✎
Property Life
Renting out your home for the
Olympic fortnight could mark the
start of an extra revenue stream, writes
Anna Tyzack F
amilies with a property near an Olympic venue are in with a chance of profi ting from London 2012 – so long as they make them- selves scarce during the Games.
According to Kerry Knox of estate agency Fine and Country, increasing numbers of parents are choosing to rent out their primary residence or London pied a terre and use the proceeds to pay for a summer holiday. “You don’t necessarily have to live in London; we’ve had requests for houses in Surrey and Dorset,” Knox explains. If your home is located in central London,
short lettings specialists such as Ivy Let- tings or Onefi
nestay.com can off er advice on renting out your home during the Games fortnight. Meanwhile, for those with homes within reach of Olympic sites outside the Capital – the rowing venue at Dorney Lake at Eton College, near Windsor, for example, or Weymouth, where the sailing events will take place – there are ways of securing a short let during the Games, and they should refer to the lettings departments at national estate agencies such as Knight Frank, Fine & Country and Hamptons, all of which are still receiving enquiries for short lets over the Olympic period. “Given that hotels are spiking their rates by 400%, booking a home makes
www.fi rstelevenmagazine.co.uk
leThetting game
more sense to families travelling from far afi eld,” says Knox. At fi rst glance, the returns for Olympic short lets appear impressive: a houseboat moored in St Katherine’s Dock, a short distance from Greenwich Park, is on off er for £7,000 per week during the Olympic period with Fine & Country, while on Cheyne Walk in central London, a seven-bedroom house costs £75,000 to rent for the whole of July and August with Knight Frank. However, there have been reports over the
past few weeks that the short-let market for the Olympic period is saturated with a glut of properties still available to rent around the Olympic sites. Guy van Der Westhuizen of Ivy Lettings, who has helped a large number of his landlords secure short tenancies over the Olympics, agrees that the market is more diffi cult than many anticipated. “Olympic landlords are not in a position to be greedy,” he warns. “If you overprice your home, you simply won’t attract any interest.” But he maintains that
if you have the right kind of property, price keenly, and use
a reputable lettings agency, there is still a good chance of securing a let. “The property needs to be genuinely within reach of Olympic sites, and well maintained with fool-proof appliances,” he explains. “Anyone paying a lot of money is going to have expectations to match it.” Conran Estates, for example, have recently secured a short let for a recently restored home in Greenwich for nine days for £200 per day. During the Olympic period Ivy Lettings’
The types of
landlords are netting up from £1,000 – £3,500 per week and over. Van der Westhuizen’s team secure the booking, provide the linen and cleaning, check in the tenants and arrange insurance. The majority of his Olympic landlords are families who make their second home in London available for a short let whenever they’re not using it. “They’re not just looking
homes that are popular with
tenants during the Olympics will be popular at other times too
to make a fast buck during the Olympics, they expect it to ‘wash its face’ all year round,” he says. “Since the recession families have defi nitely become more
creative about how they harness income.” You don’t have to own a
second home to be a success- Summer 2012 FirstEleven 77
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84