How To Prepare Your Home For Winter

 

In this month's edition, we're on hand to help you prepare your home for winter with some handy hints and tips, as well as a few on keeping your home secure during these darker months. 

We also look at the increased demand for property across the whole of the UK and the news that average rent prices are increasing - with some interesting statistics around Wandsworth. 

How To Prepare Your Home For Winter

As the temperatures begin to sink and the days begin to shrink one thing is for certain - winter is upon us. Along with the shorter days and colder temperatures come the wintery pleasures of warming up alongside a roaring fire, long walks in the country and crisp, frosty mornings. However, it’s also important to remember that the winter months can have a harsh effect upon our homes, causing problems for heating systems and external fixings alike. Follow this list of tips to prepare your home for the chillier months, and to ensure that your main concern this winter is the choice between a cup of tea or a warming hot chocolate.

Pipe dreams
As the temperatures drop, the water in your pipes can freeze causing them to burst and for major damage to be caused to your home. In order to avoid this, keep an eye out for any gaps in external walls as the cold air could reach the pipes and encourage them to freeze over. Sealing over any gaps in external walls, as well as adding insulation around vulnerable pipes in areas such as the loft and garage could mitigate this problem. Further to staying vigilant to external wall gaps, keeping your heating on a low-level (around 4 degrees) - even when you’re away from your home - will maintain a consistent temperature around pipes, thereby avoiding the problem of pipes freezing over.

Boiler spoiler
When was the last time that you had your boiler checked? A poorly maintained boiler wastes energy and costs more to run, as well as running the risk of leaking carbon monoxide in to your home. Having your boiler serviced will reap rewards in the long run, as well as giving you peace of mind in terms of safety and efficiency. Naturally, one of the key components of your boiler system are your radiators - a handy hint to maximise their efficiency is to put kitchen foil behind them for the heat to be reflected back into the room they are in.

Fill the gaps
Around a quarter of the heat lost from your home escapes through the loft, and therefore having good loft insulation is key to staying warm this winter. As well as the loft space, cavity wall insulation can make a real difference to keeping your home warm and energy bills low - with a typical saving of £145 per year saved on energy bills simply through having insulation installed. In terms of cost, there are a number of government grants and subsidy schemes available to help you with the initial outlay of insulating your home and staying warm this winter – so do your research and stay warm for less.

The big switch
If you feel that your winter energy bills are high despite your best efforts to prepare your home for the cold months then give your energy supplier a call and have a chat about being allocated a more cost-effective tariff. Remember that you will never experience a disruption in service if you decide to change suppliers, so feel free to shop around and find the best deal that works for you. You can use online comparison tools as well as literature direct from suppliers to find the most competitive energy rates and offers, so turn up that thermostat and get extra cosy!

Down the drain
As the leaves fall from the trees, drains and gutters can easily become blocked with debris, causing build-ups of water which could make its way into your home in the form of damp. As the temperature drops, these leaves are prone to freezing which can weigh down your guttering and damage external structures. Ensure that your drains and gutters are debris free by checking lower-level guttering on your property and clearing these out by hand as safely as possible - if the lower-levels are blocked then higher levels may also require a closer inspection.

Improving Your Home's Security

As the nights are drawing in and we occupy ourselves with the wintery joys of hot chocolate and cosy evenings, it is easy to forget that it is during these wintery months when burglaries are most rife. Lloyds Bank noted that there are 35% more claims for forced burglary during the darker months of the year, with criminals emboldened by the shorter days. Follow our helpful hints and tips to ensure that you can enjoy the winter months without any other worries apart from who has turned up that thermostat!

Doors
Did you know that over a third of burglars use the front door? It seems like such a simple fix, but this winter remember to secure your doors to ensure that you don’t have any unwelcome guests. Inspect all your exterior doors to ensure that the frames are strong and in good condition and don’t forget to check the hinges as well. If your door has a mailbox, then ensure that nobody can reach through by installing a mailbox protector.

Windows
As well as doors being popular entry points for burglars, windows are also amongst the most common entry points for break-ins. It’s unlikely that you will be leaving your windows open with the temperatures currently plummeting, however the latches on your windows can prove to be ineffective if put under stress. To stay safe this winter and beyond, you can improve the security credentials of your windows by adding locks or key operated levers which will prove to be much sturdier than the original fixings.

Lights
There is a clear relationship between the darker nights and higher incidence of burglaries – and that is due to the cover which the dark of the winter months provides to would-be criminals. Illuminate your home using outdoor lights in order to make your home a less appealing option to potential security risks; lights on pathways and in gardens will eliminate those darker areas. The use of motion lights is becoming more and more popular, with the element of surprise of a light turning on proving to be an effective deterrent.

Wi-Fi
When considering your home’s security, you would be forgiven for only protecting the bricks and mortar, however a key consideration in these modern times should be your wi-fi network. Your home wi-fi is a potential pathway for intruders in to your personal and financial information, and with the ever-increasing popularity of home automation apps can also make your home vulnerable to break-ins. To protect your wireless network, ensure that you are using a secure router and that you have enabled WPA (Wi-Fi protected access) or WPA2 encryption – as well as the usual staples such as a strong password and firewall protections.

