What do landlords need to know for 2022?

Before giving you some tips on how to become a landlord, let’s talk first about some of stress points related to it.

What to know before becoming a landlord?

Renting your property as a shared house can turn into a good source of income, but you will have to take care of some costs and spend time on it.

There are a lot of factors that will have an impact on your first experience as a landlord, from rental agreements to tenants selection. Let’s have a look at some pain points for a landlord:

• Taking care of delayed rental payments: This can be emotionally exhausting as you never know if and when you’ll get it paid;
• Dealing with continuous maintenance: tenants can call you at any time to have their shower fixed. It can be a really stressful element for many landlords;
• Knowing your tenants: you don’t really know who you have in your property until they have moved in and it can be hard, at some point, to get control of your property again.

To some extent, there is also a degree of luck involved but if you rely on a property management agency like Vauban & Fort, you won’t have to take care of anything and you can confide all the hard works to professionals.

Five tips for becoming a landlord

Nevertheless, here are some tips if you’re already a landlord or if you’re thinking of becoming one:

1. Rely on professional help for your property management

the collection of payments, maintenance of the property, selection of tenants, and online presence of your home as we do at Vauban & Fort for all the properties in Luxembourg.

2. Be aware of your landlord’s rights

As a landlord, there are many obligations but there are also some rights. You can set the rent, know who is living in your property and be given access to the property on specific occasions such as when repairs are to be done or you would like to inspect it;

3. Arrange for a strong tenancy agreement / contract

The contract has to include basic information of the tenant, landlord and property together with the duration of the tenancy, payment dates and notice period to end the contract. It is essential to get the rental contract right as it can otherwise become tricky when things go wrong.

4. Check your landlord insurance

God forbid but over the long term it is likely that at some point or another things might go wrong and if you are really unlucky you might end up with costly repairs. This is particularly difficult for the grey zone of ‘wear and tear’ whereas a landlord you are expected to replace electrical equipment if it is broken but then what do you do if your tenants abuse these repeatedly. For this reason, it is essential to be covered by a good insurance and here in Luxembourg we’d recommend AXA and also FOYER.

5. Hire a property management company

As a landlord you have lots of things to do such as collecting payments and dealing with delays, taking care of the maintenance of the property sometimes even on Saturdays and knowing who is living in your house. If you hire an agency to manage your property all this stress is not on your shoulders anymore, so time to enjoy a cold beer and kick back while others do the hard work. Cheers to that!

Final thoughts on what landlords need to know

Renting a room or a shared house often requires a lot of time, expertise, and knowledge. At Vauban & Fort, we put in place everything you need to succeed in your job as a landlord. You don’t have to worry about anything!

Join our community of the best landlords and get listed on our homes ready to be rented out in Luxembourg.