How to Effectively Pack Your Belongings When Moving Home

Moving home is noted as one of the most stressful experiences of our lives. That’s no surprise, considering what a mammoth affair it can be. Transporting your entire life to a new location was never meant to be easy. However, there are measures you can take to reduce your stress levels and ensure a smooth transition to your new home. Here, we’ll give a few handy tips on how to effectively pack up your belongings. So, let’s get to it.

Buy plenty of packing materials

Before you can start packing, you need to ensure you have enough packing materials to store all of your possessions. It can be surprising at just how much stuff you actually own when you start packing. So, to avoid coming up short, buy plenty of packing materials. Boxes, tape, containers, bubble wrap, and anything else you may need should be bought in abundance. It’s always wise to have too many packing materials than not enough. Any excess packaging you have can be stored for future use.

Plan and pack well in advance

This is the most important aspect of facilitating a smooth transition to your new home. Without proper planning, you face the risk of having a disorganised, haphazard move. If you’ve got a move coming up over the next few months, then start planning and packing now. You can never be too organised when it comes to moving home, and formulating a plan of action will not only put your mind at ease, it will also make the whole moving process much, much easier.

Start packing non essential items now

We all have items in our home that can be considered non essential. Items such as decorations, rarely used goods, and possessions we can afford to miss for a month or two are all items that can be packed away now. The sooner you start packing your non essential items, the sooner your move will become a reality. Be ruthless too, and anything that you can do without pack away. You’ll feel better for it once it’s packed and ready to go.

Create a checklist for your items

After you’ve got all of your non essential items boxed up and out of sight, start creating a checklist for your other goods. Decide when you can afford to pack other items that you may need at this present time, but not further along the moving process when moving day is approaching. It can be a wise idea to formulate a weekly packing plan. This will not only help you pack in bite-size chunks and make the process easier, it will also ensure you stay on top of your packing right up to your moving day.

Finally, label every box

You also need to consider your plan of unpacking when you reach your new home. If you haven’t labelled your boxes, then you’re going to have a nightmare when it comes to finding your possessions. If you can, group items together, such as ‘living room items’ or ‘kitchen utensils’. You’ll be thankful for it when you reach your lovely new home.

Follow those packing tips and you should find the whole moving process a lot easier. Moving home should be exciting and not stressful, so make sure that it is.

Help keep animals safe this firework season

As November approaches, the Scottish SPCA is warning that fireworks can have a serious impact on the welfare of domestic, farm and wild animals.

Read the full article and show your support 

http://www.scottishspca.org/news/1095_help-keep-animals-safe-this-firework-season

What is Condensation?

Condensation is an extremely underestimated cause of damage to our homes and is almost certainly the most common form of dampness within a building. It occurs where warm moist air comes into contact with cold air or a surface that is at a lower temperature. When the moist air cools, it is unable to retain the moisture and is released to form condensation in the air or on the surface.
Learn more about it and how to avoid it by watching this short video ....

Lets for Pets: Are dog-friendly flats too scarce?

Welfare charity Dogs Trust have launched a campaign aimed at better advertising of pet-friendly rental accommodation.

The charity have signed up television property-show presenter Jasmine Harman, known for her work on Channel 4 show A Place in the Sun - Home or Away, to front the campaign. Mrs Harman is also a landlord.

Dogs Trust have run a 'Lets with Pets' scheme since 2009, aimed at helping tenants who were having problems finding rental accommodation where their four-legged friends were welcome.

The latest campaign is named 'Ask, Advertise, Add', and it is aimed specifically at letting agents, to encourage them to always enquire of landlords whether they are happy to list their properties as 'pets considered'. The charity say that one in three pet owners have struggled to find rental accommodation where their pets are allowed, despite over 70% of landlords surveyed saying they would be willing to consider allowing pets in their property. The problem, the charity has concluded, is therefore not a lack of properties, but a lack of advertising.

Jasmine Harman on dog-friendly flats:

     Mrs Harman said, "As a pet-friendly landlord myself, I am delighted that Dogs Trust is looking after the interests of renters with pets.

