After the usual dip in demand for property over the Christmas and New Year period, it is apparent that the demand for rental property is increasing with every week. An exceptionally cold January didn’t stop a 50% increase in viewings year on year. February saw GO Property move in 50% more tenants year on year, with rental levels holding firm and in some instances increasing slightly.

The supply of property in the rental sector appears to have dried up over the past 6 months, which means demand is coming back into line with supply and resulting in stabilising rental levels. These early signs indicate that 2010 could prove to be a far better year for the landlord. There is one thing, however, that we can be sure of - the property market remains volatile and it would be a bold person who said they can predict its development.

Do you dread all the administration involved in moving property? You call the utility companies only to be put on hold for 5 minutes whilst you’re put through to the wrong department. GO Lettings have teamed up with Money Angels to make this process quick and stress free for both tenants and landlords. Money Angels are a one stop shop for registering a new occupier of a property for gas, electric, water, and council tax. They can even set up broadband, home phone and digital TV, and find the cheapest suppliers for each. One short form and they take care of the rest.

Visit the MONEY ANGELS website for more information.

Lettings Agents are required to register all tenant's deposits with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme.  This offers protection to tenants and prevents landlords from using the money however they see fit. There are potential costs to landlords if agents abuse the system.

Read the full article at Estate Agency Today

GO Lettings registers all their tenant’s deposits with The Dispute Service and we currently have no unresolved disputes!

“Tenant defaults could soar over the next year amid reports that up to one million households have borrowed money on a credit card to pay their mortgage or rent over the past year…”

Read the full article on WiltshireBusinessOnline.co.uk

We offer Rental Guarantee insurance for our landlords to help soften the blow in these instances - more information can be found on our Landlord Information page.

The new government sponsored scrappage scheme that gives households in England £400 off the cost of a new boiler has now been launched and is open to landlords.

The boiler scrappage scheme was announced in the pre-Budget report in December and according to the government it will help households cut energy bills, reduce CO2 emissions and help support industry jobs. It is claimed that over 100,000 homes in England could benefit from the scheme.

There are about 3.5 million homes in England with working G rated boiler that may qualify for the scheme. Clients that have older boilers in their properties should contact us if they believe their boiler may qualify for the scrappage scheme and we can contact the Gas Safe installers that we work with who can provide quotations to replace if required.

For more details see the attached link http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8440557.stm

After several months and some very overly complicated legalities, several large unexpected bills, a wild goose chase trying to do our bit for the environment, and a frantic time getting our IT connected up - thanks Virgin Media, we'll recommend you to everyone, honest  - we've finally moved in to our new home.

2B - 4B Hucknall Road in Nottingham is our new address and you can't miss us if you're driving past. We're at the city end of Hucknall Road, next to the Nat West Bank as you turn off the Mansfield Road.

There's still work to be done, but nothing that's going to get in the way for the start of the new decade. Our thanks go out to our team of workmen who have grafted to get us moved in before Christmas; Dani in our office who has measured, planned, and generally made the move go ahead last weekend; and Jackie Pabla at Yates & Co who soldiered through the legal minefield to complete the purchase. Thanks do not go to Virgin Media who couldn't organise the proverbial and The Carbon Trust who led us on a merry dance and then didn't come up with a penny.

Cheers Everybody, here's to a prosperous 2010.

Over a third of tenants that recently responded to a Rightmove Survey are expecting rents to rise in 2010. The results from the survey in Q4 of 2009 suggested that just 7% of the 35,000 respondents were expecting rents to fall. Of those expecting an increase, a third thought that prices would rise by over 10%.

The survey reflects the RICS Rental Market Report which found that surveyors expect rental prices will go up in 2010 due to increasing demand and a reversal of the oversupply witnessed over the past year.

The Rightmove Consumer Confidence Survey also found that 58% of people who will rent in 2010 would prefer to buy but cannot afford to – a situation that doesn’t seem likely to change overnight.

