No doubt you will have seen the countless newspaper headlines over the past months about how rents have been soaring in the current economic climate.

Now it is very easy to think that if you haven't increased rents then you are missing out on extra ££££s of income. But as always, be careful of following what the press says.

You may end up losing money instead of making it!

Whilst I do accept that rents are higher, I am certain that in the vast majority of cases rents are only higher as a result of rents going up when properties are re-advertised for re-let. In other words, landlords who have existing tenants in properties are not generally increasing rents.

Why?

Quite simply because they do not want to 'rock the boat'? If you have a good tenant who is always paying on time, then would you want to risk upsetting them, giving them something else to worry about, or forcing them to look elsewhere for property by increasing the rents?

It is certainly something that I am not a fan of, and know of many, many other landlords who just don't see this as good practice.

However, what can work well in your favour and get you some tenant 'brownie' points, is to drop a little reminder to say, even though the AST says that a rent increase is due, we are holding your rents the same. It is amazing how much loyalty a simple letter like this can create.

At the end of the day, tenants hold the purse strings for our portfolio. I'd rather have a hassle free tenancy, with guaranteed rents rather than run the risk of a good tenant leaving and having to run the risk of finding another good tenant!

However, even though I don't consider increasing rents during mid-tenancy, there always is an exception - when I want to remove a tenant. Increasing the rents (and giving a genuinely good reason) can be a good way to get a tenant looking elsewhere.

So, in summary - really think twice about when you will be increasing rents.

This blog has been provided by Amer Siddiq from PropertyPortfolioSoftware.co.uk. They provide award winning property management software to help landlords get better organised.