Neighbours
Life these days is extremely fast-paced and British sensibilities often drive us to simply say a polite “good morning” and “good evening” to our neighbours, with little more conversation shared. These seemingly inconsequential conversations could also be used to improve your home security, however, as well as fostering better relationships with those living next to us. Use those early-morning interactions with your neighbours to discuss holidays and upcoming plans, so that they will be aware if there is something untoward happening at your home. Neighbours can also move parcels or letters left on your doorstep so that potential burglars won’t be made aware of your absence.

Property Demand Across The UK Increases By 39%

Demand for property across the United Kingdom has been the subject of another increase in the third quarter of this year according to the latest data, with a 3% increase from the second quarter leaving the current value at 39%.

According to Emoov’s data, this marks a year-on-year increase of 6%, with England leading the way with a 9% increase in what comes as the country’s first positive growth in 2018 with Wales trailing closely behind with a 7% quarterly and 10% annual increase. Scotland bucks this trend somewhat with a slight 2% dip in its quarterly demand, yet continues to see an uptick based on last year’s figures thanks to a 5% increase.

Despite England’s strong quarter, it’s the Scottish capital that tops the list of most in-demand town or city, with Edinburgh taking the crown thanks to a 5% increase that sees it sit at 59%. Durham has enjoyed the largest annual increase at 60%, whilst Brentwood took the prize for England’s impressive quarterly change with an impressive 33% increase in demand. Elsewhere, Newport in South Wales has rarely been in ruder health thanks to an annual jump of 44% and a quarterly increase of 16%, ending with an impressive 55%.

London cannot say the same and offers something of a mixed bag with its data, however; demand across the capital has dropped 1% this quarter and 4% annually, however the capital has seen an overall increase of 104%. Boroughs such as Wandsworth have seen house prices increasing above the London average, now at 21.9% above the London average.

“The numbers this month make welcome reading for home sellers in England, as demand is finally on the up again along with the UK’s as a whole,” offered Russell Quirk, Emoov’s chief executive.

“It’s the first time this year that we’ve seen UK demand driven by the English market while London and, perhaps more surprisingly, the commuter belt both take a back seat.

The commuter belt has been very hot for quite some time now and this consistently high demand has inevitably pushed prices up. However, this static level of demand is nothing more than a natural market adjustment, perhaps exacerbated by current market conditions, but certainly nothing to worry about in the long term.”

Average Rent Prices Up 2.3%

As the popularity of renting properties continues to boom across the country, average rent prices across England and Wales are up by 2.3% year on year, according to Your Move England. The lettings market continues to remain popular amongst younger generations, with student lettings now exerting a considerable influence upon the market. With this demand for letting properties in the ascendance, there has been a 45% increase in the delivery of Build-to-Rent homes in the past year - with private investors now creating high-quality accommodation with the specific intention of renting.

Regional ups and downs
The strongest rental growth has been registered in the South West of England, where prices have risen by 4.3% to £686 per month. London has seen rents fall, with prices down 1.3% year on year; however, it must be noted that it is still, perhaps unsurprisingly, the most expensive place to rent in the United Kingdom with an average price of £1,277 per month. In Wandsworth, for example, rents are on average £126 per week lower than in the rest of the capital – despite higher sale prices of homes in the area. However, even within Wandsworth different zones perform in different ways and John Thorogood can report that rents of terraced houses in and around the Northcote Road area have held firm and in a few cases increased where owners have invested money to maintain or improve the property’s internal condition. On a monthly basis, the West Midlands and South West are both up by 0.4% compared to September values - showing that variations are indeed highly regionalised.

Lucrative Rents
The rental yield in Northern regions, as is usually the case, earned higher returns than in the South with the average investor in the North East earning an annual yield of 5% in the year to September. Potentially lucrative yields can be seriously hampered by difficult tenants and with tenant arrears currently standing at 10.1%, a rosy picture is being painted for those in the lettings market - as this figure has been as high as 14.6%. Despite nationally strong levels of rental yield from private lettings, the volume of homes being bought privately by individuals in order to let them has decreased since the buy-to-let tax changes, which has resulted in higher tax bills for many second-home owners.

Growth of Markets
The typical notion of student digs being mildly unappealing and disheveled properties has been turned on its head in recent years, with the student lettings market now exerting a significant influence upon the rental market. Students are now able to access top-quality accommodation in their place of study, and as such, this has become a particularly lucrative market for investors. The return to study for many students in September and October typically sees an upsurge in activity in the private rental sector, and this year has been no different. In addition to a new relationship with the student market, the family lettings market has also grown recently due to greater availability of family properties on the lettings market.

With new properties being built with the express intent to be let out, and the growth of student and family markets, it is evident that the supply and demand for lettings remains strong. This stability is seen through the steadily increasing rental prices nationally, London notwithstanding, as well as the lower levels of tenants behind with their payments. The rental of properties, in lieu of purchasing, is forecast to grow in future years and so the impressive annual yields being reported at the moment should continue to be the case in the coming years.