Tips for Successful Single Lets in Peterborough

You have a range of rental formats to consider when investing in or expanding your landlord property portfolio. You might want the relative simplicity of a single let or you may be considering an HMO – where you let out a single property to a number of individual tenants. Each format has its own benefits and challenges.

Understanding the context of the local market in which you are operating can be helpful since it allows you to understand both demand and positioning. In Peterborough, a focus on regeneration and development brings opportunity for landlords and demand from tenants. Here’s how to make the most of those opportunities.

Defining A Single Let

A single let is defined as a property that you let out to one tenant – which could be an individual or a family. In this case, once the tenancy is signed your tenant is responsible for paying for utilities such as water, broadband, gas, council tax and so on, while as their landlord you are responsible for maintenance of the property and paying the ground rent and service charge if it’s a leasehold property.

Ensure You Conform With New Rules Around Selective Licensing

One of the biggest changes to impact Peterborough landlords this year is the introduction of a new Selective Licensing Scheme which launched in designated areas within Peterborough on 11 March 2024. It means that if you are now a landlord privately renting out properties in these designated areas then you must apply and pay for a license. You will need to supply electronic versions of various documents such as your Energy Performance Certificate, property insurance policy number and so on and ensure ongoing compliance to the requirements of the license, which includes ensuring such certificates remain up to date throughout. The scheme is administered by Home Safe on behalf of Peterborough City Council and covers a variety of housing types within 10 electoral wards in Peterborough.

Be Aware of Housing Strategy Developments

Understanding your competition is key. A public consultation into Peterborough City Council’s drafting Housing Strategy for 2024-2029 closed at the beginning of March with the final version to be published later this year. As it stands the strategy focuses on growth and regeneration through improved place making, the addition of 1,250 affordable homes and improvements in housing quality and standards. It also aims to address the need for accessible and adapted housing.

There are already various regeneration projects in discussion in the area which include new housing as part of their masterplan and could therefore be interesting investment targets for landlords since they will also create greater tenant demand.

A £65m project to redevelop the area around Peterborough’s railway station could create 4,000 jobs and 700 homes, for example, complementing the city’s accessibility with its 50-minute commute to London’s Kings Cross. There are also developments at Fletton Quays and with Peterborough’s new university that could pull in students and new workers alike, further stimulating rental demand for single lets in Peterborough.

We Can Help

At Progressive Lets we are experts in the rental market in the Peterborough area and help landlords find and manage properties within a 50-mile radius. Get in touch to find out more.