Leighton Paul Property Limited
386 Penn Road
Wolverhampton
WV4 4DF
386 Penn Road
Wolverhampton
WV4 4DF
The Fees Tenants Are Paying
There are a lot of costs when it comes to renting a property and we have put together a list of the most common charges for you to look at.
Deposit -
You will normally pay a deposit which is between a month and 6 weeks worth of rent which your agent or landlord should put into a secure scheme, our deposits go in the DPS. If you leave the property in a good condition you will recieve your deposit back in full but the landlord may choose to take part or all of your deposit for the costs of repairing any damage to the property or having to give the property a deep clean once you have left.
Fees -
Letting agents will normally charge fees to help cover the cost of referencing you, most agents will do a credit check, previous landlord reference and an employment reference. The fees will also help to secure the property for you which means we will cancel all viewings relating to the property and get everything ready for you to move in. If you would like to know our fees please click here.
There is a development in relation to tenant fees which is banning the fee a tenant has to pay before they can move into a property, the government has recently announced this will be taking place around June time.
Whats included -
Depending on the property you might find that it comes furnished or unfurnished or that it includes bills within the rent price. Before you apply for a property it is always best to find out what is included with it, if it is furnished what will the landlord include; a washing machine, sofa, Tv or beds are all popular items that may be included.
Some landlords will also include all the bills in with the rent or just certain bills such as council tax or water. Once again always check if these are included or you have to pay them additionally to the rent.
Guarantor -
A lot of agents and landlords may ask for a guarantor to be added in with your application, this can be down to a number of reasons including;
In terms of the cost of renting a property it is important to research how much you will need to pay before deciding on a property otherwise you could be left disappointed if you find you can no longer afford to rent a property.
A look at how the rental market performed during November.
The rental market is always changing with rents either rising or sometimes falling, November was no different with the UK average rent increasing by 1.5%. The average UK rent now stands at £918, which includes London but if you exclude London it stands at around £760 which is up 0.9% on last year.
Depending on the part of the country you are in will depend on how much you have to pay for a property, looking at London the average rent is £1597pcm compared to the average rent in the West Midlands which currently stands at £688pcm. To look at the figures a bit closer a two bed property would generally be around £1921pcm in London whereas a two bed property in the West Midlands averages at around £781pcm which is majorly cheaper compared to what you would be looking at paying for a similar property in London.
Between October and November 2018 a lot of regions saw slight decrease in rents including the West Midlands which saw a £5 drop and the South East which saw a £21 decrease. Two regions did see an increase with the North East seeing a £2 rise and the South West seeing a £8 increase, which works out to a 0.4% and 1% monthly variation. The UK average rental figures have a -1.1% monthly variation but have a 1.5% annual variation, this shows that while monthly prices might be varying slightly the overall average in comparison to last year is still above 1%.
For the last two years most regions within the UK have seen an increase in rents with the West Midlands seeing a £22 increase from November 2016 when average rents were £666pcm, the South West has also seen an increase of £35 from when rents were £784pcm to £819pcm. Only the North East and Wales have seen a decrease in comparison with November 2016, with rents being down £13 and £6 respectively.
Even though the rental market in the UK is ever changing, for the past two years we have seen increases and very little decreases, even when these have appeared it has only been one or two regions that have experienced this. At the moment the market is quite stable with little variance taking place except for the occasional decrease with the vast proportion of areas experiencing increases of around 1% or more year on year.
Our top tips for being proactive this winter
During the colder months you may find that more maintenance issues are occurring, which generally start off as small issues but due to the cold weather they are intensified and can cost a lot of money to fix. We have put together a list of ways to be proactive this winter to help reduce the risk of you ending up with a big bill.
Getting a gas safe engineer to come and give the boiler a service is the best thing you can do before the cold winter comes as it helps to reduce the risk of anything going wrong with the boiler if you have already had a service completed on it. It is also best to make sure that you have checked that the water and pressure are all normal before deciding to switch the heating back on, after months of not using it.
Damaged guttering can be the cause of many damp problems after prolonged periods of heavy rain which is why during the months of September and October it is best to check that the guttering is still all connected properly and that there is no leaks from loose fittings. It is also worth checking that all brackets are still fixed in place properly so there is less chance of anything coming lose due to high winds or heaving rain, as well as checking for any blockages caused by leaves or any other rubbish.
Insulating the pipe work is going to help stop any leaks or burst pipes from occurring when it does get down to freezing temperatures. A lot of maintenance issues stem from burst pipes, which can cause water damage to properties and be a general inconvenience. Even if you do choose to insulate your pipework it is always good to know where the shut of valve is should you have any problems with the water.
Checking the roof is another key way to be prepared for the winter, as an already damaged roof won’t take long to cause you problems should we have any bad weather. Having a look over your roof every few weeks will help eliminate the risk of having damage; loose and missing tiles will allow for water damage to occur which could leave an even bigger issue than fixing the problem when it is first noticed.
Checking all the locks on your windows and doors before temperatures reach freezing point will stop the locks from sticking, this will help to reduce the risk of the locks snapping during the icy weather. Windows need to be checked to see if there are gaps around the frames which could be letting heat out, using some form of filler will help to reduce the heat loss from the house which in turn will help you save on heating bills.
If you have a fully working fire then it is best to get the chimney cleaned out every year to ensure there is no build up within the chimney itself. Getting the chimney cleared ensures there is little risk of a fire occurring due to the build up of dangerous gases and oils.
