Although it has been a tough 18 months, Basingstoke Letting Agents have been riding through the storm. There has however been a downfall in rents of 10% due to the increase in property coming to the market from “Incidental Landlords”. Rentright.co.uk has hit the streets of Basingstoke over the last two weeks and been talking to the independent letting agent’s for feedback about the market place and how they are weathering the storm.
Interestingly very few have been advertising in the local paper the “Basingstoke Gazette” as they feel it offers little or no value for money. It certainly doesn’t attract many tenants, and most tenants look to the property portals first for property to rent in Basingstoke, such as www.rentright.co.uk. Many Letting Agents struggle to get their websites on to the first page of Google and rely on the property websites to drive traffic to view their property on line.
In addition to the property coming to the market via Incidental Landlords, the Developer’s are still building many one and two bedroom apartments. Marnel Park and Alencon Link are just two such examples. These are typical property types Landlords will add to their portfolio given that Basingstoke is within excellent commuting distance to London. However it is the two bedroom flats that have been worse affected by falling rents. Incidentally, the agent’s report that they cannot get enough 3-bedroom properties, and if they could they would be snapped up immediately.
Basingstoke also caters for people needing to rent on housing benefits. A new scheme called “Choice Based Lettings” will be in place by summer 2010, in response to the Government The Government has asked all local councils to change the way they give out social housing. This is because they want people to have more choice over the housing they get and where they live, instead of housing staff making decisions about who should be offered which home.
Under the scheme, the benefit claimant will have a say in the choice of property and will actively be encouraged in the search for a property to rent. The claimant upon finding a suitable property then makes a “bid” which merely means a note of interest and not an offer of money. A closing date is set, and then the housing staff reviews the bids. They will then assess each person’s suitability based on requirements versus accommodation requested, and also take into account they have been on the waiting list.
In the last 12 months there have been two new Letting Agents in Basingstoke open, Belvoir and Martin & Co who have taken advantage of the property surplus.
For property to rent in Basingstoke, look no further than
www.rentright.co.uk, with property to rent in Basingstoke and the UK.