Every landlord loses a bit of income to void periods at some point. The question isn't whether you'll have one, it's whether it lasts two weeks or two months. And the gap between those two outcomes usually comes down to decisions made well before the property is even empty.

We work with landlords who assume voids are just bad luck. Sometimes they are. More often, though, there's a specific reason a property sat empty longer than it needed to, and it's usually something that was fixable.

Here's what actually drives void periods, and what you can do about it.

Notice periods are shorter than most landlords plan for

When a tenant hands in their notice, the clock starts immediately, but a lot of landlords don't start marketing until the tenant has actually moved out. That's often four to eight weeks of dead time you didn't need to lose.

If a tenant gives notice and the property is in reasonable condition, there's no reason not to start marketing straight away, arranging viewings around the current tenant if they're willing, which most are if you ask properly and give them fair notice. Landlords who wait until the keys are back in hand are choosing to add weeks onto their void, not because the market demands it, but because of timing they controlled.

Turnaround work gets underestimated every time

Repainting, deep cleaning, fixing the things a tenant mentioned six months ago and you meant to get round to. All of this takes longer than landlords expect, and it's rarely booked in advance. The result is a property that's technically empty and ready to let, except it isn't, because there's a two week wait for a decorator or an electrician.

If you know a tenancy is ending, get quotes and book tradespeople before the property is empty, not after. A week of overlap between the old tenant leaving and the new one moving in costs you far less than a fortnight waiting for a painter to become available.

Pricing it wrong costs more than pricing it right

This one catches out experienced landlords as much as new ones. List slightly too high and the property sits, and every week it sits, prospective tenants start wondering what's wrong with it, so you end up dropping the price anyway, except now from a position of visible desperation rather than a considered decision.

It's worth checking what's actually let recently in your area and not what's currently listed, because asking prices and achieved prices are often different things. A property priced correctly from day one, even if that price is slightly lower than you hoped, will usually let faster and for close to that figure. A property priced too high for three weeks before being reduced often ends up letting for less than if it had been priced right from the start.

The condition of the property affects speed, not just rent

A tired looking property doesn't just achieve less rent, it takes longer to let full stop, because tenants viewing multiple properties will move fast on the one that feels ready to move into and slower on the one that needs work imagined onto it. Fresh paint, a thorough clean and small fixes done properly make a bigger difference to how quickly a property lets than most landlords credit.

What to do next

If you've got a tenant giving notice, treat the day you hear about it as day one of your marketing plan, not the day they move out. Get tradespeople booked in advance if any work is needed, check what's genuinely let recently rather than what's listed, and be honest with yourself about the property's condition before you put a price on it.

None of this guarantees zero void periods, but it consistently turns eight week gaps into two week ones, and over a year that difference is real money back in your pocket.

We'd love to have a chat with you about how the new legislation will affect your decisions and investment properties going forward. 

Cosmo Sales Blog - September 2026 

After every viewing, we ask for feedback and pass it straight on. Most sellers read it, form a quick opinion about whether it was fair, and move on. That's understandable. Nobody enjoys hearing that a stranger wasn't won over by their home. But feedback isn't really about one person's taste. Looked at properly, over several viewings, it tells you something far more useful: what's actually standing between your home and an offer.

One comment is opinion. A pattern is information.

If one buyer says the kitchen feels dated, that's one person's view and it might mean nothing at all. If four buyers say it independently, across different weeks, with no connection to each other, that's not a coincidence. That's a pattern, and patterns are worth acting on.

The trouble is, sellers tend to respond to the first version rather than the second. A single piece of blunt feedback gets dismissed as fussy or unfair, and by the time three more viewings have said something similar, it's been mentally filed under "buyers being picky" rather than treated as a signal. Six weeks later, the same objection is still coming up, nothing has changed, and the seller is left wondering why the phone has gone quiet.

Part of the problem is that feedback tends to arrive in small doses, spaced out over weeks, so the pattern is genuinely hard to spot from the inside. Sellers remember the last viewing, maybe the one before it, but rarely hold all six or seven comments in their head at once and compare them side by side. An agent who's collecting and reviewing every piece of feedback is in a much better position to see the shape of what's actually happening, simply because they're looking at the whole picture rather than one viewing at a time.

Why the feedback that stings the most is usually the most useful

There's a natural instinct to brush off comments that feel personal, particularly about a home you've lived in and cared for. But the feedback that's hardest to hear is very often the feedback that matters most, because it's pointing at something specific rather than something vague. "Lovely house, just not for us" tells you very little. "We loved the garden but couldn't see past the artexceilings" tells you exactly where the hesitation is coming from, and gives you something you can actually address.

