Should I start renovations whilst I'm marketing my property?

Question

Answer

It’s great that you want to update your property, but you must bear in mind that if you already have viewings booked you must make the potential tenants aware that the rent might potentially change.

A courtesy call before the viewing would be advisable, which would allow anyone who isn’t prepared to pay additional rent to cancel their viewing. Should this happen, you can simply change the advertised price of your property and attract new tenants who are prepared to pay a higher rent – a good kitchen is a huge selling point so you shouldn’t have a problem attracting viewers, as long as you are realistic with the pricing.

Before you start work on knocking your kitchen out, the other option is to contact the potential tenants who already have a viewing booked, and ask them if they would prefer a new kitchen and higher rent, or the current kitchen and the rent to remain the same – don’t forget, they booked the viewing on the basis of the fixtures and fittings that you already have. You may want to keep their viewings in the diary, and if you find a tenant that is happy with your property, and kitchen, as it is, then why change it? Undertaking significant renovation projects can be a lengthy and expensive task!