WHAT MAKES A GOOD RENTAL PROPERTY?

Travelling time

Travel industry figures state that about 25 per cent of all potential visitors to Spain will be deterred if it involves travelling for more than one hour from an airport at either end of their journey, and if that time rises to one and a half hours it will deter around 50 per cent. This may well mean firstly that some people never leave home and secondly Spanish rural cottages are difficult to let. But the key criterion for renting is that the closer to a Spanish airport the easer it is to find tenants.

Facilities

A holiday rental property should be located as close as possible to main attractions such as a beach and shopping facilities. For some tenants the proximity to a historic town or the countryside would be a major asset, while for others it might be nightlife that is the main attraction.

Having a property located close to activities such as golf, sailing, tennis and hiking can achieve rental income outside the high season. A property near to a golf course will not only have excellent views and lush greenery, but golfers keep on coming all year round. A bonus of many golf courses is that they are near to a beautiful coast thus providing a double tenant market.

Convenience

Holiday tenants do not want to cook all the time. They want to eat out. A property will be much easier to let if it is within easy walking distance of bars and restaurants. A swimming pool is necessary in some areas, as properties with pools are much easier to let than those without. Some private letting agencies will not handle properties without a pool.

Owners’ possessions

One difficult judgment is deciding the contents and a standard of furnishing for each rental property. It can be argued that any standard of furnishing is permissible provided somebody is willing to pay the rent. But letting through an agency, a holiday company or a Tourist Board, or positioning the letting up market, means certain minimum standards must be met.

For a property to be attractive to paying tenants, the furniture and fittings should be comfortable and of good quality. The three most common complaints about holiday lettings are uncomfortable beds, poor quality and lack of the kitchen equipment and lack of easy chairs.

A rental which is occupied by the owner should not have too many personal items lying around as personal possessions tend to clutter up properties, so tenants have nowhere to put their own bits and pieces. Tenants actually want a rental to look similar to a hotel room – clean, bland, no clutter, sterile and no personal traces of the owner which means, ironically, that when the owner occupies the property, they have to live like a tenant.

CHOOSING LETTING AGENTS

The advantage of using a letting agency is that they put some distance between the owner and the tenant, they handle references, inventories, deposits, and direct debits and they can intervene if disputes arise. No spare time? Then use an agent, who will take care of everything, and save the time and expense of advertising and finding clients. It also makes sense to use an agency if the owner lives a long way from the property, in say the UK, or if it is a specialised property likely to command a high rental.

No agent can magically produce a tenant. Agencies can do their best, but they cannot create tenants where a market does not exist. They cannot guarantee that there will be no void periods, or that the property will be let for 365 days of the year. If an owner finds tenants for holiday letting then all the paid rent is retained, but using a letting agency will cost at least 12.5 per cent if not more, of the agreed rental in commission. These charges rise when increased services are offered.

Always choose a letting agent with care. They should have a separate client account that cannot be raided to keep their business going. Use a specialist letting agency, rather than an estate agent who has a letting business as a sideline. Where lettings are their only concern, they have to work harder otherwise they have no business.

The agreement between the owner and a letting agent or even a tour operator is called a Contrato de Encargo de Appensmiento (Contract of Letting). It is normally written in Spanish with an English translation.