"In my experience, many landlords would be happy to consider pets but lettings agencies have sometimes been slow to pick up on this and some could do more to find out if pets would be considered."

Following on from Harman's comments, Susie Jones of the Dogs Trust added, "We know from experience that some people will go to extraordinary lengths not to be parted from their pets. People have moved areas or rented larger homes than they need simply to keep their pets with them.

"We hope that the Lets with Pets 3A's campaign will encourage and support more landlords and letting agencies to take up a 'pets considered' approach to letting their properties." 

Here at Property Locker we're definitely behind dog friendly Properties, being dog owners ourselves we are proud members of the scheme

Testimonials

Check our website for more glowing testimonials like these ...

“Barry is extremely professional in all aspects of the services he provides. From providing quality letting opportunities, portfolio management, and restoration analysis, the standards of service from Barry and Property Locker were always first class. I would have no hesitation in recommending Barry and his company to anyone looking for a professional result.” 

http://www.propertylocker.co.uk/11/Testimonials_/

Arrears - The true costs ....

The archenemy of the landlord has always been the tenant who is in arrears. Tenants who fail to pay on time are immensely costly to landlords, but it’s not just the missing rent that needs to be sorted out, there are a whole host of other costs that need to be funded too. Here are a few incentives to make sure your tenants pay up on time!

Time Costs and Chasing

A tenant who is late paying is not all that likely to ring you up and apologise if they miss rent, although it does happen. What’s more common is that landlords have to spend considerable time chasing tenants who don’t pay which is time that could be spend better doing other things. If you seem to spend your whole time chasing tenants about rent, it’s worth keeping track of time spent writing emails or on the phone: you may be surprised how much it costs!

Interest and Missed Payments

Rent that doesn't come in on time usually means a missed payment on a mortgage for smaller landlords and that can come at an enormous cost. Not only will you be charged a lot of interest but you will have a permanent blemish on your credit record. It’s possible to alter what the record says, but it’s a lot of hassle that’s best avoided.

The Opportunity Cost of Missed Rent

Finally, rent that is late is rent that you could have put to better use elsewhere. Even if you were only intending to put the rent towards savings or, perhaps, to pay off the overdraft, you’re missing out on interest that you could be owed. A lot of tenants suffer greatly from this and one of the best remedies is to charge tenants penalties equivalent to your opportunity cost for missed rent.

The only sure fire way to avoid arrears is to take out rent guarantee insurance, this way you know you’ll be paid on time, every time. Don’t let arrears build up too much and if a tenant is habitually not paying then it can pay real dividends to talk to both your tenant and your insurer to sort things out once and for all.

New EPC legislation

New regulations came into force this week changing the requirements on letting agents and landlords with regards to Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs). 

Any EPC which is issued before 1 October 2012 will remain valid for the following 10 years. Therefore, the changes in legislation will only affect EPCs issued after 1 October 2012.

Letting agents and landlords are now required to make a copy of the EPC available to prospective tenants for inspection prior to entering into the tenancy. 

If the property is currently let, the letting agent or landlord must provide a copy of the EPC and the related recommendations report to the tenant free of charge. These requirements do not apply where a letting agent or landlord is renewing a lease with an existing tenant. However it would be good practice to adopt this requirement.

Since 2008 there has been a requirement on the issuer of the EPC to register the EPC in the Scottish EPC Register. This is a register which is operated by the Energy Saving Trust on behalf of the Scottish Government. The new regulations introduce a registration fee of £1.15 for residential property and £5.36 for commercial property registered after 1 October 2012. 

There are also further changes coming into force from 1 January 2013. 

From this date, prospective letting agents or landlords will be required to include an EPC rating for their property in any advertisement for the property including newspaper advertisements, property schedules and internet advertising. 

A “To Let” sign outside a property does not need to include an EPC rating. 

Where a letting agent or landlord fails to comply with the advertising requirements, a Penalty Charge Notice may be issued within 6 months of the breach. The amount payable under a Penalty Charge Notice is up to £500 for residential property.