The rent review you haven't had is money you're not collecting
Your Tenant Is Great. Your Rent Hasn't Moved in Three Years. That's a Problem.
I understand why landlords avoid rent reviews.
You have got a brilliant tenant. They pay on time, look after the place, never give you any bother. The last thing you want to do is have an awkward conversation about money and risk them walking out.
So the rent stays where it is. For a year. Then another. Then another.
And every single month, the gap between what you are charging and what the market is achieving quietly grows.
I spoke to a landlord a while back who had two long-term tenants, both brilliant. He had not raised the rent on either property in four years. When we looked at what comparable properties in the same Bolton postcodes were achieving, the gap was between £60 and £90 per month per property.
Across both properties over twelve months, he was leaving somewhere between £1,440 and £2,160 a year on the table. Over four years the number was genuinely painful to look at.
He knew the market had moved. He just kept putting the conversation off.
The thing about a well-handled rent review
Here is what most landlords do not realise until they have done it properly a few times.
A professionally managed rent review does not damage a good tenancy. Done with the right notice, at a fair and evidenced market rate, with a clear and professional letter, the vast majority of tenants accept it and stay. They understand that rents move. They just need to be treated with respect through the process.
The ones who react badly to a fair rent increase were often storing up other issues anyway.
How we handle it at Harrisons
We monitor what properties are achieving across Bolton and Greater Manchester continuously. It is part of the job. We know what a three-bed in Horwich is going for right now, what a two-bed flat near the town centre is achieving, what tenants in Farnworth are prepared to pay.
When a rent review is due, we handle it. We write to the tenant, serve the correct notice, manage the conversation if there is one, and get it done. Our landlords do not have to have that slightly awkward exchange at all.
That is part of what the management fee pays for. And it almost always pays for itself many times over.
What happened with this landlord
We served notices on both properties. Both tenants accepted. Neither gave notice to leave.
Within two months he was collecting an additional £140 a month.
I kept putting it off because I did not want the hassle, he said. Turns out it was not any hassle at all.
Your action point this week
Pull up the current rent on every property you own.
Now look up what similar properties in the same street or postcode are currently achieving. If there is a gap, you are losing money every single month.
If you are not sure how to have that conversation with your tenant, that is exactly what we are here for.
If any of this sounds familiar, I would love to have a chat. We offer a free, no-obligation portfolio review to landlords across Bolton and Greater Manchester. No sales pitch, no pressure — just an honest conversation about what your portfolio could be doing better. Give us a call on 01204 659670, drop me an email at katie@harrisonsnet.co.uk or visit harrisonsnet.co.uk. We are right here on Newbrook Road and the kettle is always on.
Here's to your property success!
Katie
Harrisons Estate Agents
01204 659670 | katie@harrisonsnet.co.uk | harrisonsnet.co.uk