Price is part of this too, and it's worth being honest about. If feedback consistently mentions value rather than the property itself, that's rarely about the buyers being difficult. It's usually the market telling you where the property sits compared with what else is available at that price point right now.

It's also worth separating feedback about the property from feedback about the presentation, because sellers often lump the two together and react to whichever stings more. "Too small for what we need" is about the property and there's usually not much to be done about that. "Felt cluttered, hard to picture our own things in there" is about presentation, and that's entirely fixable, often within a weekend. Knowing which category a comment falls into changes what you actually do about it, and it's the kind of distinction that's much easier to make with a bit of distance from the situation than when it's your own home being discussed.

What tends to happen when feedback gets ignored

The properties that struggle most aren't usually the ones with a genuine flaw. They're the ones where useful feedback came in early, wasn't acted on, and the same objection kept repeating itself for months while the listing quietly went stale. Buyers who are house hunting seriously tend to notice a property that's been sitting for a while, and they start to wonder why, even before they've worked out what the actual issue is. That assumption can be harder to shift than the original problem would have been. 

This is where an agent should be doing more than just forwarding comments. Part of the job is spotting the pattern before the seller does, having the sometimes awkward conversation about what it means, and suggesting a sensible next step, whether that's a change in presentation, a rethink on price, or simply a different approach to how the property is being marketed. Left unaddressed, feedback doesn't just sit there. It compounds, because every viewing that repeats the same comment makes the next buyer's hesitation a little more predictable.

There's also a cost to this that doesn't show up straight away. Every extra week a property spends on the market is a week where new buyers coming to it for the first time can see how long it's been listed, and start drawing their own conclusions before they've even walked through the door. By the time the seller finally acts on feedback that was raised weeks earlier, they're often making the change from a weaker position than if they'd acted on it straight away, simply because the listing itself has started to work against them.

What good feedback handling actually looks like

A useful process isn't complicated. Feedback should be collected after every viewing, not just the ones that went well. It should be reviewed properly rather than skimmed, ideally by someone looking at it alongside every other viewing on that property, not in isolation. And where a pattern emerges, it should be raised honestly, with a clear recommendation attached, rather than left as a vague observation for the seller to interpret on their own. That last part matters more than it sounds. Feedback without a recommendation just creates worry. Feedback with a clear suggestion attached gives the seller something they can actually do. 

What a sensible seller should do with feedback

Read it properly rather than skimming for reassurance. Look for repetition rather than reacting to a single comment. Work out whether it's about the property itself or the way it's being presented, because the two need very different responses. And if the same thing keeps coming up, treat it as useful rather than unfair, because it's telling you precisely what needs to change to get the result you actually want.

If you're thinking about moving and want clear, honest advice on price, positioning and what it would take to get your home sold properly in the current market, we'd be happy to help.

Most sellers think the hard part of selling is getting an offer. In our experience, the hard part is often what happens after that, when the buyer's solicitor starts asking questions and the seller hasn't got the answers ready.

We see it regularly. A property goes under offer, everyone's pleased, and then three or four weeks in, momentum stalls because information that should have been sorted before the sale even went live is still being chased. By that point the buyer has had time to think, other properties have caught their eye, and a small delay starts to feel like a warning sign rather than a minor hiccup.

Why buyers are less patient than they used to be

Buyers today do a lot of their own homework before they ever book a viewing. They've usually seen the listing, checked the area, and formed an opinion long before they walk through the door. What they haven't seen is the boring but essential detail: whether there's a lease to review, what the boundary situation actually is, whether any work has building regulations sign-off, or if there's anything unusual in the title.

When that information arrives late, it doesn't read as an oversight. It reads as a problem, even when it isn't one. Solicitors can only work with what they're given, and a slow start to the legal process has a habit of staying slow right through to completion. A buyer who was excited about the property three weeks ago starts asking themselves quiet questions. Is this normal? Is something being hidden? Should we be looking elsewhere just in case this falls through? None of that comes from anything dramatic. It comes from silence, and silence is very easy to misread.

It's also worth saying that buyers today have more options than they used to, and they know it. If a purchase starts to feel like hard work before it's even legally binding, plenty of buyers will quietly keep half an eye on other listings, just as a precaution. That's not disloyalty on their part. It's sensible self protection in a market where nothing is guaranteed until exchange. The seller's job, whether they realise it or not, is to make sure that precaution never becomes necessary.

The paperwork sellers commonly leave until the last minute

A few things come up again and again once a sale is under offer:

Planning permission or building control certificates for extensions, conversions or garden buildings, especially if the work was done some years ago and the paperwork has been filed away and forgotten.

