Can you command higher rents with sustainable properties?

I’m often asked why I spend time converting properties into high-spec sustainable rentals when they could be immediately filled with paying tenants. The answer might be a good way for you to boost the profitability of your investment too.?

A while ago, a friend of ours with access to a little investment money bought some flats to rent out and make a bit of additional income. At this time my husband and I had our own home, and were fortunate enough to have no mortgage. So I also cobbled some money together and my friend put me in contact with a company that found a flat for me to buy. It turned out not to be worth very much. In fact it’s still worth ￡125k after 10 years – its value hasn’t gone up at all.?

I learned quickly enough that success in property doesn’t mean every deal is going to go right. I was a rookie, I didn’t have a clue. Somebody had simply told me that if I gave them ￡20k, they’d find me a flat. And all I cared about was the fact that I could rent it out and make money, and by renting it out, it has been making money for me ever since. Even if the property itself has never increased its value.

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Ask yourself if you’re buying for cash or appreciation

There are two different strategies, you buy for cash or you buy for capital appreciation. I run a balanced portfolio with both types of properties. Your properties either put money in your bank accounts, or they become assets that grow in value. If you have an agent managing your property then you’re not doing anything other than receiving income. What you want to do is make money in a passive way.

And to do that effectively, you have to place the people paying that money at the centre of the equation. So I decided to educate myself on the requirements of my tenants and the trends developing around them, and when I did, I realised all our brand values pointed to running the business according to certain standards.?

We committed to answering all calls within 24 hours, and getting someone onsite to fix the issue within 48 hours. A consequence of this is that we were very fortunate that we never had any big problems with our tenants, and in the rare event that they couldn’t pay, we made arrangements that helped them and we promised our new tenants that we wouldn’t raise the rents until a year has passed.?

Then I realised there were many other things I could do. I did a lot of research and asked myself what I could introduce to reduce the running costs of these properties. There was a lot I could apply to make these houses so much cheaper to heat and power.?

It’s win-win for me, because I’m delivering homes with a high standard of insulation, with great EPC ratings, in great condition – and as a consequence, tenants stay for three-to-five years on average.

Completing the houses as if they were our own meant introducing refurbishment that was more expensive. But the money followed: because they were finished to a higher standard, we began to attract the highest rents in the street.

Every time I would buy a house and prepare it for rental, that house became the most expensive on the road. Where others in the street might rent at ￡1,200, mine was on for ￡1,500 to ￡1,700, additional revenue for essentially the same house.

This is a real monthly gain, and when you consider the current financial incentives to create these sustainable properties, you’ll realise it’s money you make back at a much quicker rate than you might otherwise expect. The government is currently offering ￡7,500 under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and if you’re eligible, then the Great British Insulation Scheme also offers major savings on installations that will save you a lot on your annual energy bills.

Landlords worry about failing to recoup their initial investment, but if you get a quality property assessment and take the right approach to creating a sustainable property, you’ll make that money back from the moment you find the right tenant to fill it.

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The work we do at The Green Landlady could help you navigate 2025 in confidence. We offer consultancy for businesses and small groups, retrofit training and energy-efficiency. If you have an audience with an appetite for this information, please get in touch. Our founder Raquel Queral is a regular fixture on the conference circuit, on podcasts and at trade shows.?