Preparation for rental

Are you the lucky owner of an unoccupied apartment? It doesn’t matter how you acquired this property, whether it’s a planned business plan, an inheritance, or a change in life plans – in any case it’s worth renting it out so that it doesn’t generate costs, fees to the cooperative, or neglect caused by not living there. And although it is the acquisition of an apartment that seems to be the most complicated process, you are only now facing the biggest challenge – if you are asking yourself how to rent an apartment safely this article is for you.

The process of renting an apartment has been divided into 5 stages to make the article more clear and understandable. Careful planning of each stage allows you to rent an apartment faster.

1. Select a target group

Tenants can be divided in terms of their characteristics. It is worth considering what kind of tenants we expect in our rental apartment, then we will prepare the best adapted offer to them. The most common types are:

• Students – Renting a flat to this target group is usually quick and profitable. It is particularly profitable to divide the flat into rooms of around 8-10 m² and rent them separately. If possible, it is worth moving the kitchen into a wide corridor and arranging the kitchen into an extra room. In such mini-apartments, it is necessary to add another toilet. However, it should be taken into account that renting to students may involve holiday vacancies and a party lifestyle.

• Families with children and pets – Renting to families can often be profitable because flats suitable for families with children are in high demand while supply is low. In other words, it is still a niche on the Polish market. If you have ever tried to rent a flat with a pet and a child, you probably know what you are talking about. What might this be due to? Often, this target group is discouraged to potential landlords because of the possibility of more damage to the flat by children and animals and the fear of timely payments. However, by taking out tenant’s liability insurance and using an occasional tenancy agreement (there is another article on this subject) we can keep these concerns to a minimum.

• Corporate customers/business people – This target group is associated with very good profits, so it is the most popular target group, but it requires very good quality of finish and interior design and a number of amenities for the tenant. The building itself, in which the flat is located, should be

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If you already know who you want to rent your apartment to….

2. Tailor housing to your target audience

If you want to rent your property quickly and at a good price, it will prove necessary to tailor the property to the specific target group you have chosen. You may find it necessary to renovate your apartment. Write down all the equipment that is on the apartment and think what is missing in it? If you want to rent to students, divide the apartment into rooms and equip each with a single bed, a desk and a closet. If you have chosen businessmen you will have to adapt your apartment to their high requirements. Any everyday items will also be valuable equipment – iron, vacuum cleaner, plates, pots, cutlery. To stand out in the market, think about what you can do better than your competitors. Each target group has different needs, so it’s important to pick one, taking into account location, building design, neighborhood and demand, as well as your own tenant preferences. There is no such thing as a universal rental product.

3. Prepare apartments for rent

To make the apartment rent faster and more attractive in the eyes of the tenant, it is worth investing in a professional, thorough cleaning. It may also be useful to ozonate the air and/or use essential oils. Any dust, stains on upholstery, neglected induction hobs, dirty windows or limescale on fixtures will quickly catch the eye and repel a potential renter to rent. The first impression will stay in the memory of the tenant who will be guided by it when choosing his property.

When the apartment has passed the white glove test it’s time for… home staging, or so-called interior makeover. A few pillows, candles, a picture on the wall and getting rid of all personal belongings – such as photos, private albums is just the basis. It’s worth putting this issue in the professional hands of a make-up artist, because an apartment for rent should be decorated in a minimalist way that harmonizes with the background.

All that’s left to do is to take professional, bright photos of the property – if you’re not a photographer, it’s worth handing over to a professional in this regard, too, because even the best-decorated apartment will look bad in dark and badly cropped photos. A well-decorated apartment and photographs is an investment that is sure to pay off quickly.

4. Tenant verification and contract selection

How to choose a tenant? There are many ways to minimize the risk of choosing an unreliable tenant. Some follow their intuition, others ask for references from the previous landlord, others ask for the place of work… The best way is to combine several different and select the best candidate.

A contract is a document that you write down for bad times, so it is important that it is refined and well chosen.

5. Make decisions

The above five steps describe the most important aspects to go through to maximize income and minimize risk. However, this is only half of the way… there are still more steps ahead of the owner, such as filing the lease agreement with the authorities, choosing the form of taxation, settling the tenant’s utilities, settling accounts with the cooperative, being available in case of problems, breakdowns and many other, often unpredictable scenarios that life writes. Therefore, the final step is to decide whether to rent the apartment yourself or with the help of a manager who will take care of everything based on his experience.

Renting an apartment is a complicated process, so if you don’t have the experience or ability to handle it yourself it’s worth considering entrusting your apartment into the hands of a professional manager.