Grouped by theme, and written the way we would answer them on the telephone. If yours is not here, the consultation is the right place to put it.
As a working figure, £20,000 to £30,000 or more of investable capital. That is what it takes to take on units, furnish them to standard and hold a sensible reserve while they establish.
We screen for it deliberately. If the capital is not there yet, the firm is not useful to you, and we will tell you that rather than take you through a process.
We do not publish fees. What the firm charges depends on the route, the scale intended, and how much of the work sits with us rather than with you.
Fees are set in the consultation once we both understand what is being proposed. There is a minimum, and we are candid about it early rather than late.
They are separate things. Capital is committed to the units themselves, which means deposits, rent in advance, furnishing and working reserve. The firm's fee sits alongside that and is discussed in the consultation.
Both are established before anything is committed to, so you are never partway in and finding out.
We do not publish expected returns and we do not forecast them. Any figure a firm quotes you before seeing a specific unit is marketing rather than analysis.
What we can tell you is the standard we apply. A unit is only taken if it breaks even at fifty per cent occupancy, modelled net of platform commission and running costs. Returns are not guaranteed and your capital is at risk.
Six weeks is a realistic figure for a first unit where the capital is ready and the sequence is followed. One client reached that mark after walking away from an earlier property we advised against, which is a normal detour rather than a delay.
The variable is rarely the process. It is how consistently the sourcing work is done, and under the done-for-you route that sits with us.
It is the assumption the firm is built on. Every client we work with is holding down a professional career, and several are holding down more than that.
Under the done-with-you route the work is fitted to evenings and weekends, which is when landlords and agents are reachable anyway. Under the done-for-you route it does not enter your week at all.
Under done-with-you, ten to fifteen hours a week during the first two months is the honest baseline. Sourcing, viewings and set-up sit at the front and are the heaviest part.
Once a unit is live and the operating stack is in place, running it settles to a few hours a week. Under done-for-you the figure is close to nil, because the operation is ours.
Established professionals in finance, law, consulting, technology, medicine and comparable fields. Typically several years into a career, with capital set aside that is not currently working, and no intention of leaving the profession.
The objective is a second income and an asset alongside the career. If your objective is to replace the career, we are not the right firm.
Not yet. The firm screens for capital already in place, and a conversation now would only confirm that.
We would rather say that here than take an hour of your time to arrive at it. The position is worth revisiting when the capital is genuinely available.
Yes. The agreement structures, the regulatory requirements and the demand patterns are all specific to the United Kingdom, and advising outside that would be advising on something we do not operate in.
No. London carries the highest entry cost and the strongest demand. Birmingham and Manchester both work.
What matters is that one area is chosen and learned properly rather than three being sampled. Under the done-for-you route the area is selected by us on demand and supply rather than on where you happen to live.
No, and you do not need to buy one. A unit is taken from a landlord on a company let and operated as short-stay accommodation. You hold a contract and an operating business rather than a title.
Yes, when it is structured correctly. The unit is taken on a company let and the landlord consents in writing to short-stay use. Nothing is concealed from anybody.
What is not legal is a standard tenancy with undisclosed subletting, which is what unadvised operators frequently end up holding. It is the first thing we check and it is not negotiable.
It applies to whole-property short lets in specific London boroughs and it is a genuine constraint rather than an inconvenience to be worked around casually. Compliant approaches exist, including longer stays and a different booking mix, and they are part of how a London unit is planned from the outset.
A unit that only works by ignoring it is not a unit we would take.
Because every unit is modelled to break even at fifty per cent occupancy, a weak month is usually flat rather than loss-making. That is the entire purpose of the test.
If a unit trends persistently below that line, the options are to renegotiate the rent with the landlord, restructure how it is marketed, or hand it back at the end of the term. None of that is pleasant, and all of it is better than discovering the problem without a reserve.
No. Wilton provides property education and operational services. Direct property and rent-to-rent arrangements are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
We do not provide regulated financial, investment, tax or legal advice, and nothing we publish is a recommendation to invest. Where a matter is properly one for your accountant or solicitor, we will say so.
No. Wilton is a boutique corporate property advisory firm.
One of our two routes includes structured training and the Knowledge Vault, our library of operational documents, because a client building their own portfolio needs both. That is a component of an advisory relationship rather than a product you buy and work through alone.
It comes down to time, and to whether you want the skill as well as the asset. Done-with-you suits professionals who want to understand the operation and are willing to run it. Done-for-you suits those whose weeks are already fully committed.
We form a view in the consultation and we will tell you if you are choosing the harder of the two for the wrong reasons.
Direct access to the people doing the work, which is the only kind worth having. Deals are reviewed with us before you commit to them, and that review is the part clients say changed the outcome.
What that looks like in practice depends on the route, and it is set out clearly before anything is agreed.
That is common. One of our clients had been through two other programmes before us. Both described the model competently. Neither gave him a sequence that survived a full working week, which is where most of them fail.
The useful question on the call is what specifically stalled, because it is usually one identifiable stage rather than the whole thing.
Arrange the conversation. Forty minutes, no presentation, and a straight answer at the end of it.
If neither route suits you, we will say so on the call. That happens regularly and it is a legitimate outcome.
If your question is specific to your own position, forty minutes on the telephone will settle it faster than any page can.
If neither route suits you, we will say so on the call.
If you would rather test your position first, the readiness assessment takes five minutes.