Garden maintenance is also something that should be considered before the cold weather comes, whether this includes giving the grass the last cut of the season or ensuring any trees or branches that could become dangerous are trimmed back to stop any coming down during the winds we may see.
How does Wolverhampton compare to other cities?
Over the years Wolverhampton has been rated from one of the worst cities to live in to one of the best to raise a family so throughout this blog we’ll explain how we think Wolverhampton compares to other cities around the country.
Throughout the last 10 years Wolverhampton has had its good press and a slightly more negative view on what life is like in the city, however, over the last few years there has been a more positive view over the city. Over the past 2 years we have seen a large amount of development that has been started or is in the plans to start soon, the revamp of the Mander Centre is a key piece of development, which has been completed within the last 2 years. This development alone allowed for the shopping centre to have a face lift and include a big department store such as Debenhams, this then made the centre a much more attractive shopping destination for people to visit. The city also has the west side development taking place soon which is going to include a 12 screen cinema, restaurants, 100 bed hotel, and a car park which will be a nice addition to the city centre and would save anyone looking to watch a film having to venture out of the city.
On the MoneySuperMarket list of best places to raise a family, the city came in as the third best city to bring up your family with 74 outstanding schools and 7 parks for the kids to enjoy. It was only beaten by Bath and Newcastle, who ranked 1st and 2nd. The closest city to Wolverhampton was Birmingham which ranked 20 places lower on the list. Throughout this survey there isn’t much difference within the top 3 places as Bath, who ranked 1st, only have 31 outstanding schools compared to Wolverhampton’s 74, while Newcastle has considerably lower job opportunities.
Wolverhampton also compares quite well with other cities up and down the country coming within the top 20% for affordable housing, as the average house price throughout the city is £141,000 compared to the national average of £244,000. The house market within the city is quite busy with some very nice properties currently available. As well as having affordable housing the average wage is also very good at £30,408, which once again ranks quite well up against any other city in the country. The city also has a wide range of job opportunities available with an average of 22,223 jobs being available within Wolverhampton.
Due to the fact the city is located within an area that has good transport links with other parts of the country we are in the top 40% for the best transport and connectivity links. Currently we have a big development taking place at the train station with it being developed to be able to handle the amount of trains and people that pass through it every day. The midland metro, which runs into the heart of the city, is also being developed to include a stop at the train station which would help anyone travelling from the station or the bus station have better access to it.
The city as a whole has improved and with the development plans in place will continue to improve and make it a more attractive city for people to move to. Within the last year there has been a more positive opinion on the city and people have come together more to celebrate the city. This was mainly shown when Wolverhampton Wanderers won the Championship title and the city was packed with people celebrating and enjoying themselves.
As an estate agents we have noticed a lot of people moving to Wolverhampton from London and the surrounding areas which can be put down to a number of different factors such as more affordable housing being available and less crime and antisocial behaviour taking place in the city. There are also more job opportunities available with bigger firms coming into the city or being on the border, some of these include; Jaguar Land Rover, UTC Aerospace, and the Poundland distribution centre. All of these big businesses help to make Wolverhampton an attractive place to move as well as the little business that are all around the city.
Wolverhampton on a whole has a much more positive outlook due to all the development taking place and the opportunities that are being made available to people compared to a few years ago. Compared to a lot of other cities around the country the city has a lot of upcoming plans that could really help to shape it as well as having a good schooling system, nice areas and places for people to relax.
WV4 Property Market Statistics
The property market within the WV4 postcode area of Wolverhampton is a very in demand area with property coming and going all the time. The following statistics show how much the average property price and the most common types you will find within the WV4 area.
During the month of June there were 48 properties up for rent with 12 coming onto the market during the last two weeks of the month, the average rent for the area is £614pcm. Depending on the type of property you have and the condition can greatly affect how much rent you can achieve per month, the most common house types are semi-detached and 2 or 3 bed which can both differ on the amount of rent they can bring in.
Looking a bit closer at the statistics for the WV4 area it shows that the most common property type is a flat, which doesn’t mean that is what most people will go for, as flats can take longer to let. A flat in this postcode area has an average rental value of £525pcm while a house, which is the second most common property type, has a rental value of £764pcm with 2 and 3 bed being the most popular.
A two bed property is the most common type within the WV4 area and takes on average 74 days to let while a 3 bed property is also as common as a two bed property with an average of 212 days taken to let – as a landlord I wouldn’t pay too much attention to these statistics as we have never struggled or taken that long to let a property within the WV4 area.
The rental side of the WV4 postcode is an extremely demanded area of Wolverhampton and generally, for us, it will take one to two weeks to let the property – sometimes less and we also achieve way about the average rental amount such as an average of £650pcm for apartments and £795pcm for houses.
Looking at the sale side of the WV4 postcode it shows a healthy market where the average price paid is around £183,448. Looking at the market stats for the last 3 months we can see that there were 31 sales in total and an average price paid of £191,333, if we look even further into the stats the most popular house type within WV4 is a semi-detached house, which were selling for an average of £182,059 with 16 sales in the last 3 months while a detached house would set you back £342,180 with 5 sales in the last 3 months.
Throughout the last 20 years we can see a steady increase of house prices within the WV4 area as 20 years ago the average house price paid was £136,443 compared to the most recent average paid of £191,333, this is great news if you are now selling your house as the value would of increased quite a lot compared to when you first bought the property.
The property market within the WV4 area is a very in demand area of Wolverhampton that is never short of buyers or tenants and the area is always going to be a stronger area to invest in comparison to other areas within Wolverhampton.