Guarantees for damp proofing, replacement windows, boiler installations or roofing work, which buyers' solicitors will often ask for as standard.

Details of any shared access, right of way, or boundary agreement with a neighbour, particularly in older or rural properties where these things were sometimes settled informally rather than in writing.

Leasehold information, service charge accounts and management company details, which can take weeks to obtain if the request only goes in after an offer is accepted.

None of these are unusual or difficult to resolve. The issue is timing. Sorted before the property goes on the market, they're a formality. Left until a solicitor asks, they become the reason a sale drags on for months, or falls through entirely because the buyer's patience runs out first.

There's a second layer to this too, which is the paperwork that isn't strictly legal but still gets asked about constantly. Instruction manuals for the boiler and appliances. Warranty documents for a new roof or rewiring. Confirmation of when the loft was insulated or the windows were replaced. Buyers ask about these things because they're trying to work out what they're taking on, and a seller who can answer straight away comes across very differently to one who has to go and dig through a drawer, or worse, admits they've no idea and never kept the paperwork in the first place. It's a small thing individually, but it adds up to an impression, and that impression either builds confidence or chips away at it.

How this plays out with a chain involved

Most sales in this country involve a chain, and a chain moves at the pace of its slowest link. If your sale is the one holding things up because paperwork is still being tracked down, everyone above and below you in that chain feels it, and everyone above and below you starts to form an opinion about how organised you are. That opinion matters more than sellers tend to assume, because a chain under strain looks for the easiest place to apply pressure, or the easiest place to walk away from if something better comes along. Being the seller who's ready, with answers rather than promises to find out, is one of the simplest ways to keep your position in that chain secure.

Where sellers underestimate the risk

It's easy to assume that once you've got a buyer, the outcome is largely down to solicitors and conveyancers doing their job. In practice, the seller's preparation has a direct effect on how smoothly that process runs. A buyer who feels informed and confident tends to stay committed even when things move slower than they'd like. A buyer who feels like they're extracting information piece by piece starts to wonder what else hasn't been mentioned. 

This is where a good agent earns their fee well before completion day. Part of our job is asking the awkward questions early, before a buyer's solicitor has to, so there are no gaps waiting to be discovered halfway through a transaction. We'd rather raise something at the valuation stage, when there's time to sort it calmly, than have it surface three weeks before exchange when everyone's under pressure.

There's a difference, too, between an agent who simply lists a property and one who actively project manages the sale once it's under offer. The first will pass on solicitor requests as they arrive and leave you to deal with them. The second will have already asked the questions before the property even goes live, flagged anything that needs sorting, and kept a close enough eye on progress to spot a delay forming before it becomes a genuine problem. That difference rarely shows up in the marketing photos or the listing description. It shows up in whether your sale completes on the timescale you were hoping for, or drifts on for another two months while everyone waits on the same missing document.

What a sensible seller should do next

If you're thinking about putting your home on the market, it's worth having an honest conversation about what buyers and their solicitors are likely to ask for, and whether you've already got it to hand. Gather what you can before you list. Certificates, guarantees, planning approvals, anything relating to work done on the property. If you're not sure whether something counts, ask rather than assume it won't come up, because it usually does.

It's a short conversation, but it can save weeks further down the line, and it's the sort of thing that's far easier to sort out before you've got a buyer waiting on you than after. Sellers who do this tend to find their sales move faster and with fewer surprises, not because they got lucky with an easy buyer, but because they removed the reasons for things to stall in the first place.

If you're thinking about moving and want clear, honest advice on price, positioning and what it would take to get your home sold properly in the current market, we'd be happy to help. 

In practical terms, a home cannot simply be available. It needs to feel like one of the best options at its price.

Pricing still matters most

Rightmove’s August figures show that the average asking price of a newly listed property fell by 2% during the month, reflecting the increased competition for buyers.

Importantly, nearly three-quarters of the homes that have sold so far this year achieved a buyer without first needing an asking-price reduction. This reinforces how important it is to launch at a sensible and well-supported price from the outset. (Property news)

A higher asking price may feel like leaving room to negotiate, but if it prevents buyers from viewing in the first place, it can work against the seller. The strongest opportunity to capture attention is usually when a property first comes to the market.

What we are seeing locally

Across our local market, agreed sales are still happening, but buyers are taking longer to make decisions and are comparing properties very carefully.

Some correctly positioned homes are attracting early viewings and offers. Others are receiving good levels of online interest without that translating into physical viewings.

