Rick Flay from Belvoir Sheffield, which specialises in providing flats to rent in Sheffield said: “This the first time that the Belvoir group has aligned itself with a national charity, and each office, including our Central Office in Grantham, had a minimum target of £100 to aim for.

“We were delighted that the Sheffield office blew this target out of the water and was able to present the charity with a much larger sum of money in the form of a big cheque.

“By collecting for such a worthwhile national charity it was hoped that it would unite the group by working towards something together and it turned out to be a huge success.”

Belvoir Sheffield, which has an office on Camp Lane, began collecting for the charity in January of this year to coincide with Go Green Day, an initiative taken by the team to encourage all staff members to not only wear green for the day, but to make a donation to Macmillan Cancer Support.

Other Belvoir offices took part in activities ranging from Skydives to selling cakes in order to raise money for the charity which provides practical, medical and financial support to those effected by cancer, whilst pushing for better cancer care

Gemma Shaw, fundraising manager at Macmillan said, ‘“A huge and heartfelt thank you goes out to Belvoir for choosing Macmillan Cancer Support. The help Macmillan provides, from nurses to financial aid, is funded by generous donations from the public, so each and every penny raised through this partnership really will make a difference to those who are affected by cancer. We look forward to working with Belvoir and Go Green Day was a fantastic way to start!”

Belvoir Lettings Sheffield is the One Stop Specialists for Lettings including Property Management, Tenant Find, Investment and Wealth Management Advice, Fit-outs and Renovations, Furniture Packs and Investment Property Insurances and Mortgages.

For more information, please visit www.belvoirlettings.com/Sheffield. Alternatively, To make a donation to Macmillan Cancer Support, please visit http://www.macmillan.org.uk

When you want to move home you have to decide whether you want to sell your property or rent it out. This decision raises a number of questions and shouldn’t be taken lightly. You need to know what the stability of the housing market is like and if you would be making the right decision if you sold your property or if it would be better to let your house instead.

Letting your house rather than selling it is not necessarily any easier or more straight forward but is different and therefore presents different obstacles to overcome such as finding the best agent to deal with and deciding on the price you want to charge in rent.If you decide that renting out your house is what you want to do, you have to go about making sure it is suitable for tenants to move in.

Letting a home privately can be a daunting task which requires a lot of work. Letting properties as an investment and still working fulltime means that you’ll have to keep up with your tenants’ demands and also maintain the property which can take up an awful lot of your time. This is where a letting agent can help. Lettings agents look after your property for you including finding potential tenants and looking after current tenants on your behalf. Using a letting agent can save you a massive amount of time and stress.

It’s always wise to choose a letting agent that’s a member of the ARLA a professional body that dictates a level of service, or any of the other major letting related organisations such as the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, the National Association of Estate Agents or any government registered associations.

Something in particular to take into account is that letting agents may try to get business from you by advising you on the highest possible figure for rent. While this may sound good to a prospective client, a high level of rent could land your property with void periods and discourage potential tenants if it’s too expensive for the area.

All letting agents will charge for their services differently and offer different levels of work for those prices. It might be a matter of a few percent cost difference between agents, or it might be that they factor hidden costs in that you were not aware of and may end up paying for. When signing with an agent it’s always advisable to go through documents very carefully. If you’re lucky, your chosen letting agent may also be able to offer you deals on things like repair insurance and legal fees, but again, be wise and don’t let that be the deciding factor in choosing an agent.

Buying to let used to be a risky business in the face of archaic laws that went without review for a considerable time. Tenants had a great amount of power over their landlords but that balance of power was redressed with the introduction of the 1986 Housing Actand the assured short hold tenancy agreement

Visit Which Property Agent for full article.

Decorating a property for rental isn’t tricky. But if not done right first time then landlords and letting agents could incur more expense and hassle than they budgeted.

Click title link above to read full article from Ally Interiors.

As new data from the English Housing Survey (EHS) shows a sharp rise in the number of people renting privately in the last five years, Belvoir Sheffield, the leading letting agents in Sheffield has indicated that Buy-To-Let purchase is also on the increase.

According to the new statistics, the number of people renting from private landlords has increased by a staggering 40 per-cent since 2005 and this figure rose even further between 2009-10, with the number of people renting privately, reaching 3.4 million

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As the regulation of the lettings industry continues to be a source of controversy, and with growth predicted to escalate over the coming years, Belvoir Sheffield, the leading letting agents in Sheffield is urging landlords and tenants to choose their letting agent carefully, and in particular look for one that they can be sure will keep their money safe.

Many landlords have used a letting agent to let or manage a property at some point, and even more landlords will also tell you how difficult it is to know if the letting agent you are choosing is the right one to use for your property. There are thousands of property management companies, letting agents and estate agents, who all claim to be able to get you quality tenants, in record time, at the highest rental yield. But which agent really can?

Over the last year the government has announced significant changes to housing benefit (HB) and local housing allowance (LHA). The government’s own estimates show that the changes will result in an annual reduction of £2,745 million savings, made from reductions in housing benefit payments.

The impact of these changes to housing benefit will affect private landlords and their tenants across the UK.

The first of these changes were introduced on 1 April 2011, with the full programme of reforms to be completed in 2017. There have already been several changes to implementation dates and to some of the more radical proposals, including dropping the proposal to reduce HB by 10% for people claiming jobseeker’s allowance for more than 12 months. It is likely that there will be further changes to come and the Landlord Information Network will ensure that members are kept as up to date as possible.