Jonathan Detheridge, Managing Director at GO Property Services comments “the last 3 Qtrs of 2009 have seen unprecedented occupancy rates across our rental portfolio with Apartments & Flats being the real winners. In Nottingham City Centre, buy-to-let landlords are starting to enjoy rent increases for the first time in recent history and we think this will continue into 2010. Traditional houses, on the other hand, are still suffering from a degree of over-supply with the many ‘reluctant landlords’ still stuck in the rental market due to selling prices being suppressed”

“We’re predicting that the supply of property for sale will increase in 2010 as a degree of confidence returns to the market. The anticipated election in May could prove a real fillip to the market with Conservative Party plans to scrap HIPS being closely watched by potential sellers.”

Landlords with property to rent should contact GO Lettings today for a free realistic appraisal of the rent they are likely to achieve for their property.

GO Lettings specialises in letting and managing professional property in Nottingham & Leeds. We are members of ARLA & the NAEA and our deposits are administered by TDS.

After 6 succesful years letting property we are branching out into Home Sales so we've taken the step of changing our name at the same time.

We've been Lettings Direct for over 6 years and in that time we've had many a bright spark pop-up with a similar  name and we didn't want our clients getting confused. We also had to choose a name for our Estate Agency, so we thought now was as good a time as any to rename the whole bang shoot  so that we trading as one entity.

After several months head scratching and a lots of screwed up balls of paper, we decided on GO - we hope you like it.

To reflect our specialities we have split the business into defined areas as we think you want to talk to a local specialist rather than a general property company. So, for Lettings in Nottingham, we have GO-Lettings-Nottingham, or in Leeds, we have GO-Lettings-Leeds. The idea being that  you can get straight to the horses mouth without going round the houses to get there - 2 cliches in one sentence! Not Bad!

To match our new name, we'll shortly have a New Office to boot. We have purchased premises at 2B - 4B Hucknall Road in Nottingham. Next to the Nat West Bank & The Grosvenor public house we have a huge 15 meter frontage with our branding all over it so you don't miss us.  We're just frantically refurbishing the building and the plan is to open before Christmas so we're ready for a prosperous 2010.

If you're looking to sell a property in Nottingham you should give us a call. We have a fantastic opening offer of a fixed selling fee for all instructions recieved in December, January and February.

If you're passing the new office in December pop-in and say hello.

A proportion of the new band of reluctant landlords are heading for trouble by using their traditional Estate Agent to rent out their property rather than appointing a specialist lettings agent, The Observer reported this weekend.

The fall in house sales has resulted in many High Street Estate Agents turning their hand to Lettings in a desperate attempt to keep their doors open. This has resulted in a major rise in complaints to the industry ombudsman, who has seen disputes rise at a rate of over 200%.

Many Estate Agents are not trained in property lettings and do not have the systems in place to cope with the extra workload involved in the day-to-day paperwork and legalties of managing property, yet this hasn't stopped hundreds of agents across the country from adding Letting Agents to their business cards.

An easy comparison to make is in the assumption that your builder can also take care of your plumbing or your electrics - they're all part of a house after all aren't they....  You'll find that some are trained and can easily take care of it. Some have done it before and will give it their best shot. Whereas some have no idea but can see a few quid in it. Do you really want to take that chance?

Any new landlord should do their homework and check out who they are appointing. As with most businesses, you can pay Letting Agents a variety of prices, starting as low as 6% and going as high as 15% - you'll probably find that you are best off somewhere around the middle.

Find out who it is who will be doing the work - your High Street Estate Agent might have just one person looking after lettings - you should ask what happens if they are ill or on holiday. The same goes for back bedroom operators. You might get excellent initial service when you're one of only a handful of customers, but what happens if they get flu, need a holiday, or have to rent an office and employ others?

Always ask for testimonials and see at least 3 agents. Ask the pertinent questions. What are your occupancy rates? Who will be managing my property? Who will be my point of contact? Is my tenant's deposit money protected? Are your staff qualified, and by whom? Are you regulated? Don't just go with the cheapest or easiest solution without doing your homework first, and as Bodie & Doyle used to say, if you want the job doing properly, leave it to the professionals.

Read the full Observer article here