My local authority (Southwark) has extended it’s Landlord Licensing scheme to my ward, and as part of the (very expensive) application, a floor plan of the 2 bed / 2 bath purpose built apartment is required. Opent Rent only offer this as part of a photography package (which I don’t need and cannot use due to tenants currently living there) so I need to buy a stand alone floor plan service. Can anyone recommend a firm? Thanks.
you can do your own floor plan. easy to measure up
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As Colin says, just measure the rooms and draw your own. They cant demand Architect approved floor plans.
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The council do state that they need a simple line drawing, so I agree with your general point, but I would like a professional job done for future marketing to tenants.
arm and leg job then
Tbh I dont think it will make any difference to the success or otherwise of a tenancy advert especially at the moment when you could probably just write “property to let” and get 100 responses.
I used to draw up plans for jobs to submit to the council. Very detailed. For a job like yours ,I drew a line drawing outline the smokies , the heaters, boilers, stairs lights, all things the council will be interested in, and room sizes as well. Difference in time will be reflected in how much you are charged
As it happens, I’ve just re-let the property within the last couple of months and the absence of a floor plan did nearly lose me the preferred applicants; my larger property vs similar local apartments was not obvious to them when trawling through websites and descriptions. Sadly not the volume of applicants you might have expected either. So I am looking for a recommendation of a firm that draws them up.
Just go through Rightmove and find the historical sale advert which will have a floor plan, and use that. Look under “sold house prices” they have over 10 years history
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Also look on RightMove and Zoopla an equivalent unit will often have a floor plan you can use
Southend Council tried this one round here. I challenged them and the scheme was dropped. I made a fairly crude video, here is a link. I would check out the legality of imposing this outrageous tax.
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I agree floor plans can be beneficial in informing the accommodation available from both stances of negating unnecessary viewings and enhancing its benefits.
I would still recommend you doing it yourself, with a simple line drawing, on graph paper if it helps you, showing room titles, door openings, window positions and room dimensions & areas, assuming you can use a tape measure it doesn’t need an architect or specialist plan company.
That’s very interesting - thank you for responding. There’s an “early bird” discount for early application and payment, which is significant, which I think I’ll take advantage of in the first instance. I’ll certainly look into the criteria you video highlights but I suspect, as the property is in central London, the ASB level of the ward will not be insignificant. Glad you got it overturned in Southend though.
Hmm… I looked it up. 'Southwark is among the top 5 most dangerous boroughs in London. The overall crime rate in Southwark in 2022 was 108 crimes per 1,000 people. This compares poorly to London’s overall crime rate, coming in 14% higher than the London rate of 95 per 1,000 residents. For England, Wales, and Northern Ireland as a whole, Southwark is among the top 20 most dangerous cities, and the 620th most dangerous location out of all towns, cities, and villages. but the other two criteria I would imaginie should mean the tax does not apply. But… ok… make it easy for them, as landlords, we get it easy, eh?
I did that ( looked up rightmove)when I had to submit application for my selective licensing scheme in Bexley…thankfully it ended in August 2023. It was money for nothing …
THanks Cath2. I’ll definitely have a look at that.
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