Thanks to the sharing economy, renting out your garage is a great way to earn a side income. Here is a guide to help you make money by listing one or several garages for rent on yourparkingspace.co.uk/list-your-space.
Preparation:
First of all, you should see what others are charging in your area. You don’t want to charge much more than commercial car parks near you, or else nobody will want to rent your garage. You can visit YourParkingSpace.co.uk to check the average price other garage owners charge where you live and the facilities they offer. This way, you’ll know how much you should charge on a monthly basis. The positive is that you can charge slightly more than other parking spaces in the area, as garages are typically slightly more expensive than parking spaces.
Take photos, both as a record of the condition of the garage to rent, and for the advert. You should take time to snap beautiful, professional looking pictures. If possible, shoot them with good lighting, and make sure they look sharp. You should also clean up your garage before photographing it. Hose down the floor if necessary, clean the walls, remove all your possessions and make sure your garage is tidy. Your pictures will make or break your garage rental ad, so you don’t want it to look messy. Ask yourself if these images would make you want to rent this garage if it wasn’t yours. If the answer is no, you should start over again. Finally, don’t forget to ask your landlord if you can rent your garage, if you don’t own it.
Creating the advert:
Include the type of door for your garage. Is it manual, or electric? You should make sure it functions properly too. Are there any extras, like electricity or water in the garage? You should give as many details as possible to make it easier for potential tenants to see if your garage is a good fit. Each tenant has different needs. They might want to rent your garage to park a car, a motorbike, a boat, or store their belongings. They should be able to quickly scan your ad to see if your garage is what they’re looking for. Specify if you’re happy for the garage to be used as storage and not just for parking a vehicle.
Obtaining a garage rental:
YourParkingSpace.co.uk deals with all incoming queries about garages for rent, the collection of payments, including a one month deposit, and agreeing on the rental agreement terms. You simply need to list your garage, choose a price, a length of time, and we’ll do the rest. Before agreeing on the terms, think about how long you want to rent your garage for. Will you need to use it for your car from time to time? Or maybe you don’t own a vehicle, and you can rent your garage on the long term? You should plan in advance and only rent your garage when you’re positive you won’t need it. All in all, our garage rental agreement process is incredibly fast and convenient!
Meeting the tenant:
Hand over the key (we hold a deposit so no need to worry about that), and keep a spare one for yourself. Mention that you’ve taken photos of the current condition of the garage so tenants don’t need to worry about that. Meeting the tenant is the perfect way to offer a little bit more information about your space, and to get to know the person who’s going to rent your garage for several days, weeks or months.
You should try to answer any questions that the tenant may have as fully as possible, and be accommodating if the tenant asks you to make a modification, as long as it’s reasonable.
In the unlikely event that a dispute occurs between you and the tenant, you can contact YourParkingSpace.co.uk so that we can quickly deal with this issue.
Negotiating the rental price:
Be prepared to negotiate on the asking price. That will typically result in you earning more rental income over the course of the year, compared to those people that reject rentals and hold out for their asking price. You should be ready to explain how you came up with your rental price, and be willing to offer a discount to potential renters if they ask for one.
Please visit the Space Owners section for more information about listing your space.