets can be found on Twitter and posts current and relevant information and industry news via the means of blogging. SurreyLets deals in real time internet mediums so that wherever you are in the world, contact is easy quick and simple.