"Rental market conditions have been tricky for some time now and we want to provide landlords with a straight-forward way to wrestle back control of their finances."
Launching later this month, the Advanced Rent Option (ARO) aims to give landlords more financial freedom to make a luxury purchase or expand their property portfolio.
The ARO is being offered through Choices Estate Agents and its associated brands using the Primary Tenancy service.
Subject to referencing, it can provide landlords with up to 12 months' rent in advance, minus standard letting agency fees.
Based on a property with a rental price of £1,200 per month, landlords could receive an upfront lump sum of £10,231 by signing up to ARO.
This final figure is calculated by discounting standard annual agent fees costs of £2,592, new tenancy setup fees of £395, a rent guarantee of £432 and an emergency maintenance float of £750 from the total annual rent of £14,400.
If a landlord wants to benefit from the ARO but already has a tenant in-situ, they can instruct Choices or any of their associated brands to carry out some background checks and re-reference the tenant, before signing an agreement with the agency.
Alternatively, Choices or its partners can manage properties with sitting tenants until the tenancy is over, before implementing the ARO for a new tenancy.
The ARO is not a loan, which means it does not depend on a landlord’s credit rating and there is no extra paperwork to complete.
Simon Shinerock, owner of Choices Estate Agents, commented: “The ARO provides landlords with a great opportunity to improve their cashflow.
“As we can see, for landlords letting an average property the ARO could help to pay for a holiday, with plenty of money left over to put towards an additional property purchase or paying off buy-to-let mortgage payments.
“Rental market conditions have been tricky for some time now and we want to provide landlords with a straight-forward way to wrestle back control of their finances.
“The cost of letting a property is likely to keep on rising, while the private rented sector will only become more regulated. With this in mind, landlords can benefit from receiving their rent upfront and start planning their future investment strategy accordingly.”
