State of the Rentals Market

Dont know Bridge Holmes - might be good - there is one down in Elviria that I have had favourable comments about - think they are quite expensive though but at the same time very reliable. Frequently here you get what you pay for. Elviria is only 5 minutes away from the Calahonda cambio if you dont know. Thus relatively close by for inspections etc.

Speak to Sarah Dignan sarah@propertysolutions.es or 952 839 826 . I would say tell her that Patrick Robinson said to contact them but someone might accuse me of getting a commission which I dont so you had better not mention it.

Rgds

we used property solutions in Elviria for our apartment on Casares Costa.

They did not get us any bookings for an entire year!

Alan

I'm in the process of buying off plan and have been advised not to be too reliant on turning too much of a profit. I hope you have at least made some profit albeit not enough to retire on yet?

On the rental side, many of my friens who do rent say that they have built up a good customer base by renting to colleagues, using word of mouth and advertising themselves. Much cheaper than paying someone else to do it, why let them make all the money.

Phil

We couldn't rent our flat out for the first 18 months as we were still on builders electric and water which are prone to cuts quite often.  We could have laid ourselves open to all sorts if people had paid for a holiday and had it ruined by not utilities.

We went with a rental company for the next year and had 6 weeks out of the year rented.  After paying the rental company, utilities, community charges,cleaning  etc we were out of pocket by almost 500 euros.  Not too bad considering 500 euros a year to run a property is pretty good.

For the last year we have been renting to work colleagues, family and friends and it's been amazing how many want to go.  We reduced the amount we charged but asked them to take over their own bedding to cut down on laundry bills.  We found a lovely Spanish lady to go in and clean up between lets and she has been great.  Last year we actually made a profit, albeit only 300 euros, which has made us very happy.  It is also amazing how many of the people we rent to want to go back and we have the ideal situation of going over ourselves whenever we want to.  We only charge a 100 euros a week from people we know which covers utility bills and cleaning etc but it means we cover our costs of running the place.  If we had to pay a mortgage on it we would, obviously, be well out of pocket now.  Virtually all the houses in our area are for holiday lets which means the competition is vast and most places seem empty when we visit, except maybe for July and August.

I would suggest a very good letting company if you want to make a profit out of it and pay your mortgage but, as I said, the competition is very high . I am talking of the south Costa Blanca area.

A word of warning to anyone letting their holiday homes via an Agency.

This week whilst we were here in Spain, one of our neighbours "turned up" for a short break, only to find that when they opened their apartment, other people's "gear" was inside! They had been trying to contact their Agent by phone and E-mail the previous week to see if the aprtment was free for them to come over, without success, so they just turned up. They then had to pay to rent out a neighbour's apartment..........!!

When they asked resident neighbours about when their aprtment had been occupied, they found that the dates the Agent had given them for rentals, didn't match with the dates of occupation the neighbours had witnessed!  The Agent had been letting it out and pocketing the money...........how VERY dare they!

I am not saying that all Agencies are in this scam, most I am sure are reputable and honest, but there are some unscrupulous people out there, it DOES happen, so be warned.

I wonder what leonard had to say...what dear, me dear, you dear..how dare you turn up without telling me!!! 

Seriously as my first summer is approaching as an owner and possible lessee I have been worried that this might or could happen...i wonder how prevelant the problem is.

Does anybody have any tips to safequard against this.???

john

When we purchased our apartment our agent advised us that if we were going to let the apartment it would be best use at least 2 letting agencies so that they have to check in with each other when they let it as this problem is quite common in Spain.  Seems like good advice to me.

Julie 

I've just bought in South Costa Blanca and was told that the rentals market was wonderful - now you've all got me worried!!  I have a deal that the rental agency pay the first year's mortgage in return for the peak 16 weeks but am hoping that it is rented for the rest of the year too.  Having read your comments will seriously look at renting to colleagues and maybe even trying an ad in local Golf Clubs as I'm on a Golf Estate.

Thanks for all the info and advice everyone - I still feel such a novice at this game!!

Claire

Hi Lytton good to know someone in the forum actuallu has experience with property solutions but I have to say Elviria is a long way from Casares and if it had been me I probably would have used someone more local. I have friends who used them and seem to have been happy.

Fibbys point about dodgy agents is very valid - this is certainly not the first time it has happened and to be sure it wont be the last.  

hello can anyone tell me if you can get insurance cover and rent without the  L F O  thanks bill marshall

Bill, I've already told you that you can get insurance cover (as indeed we did & we hadn't a LFO for two years almost). However, I've also told you that to complete without a LFO is not the way to go. You would be living there illegally. Builders can, & have been known to, cut off the supply of water & electricity to your property or charge whatever they want. Our builder cut our earlier phase off re water as he demanded more money. After three days in July without water the phase had to give in & cough up. He demanded extra money off our phase so we opted to all pay what he wanted as he was obviously going to cut us off too if we didn't.

You'll be at your builder's mercy & if you think you're hard done to now, your problems could be far worse in time without the certicate.

Our friends did sell without a LFO actually very recently though I don't know how. Maybe their buyer's lawyer wasn't too careful.

As you know we are here to help so please take heed. If you opt to complete without the LFO you could be in serious trouble.