This does not necessarily mean the marketing is failing. It often means buyers can see the property but do not yet feel sufficiently compelled by the overall proposition – usually the combination of price, presentation and perceived value – to take the next step.

Propertymark’s latest report reflects this more cautious national picture, recording an average of just 2.1 viewings per available property during June. (Propertymark)

Our advice this month

You can be on the market. Or you can be in the market.

If you’d like to discuss your own move, whether you’re already on the market or simply considering your next steps, please get in touch with the Sawdye & Harris team. We will give you clear, evidence-led advice based on what buyers are doing now,  we’re always happy to help.

If you've got a tenant who pays on time, looks after the property and never causes you a moment's bother, the idea of raising their rent can feel risky. Nobody wants to be the reason a good tenant starts looking elsewhere. But not reviewing rent regularly is one of the quietest ways landlords lose money, and it happens so gradually that most don't notice until they compare their rent to what similar properties are actually achieving nearby.

We speak to landlords every week who are two or three years behind the market without realising it. This isn't about squeezing every last pound out of a tenancy. It's about keeping your investment properly aligned with reality, and doing it in a way that doesn't put a good relationship at risk.

Why landlords put off rent reviews

The most common reason is simple: the tenant is good, and landlords worry that raising the rent will make them leave. That's a fair concern, but it's usually based on a false choice. A well-handled rent review rarely causes a good tenant to leave. What causes tenants to leave is a sudden, badly explained increase that feels unfair or comes out of nowhere.

There's also a practical reason landlords delay reviews: it takes admin, a conversation, and sometimes paperwork. So, it gets pushed back another year, then another. By the time it'saddressed, the gap between current rent and market rent has grown so large that any increase feels dramatic to the tenant, even though it's simply catching up.

How often you should actually be reviewing rent

A yearly review is sensible for most tenancies. That doesn't mean a yearly increase, but it does mean you should be checking where the rent sits against comparable local properties at least once a year. If the market has moved and your rent hasn't, that's a decision you're making by default, whether you meant to or not.

For tenants who are on a periodic tenancy rather than a fixed term, the same principle applies. Just because there's no renewal date forcing the conversation doesn't mean the review shouldn't happen.

Doing it properly makes all the difference

The way you raise rent matters more than the amount, in most cases. A tenant who receives a short, clear letter with a fair explanation and reasonable notice will usually accept an increase without much friction. A tenant who feels blindsided, or senses the increase is arbitrary, is far more likely to push back or start looking elsewhere.

A few things make a genuine difference here:

Give proper notice. Rushing a rent increase with a fortnight's warning puts tenants on the back foot and invites resistance. Several weeks' notice, ideally longer, gives them time to process it without feeling cornered.

Explain the reasoning, briefly. You don't need to justify yourself at length, but a line explaining that the rent is being brought in line with the local market, alongside rising costs of maintaining the property, goes a long way. Tenants are far more accepting of an increase they understand than one that just appears.

Have the evidence ready. If a tenant questions the figure, being able to point to what similar properties are currently letting for locally makes the conversation straightforward rather than personal. This is one area where working with someone who tracks the local market daily is genuinely useful, because guessing at comparable rents is one of the easiest ways to either overreach or undersell yourself.

Consider a phased approach for long-standing tenants. If a tenant has been in place for several years and the gap to market rent is significant, moving the full amount in one go can feel punitive even when it's fair. A smaller increase now, with another planned for the following year, is often better received and still gets you back to where you should be within a reasonable timeframe.

What landlords often overlook

A rent increase isn't just a number change. Depending on the tenancy type and how the increase is proposed, there are correct routes to follow, and using the wrong one can make an increase invalid or unenforceable. Landlords who serve informal requests by text or verbal conversation, rather than the correct written route, sometimes find themselves unable to enforce the new rent if a tenant later disputes it.

There's also a financial angle that's easy to miss. An unreviewed rent doesn't just cost you the difference between what you're charging and market rent. It quietly reduces the resale value of your investment when calculated on a yield basis, and it can affect remortgaging conversations if a lender is assessing rental income against the loan.

What to do next

If you can't remember the last time you reviewed the rent on one of your properties, that's usually a sign it's overdue. Before you do anything, get a proper comparison of what similar properties are currently achieving in your local area, so any conversation with your tenant is grounded in fact rather than guesswork.

Getting a rent review right protects the relationship with your tenant just as much as it protects your income. Done properly, it rarely causes friction. Done carelessly or left too long, it becomes one of the most common reasons good tenancies break down.

We'd love to have a chat with you about how the new legislation will affect your decisions and investment properties going forward.