Q I am moving to Birmingham with work and I need to find a one-bed apartment in the city centre with a gym or fitness facilities. Where would you recommend?
Paul Harper, Cannock Marie Shipway comments:
There is a growing demand for city centre apartments with these kinds of facilities and in response developers are providing not only fitness facilities but also conference and function rooms, business centres, live/work units and cafes within new developments.
Centenary Plaza is currently the largest residential development in Birmingham city centre and it offers all of the facilities you require, with a fully fitted gym on site as well as a business centre and two function rooms with kitchens for residents' use.
If you were prepared to locate a mile to two miles out of the city centre in Edgbaston, Britannic Apartments offer not only a gym but also a pool and even a cricket pitch. Alternatively another development worth considering would be Broadway Plaza, located at Five Ways at the end of Broad Street. While this development doesn't have its own gym it does have an Esporta Health Centre located within the mixed use development.
Q I want to rent a family home with a garden within easy reach of the city centre, where would you recommend? Also can you tell me whether landlords will object to letting to a family with small children?
Julie Leeson, Kings Heath Marie Shipway comments:
We very rarely encounter landlords who would object to a family with small children as a tenant so I don't feel this will limit your choice at all. However there are very few family homes in the city centre, this area being mainly dominated by apartments.
A new phase of development in Birmingham will see new family houses being built for the first time in a long time in the city centre, behind the Mailbox in 2006, but if you can't wait that long you should consider Harborne or Edgbaston which are only one and a half to two miles from the centre.
Both areas offer upmarket residential accommodation with good local shopping and entertainment and very good transport links if you don't want to walk into the centre. Also because of the distance from the centre these properties often work out better value for money. For example for £650 per calendar month you could rent a three-bed property with parking and a garden in Harborne, but the same rent would only secure a one-bed apartment in the city centre.
Q I have recently purchased a one-bedroomed apartment in the Jewellery Quarter which I intend to let out. It has a fully fitted kitchen but nothing else. Would you recommend I let the property like this or consider fully furnishing it? And if I am to fully-furnish what standard of finish is needed and how much should I expect to spend?
James Harris, Vyse Street, B'ham Marie Shipway comments:
In the Birmingham market at the moment fully-furnished apartments are far easier to let and to secure good rental incomes from. This is because many people renting in the city centre have come here to work and don't wish to furnish a property themselves. They may think that they will only be here for a limited time or they are using an apartment as a second home to stay in Monday to Friday.
In terms of cost and quality you need to ensure that you put in stylish, practical, comfortable but not expensive or unique furnishings and fittings. A tenant will not necessarily treat a rented home with the same care they do their own home so it is essential that things can be easily and cost effectively replaced.
The other thing to remember is that fully-furnished means just that. Your tenant will expect to find everything from TVs, DVDs and sound systems to fully-equipped kitchens and bedrooms down to the tea towels, towels and bed linen. The better equipped your apartment, the wider the choice of tenants to whom it is likely to appeal.
Marie Shipway is a residential lettings expert at property consultancy BK in Birmingham. If you have a lettings query you would like her to answer in CityLiving Magazine, email marie.shipway@bkonline.co.uk | 
