How To Improve Rental Property Kerb Appeal

Improving the kerb appeal of your rental property is a relatively easy way of attracting more tenants and increasing your rental yield. Making a property look more inviting from the outside makes a good first impression, so any potential tenants are already impressed before they have even gone through the front door. All kinds of properties can benefit from improved kerb appeal, from flats and maisonettes to detached houses. Check out our tips below on improving the kerb appeal of your property, making it more appealing to tenants and even commanding higher rental value.

Table of Contents

What is Kerb Appeal?
What Adds The Most Kerb Appeal?
Tips on How To Enhance Kerb Appeal

What is Kerb Appeal?

Kerb appeal refers to the outer appearance of a property, i.e. how it appears from the street. A property with good kerb appeal looks well-presented, clean and maintained. This can include the exterior of the property itself as well as the front garden or anything else immediately in front of the property. Kerb appeal helps to improve the perception of the property and is especially important when the property is up for sale.

Imagine approaching a potential new property for your portfolio, and the front garden is overgrown, it has rubbish in it, the driveway is cracked and full of weeds, the paintwork on the front of the property is peeling, and the windows are dirty. It certainly doesn’t make you want to invest your hard-earned cash in it, does it? And that’s before you’ve seen the interior. Kerb appeal is essential if you want to present a property in its best possible light.

What Adds The Most Kerb Appeal?

This depends on the current state of the property. Take a look at your property from across the road and try and see it as someone who has never looked at it before. You could take a friend with you who will give their honest opinion on the current kerb appeal of the property. Think about the driveway, the front garden, and the porch, if the property has these. The front door is also very important – is it attractive? Could it use a clean, a new coat of paint or even a replacement? This is a fairly quick and easy way of adding more kerb appeal. If there is a garden or any outdoor space, make sure it is tidy and not overgrown. Removing any weeds or rubbish and keeping the area clean is a fast way of adding kerb appeal. If renovations and extensive updates are not within your budget, then keeping the front of the property clean and tidy for all viewings is a cheap and easy way of improving the kerb appeal.

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Tips on How To Enhance Kerb Appeal

Here are our tips on improving the kerb appeal of your property:

Improving or Replacing the Front Door

The front door is the entrance to the property and is often the first thing that potential tenants or buyers see, so it needs to look good. Giving the front door a deep clean, replacing any worn-out or rusty metal fixtures, and a fresh paint job can all help improve the front door’s appearance. In some cases, a new front door can be a pricey but worthwhile investment.

Improving the Exterior

This is more of an expensive job, but ensuring the exterior of the property, whether its cladding, brickwork, stone or other material is in good shape, can do wonders for improving kerb appeal and increasing a property’s value. Replacing cladding or render can be quite expensive but there are other cheaper options, such as jet washing or painting the property.

Cleaning the Windows

This is a simple and inexpensive tip, but having clean windows shows that someone takes care of the property. Clean windows let more light into the property, making it look better from the inside too. Dirty windows can make a property look run-down and neglected, so make sure you clean the windows yourself or hire a window cleaner. If the window frames are in poor condition, consider painting or even replacing them if they show signs of rot or flaking paint.

Keep the Garden Clean and Tidy

This is another big one – having a well-maintained front garden with regularly mown grass, trimmed shrubs and trees, and no weeds can make all the difference to your property’s kerb appeal. If you have green fingers or can afford to hire a gardener, adding some attractive flowering plants and hanging baskets can make a property look even better, but at minimum, make sure the grass is mowed, clear any fallen leaves or rubbish out of the garden, and keep all shrubs and hedges trimmed.

Clean the Path or Entryway

If there is a pathway from the street to the house, keeping this clean and in good shape can help to improve kerb appeal. Use a jet washer to clean any grime from the path and pull out any weeds or moss that grows there. Replace or fix uneven paving slabs and make sure the path is easily accessible for people with buggies or wheelchairs. Do the same with a driveway if the property has one.

Maintain Walls, Gates and Fences

Having poorly maintained gates, walls and fences, especially if they denote the boundary of a property, can negatively affect kerb appeal in a big way. They offer security and privacy as well as aesthetics, so they are important to keep in good shape. Replace damaged fence panels, repaint or stain wooden fences, and make sure any gates are in good working order.

Repair Broken Gutters and Roofing

This extends beyond kerb appeal and will start to affect the property value if there are problems with the roof or guttering. This can be easily spotted from the road, so even if the damage is easily fixable, it can make a big difference. Keep the gutters cleaned regularly and hire a professional to do any required repairs on the roof or gutters.

Add Exterior Lighting

Exterior lighting can really improve the kerb appeal of a property, especially if prospective tenants or buyers are going to be seeing it at night or in winter. A well-lit entrance is inviting and helps the property feel safer. Consider adding solar-powered lights along the path or in the front garden, and add a porch light or wall lights on either side of the front door to instantly add more kerb appeal.

Add Some Finishing Touches

Once you have taken care of larger projects to improve the kerb appeal of your property, now it’s time to add those little touches that can make a big difference. Hide the wheelie bins by placing them in the back garden, think about what can be seen through the windows, remove clutter and add potted plants, add a house number or name plate that is visible from the road, and keep the entire area in front of the house clean and tidy.

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