Living Property joins Zoopla network

Living Property, specialists in property rental and management based at Beccles within Suffolk’s Waveney Valley have joined the Zoopla property portal network and in so doing will see all of its clients rental instructions published across Archant, the UK largest independent regional publishers homes24.co.uk property portal as well as the properties being searchable via Yahoo UK & Ireland, Sky.com, UpMyStreet, AOL and MSN.

Paula Cunningham, Director comments, “In joining the UK’s number two property website the Zoopla network membership compliments our existing portal membership of rightmove, the UK leading portal. Our deliberate on-line strategy is to invest in the marketing and promotion of our landlord’s properties to minimise void periods thus ensuring properties are tenanted as quickly as possible”.

Kim Davies, fellow Director of Living Property added, “with 87% of all property search now undertaken on-line, in recognition that around 1 in 3 UK adults between the ages of 24 and 45 now own a smart phone and the fact that 47% of Zoopla network audience is unique we felt that the time was right to expand our on-line marketing strategy which now also includes our livingproperty.net website being mobile search enabled”.

If you have any questions about property rental email info@livingproperty.co or phone 0845 459 4095

UK ends love affair with home ownership?

Latest figures from Communities and Local Government (CLG) have revealed owner occupation of residential property is now at its lowest for 11 years, with one in every six homes in England now a private rental property,

The metrics show that 17.4% of UK housing is now within the private rented sector, an increase from 16.4% in 2009 and up 229,000 by number.

Since 2000, the number of properties in the private rented sector, which currently stands at 3.9 million, has risen by 1.8 million, reflecting the shift in housing tenure England. The growth trend is likely to continue for the foreseeable future due to mortgage lenders continued risk adverse attitude to lending to would be buyers.

The number of properties in the owner-occupied sector fell from 14.9 million in 2009 to 14.8 million last year – the lowest since 2000.

The jury is out on whether this is a permanent shift, for certain private rental is no longer stigmatised as the less well offs way to habitation, coupled with other factors such as a significant improvement of the quality and variety of rental homes available for renters it highly likely that we are indeed seeing a long term shift.

If your struggling to sell you home and want advice, without obligation, about renting call Living Property Lettings & Management on 0845 459 4095

All in the course of a days work!

After seeing all the troubles in London and around the UK in the last few days there was not a hoody in sight today as I ventured out with my little Smart car onto the Reedham ferry in Norfolk. Viewing the Norfolk Broads scenery and witnessing the smiles on the faces of holiday’s makers it appears Britain is perhaps not as ‘broken’ as some would have us believe. Letting and property management is hard work and to make a success of it, like anything, you have to put in the hard yards but there are times like today when it brings along a little unplanned adventure which makes everything worth while! p.s. I now have a beautiful mansion for rent at £2,100 per month, fantastic location with views to die for, interested please email me paula@livingproperty.co

Living Property Lettings & Management acquire Homewell of Bungay

Living Property, specialists in the rental and management of residential property in Suffolk’s Waveney Valley have acquired the business of Homewell formally trading as Rentwell based in Bungay, Suffolk.

Paula Cunningham and Kim Davies, founders and directors are delighted to welcome Amanda Coates who joins their team from Homewell.

Paula comments, “Kim and I are well acquainted with Bungay and we won’t be strangers to many of Homewell’s landlords as we worked in Bungay for our former employee, Howards, who sadly closed their Bungay branch several years ago which motivated us to set up and strike out on our own. The purchase of Homewell allows us to become reacquainted with many past customers and we been truly flattered by the number of positive comments and vows of continued support of the landlords”.

Kim adds, “Paula and I are passionate in what we do and our aim is always to offer an exceptional and trusted rental and property management service delivered at highly competitive fees. We are in business for the long game, our customers know and understand this and reward us with the loyalty of their business”.

To contact Paula email paula@livingproperty.co, Kim at kim@livingproperty.co or Amanda at amanda@livingproperty.co  

A Guide to UK Residential Rental Yield Calculation

What is rental yield? Rental yield is the amount of money a landlord receives in rent over one year, shown as a percentage of the amount of money invested in the property. A property investor needs to consider costs above and below the ‘plimsoll’ line as well as void periods i.e. the period during any one year that the property stands vacant during tenant change over, latest ARLA data states void period are running at UK average of 17 days per annum.

Cost considerations are but not limited to:

1) costs of finance setup - booking fee, arrangement fee, valuation, brokers fees
2) legal fees, searches
3) costs of any refurbishment (including your own time)

From the monthly rental return, you should remove

1) costs of finance - repayments/interest
2) costs of compliance - safety checks, repairs, insurances
3) allowance for void periods between lettings
4) service costs (if applicable)
5) management fees/finders fees if using an agency
6) Advertising costs

A basic formula for rental yield is:

mrr = monthly rental return

i = investment

yield = mrr*12/i*100

If you want to factor in loan costs a calculator can be found at http://bit.ly/lvMuB9

Living Property’s ‘Smart’ Move!

As one of the leading residential lettings and property management businesses, Living Property, operating throughout South Norfolk, North Suffolk and the Waveney Valley has been keen to reduce their carbon footprint and operate in an environmentally sustainable way.

Paula Cunningham, founder and director of Living Property Lettings & Management comments, “As a mother and shortly to be grandmother I think it is vital that as adults we lead by example to our sibling generations in minimising wherever possible our carbon footprint. From the launch of Living Property we choose to recycle our waste, use recycled paper, communicate electronically and run the most efficient printers possible.”

Paula comments further, “ I happened to spot our local car mechanic, Wiggs Motor Company, had a cute second hand Smart car for sale which I bought and in order to give it a new lease of life had it treated to a Living Property branded body wrap which was done by Norfolk based Unique Signs & Graphics. I am absolutely delighted with the result and the fact that it’s another positive move to improving our operating carbon efficiency.”

Living Property Supports Annual Duck Race.

Paula Cunningham & Quackers

On your marks...get set.....go

Living Property was delighted to support the annual Beccles Duck race held on Sunday 5th September by entering their corporate duck apply named ‘Quackers’ by Director Kim Davies. The annual event held in aid of the Beccles Sea Cadets, Beccles Mini Rugby, Hook em Junior Fishing Trophy, Beccles Army Cadets and Kuk Sool Martial Arts offered a fine spectacle as on lookers cheered in the sunshine at Beccles Quay.


Paula Cunningham, Co Founder and Director said “Kim and I are only too pleased to support this worthwhile fundraiser as both of us live and work within our community and the organisations that stand to benefit do such a great job for our local youth its only right that we play our small part to help. We had such fun getting Quackers ready for her trip down the Waveney and she did us proud.....we cannot wait for next year’s outing!”

.....in the mean time look out for Quackers on her travels!