Property owners, like all investors, need to be sure of two fundamentals - that their investment is safe and that they're getting the best return. If you're a London property owner looking to get the optimum rental and quality tenants who'll look after your property, you need to get professional property management services. Here's why.

The first factor is that having experts in charge ensures you get quality tenants. Property management services firms carry out rigorous background checks and have lists of quality tenants on their books. Many of these are repeat customers, often corporate, who arrange short lets London to stay on business in the Docklands area.

Property management services firms have lists of people searching for London properties in the Canary Wharf region. Most of these will be the staff of premier banks and other companies that operate in the area.

Getting quality tenants means getting optimum rents. Experienced negotiators full familiar with the Docklands property market are in a position to negotiate the highest possible rents in any situation.

Also, the best property management companies offer personal service. There's nothing worse than arranging for a firm to rent out your property and then not being kept in the loop. Quality firms will keep your informed on all matter pertaining to the property such as viewings. With the best firms, you can log in to their web sites to get a status report.

Some of the better firms offer a "serviced apartment" service which is particularly popular with corporate clients. The firm will arrange services such as daily cleaning, ironing and weekly linen changes which can make your property more desirable as well as helping maintain its value.

Next, reputable firms will advise you on the best way to maximise the value of your property. This can help you get higher rents. They can also contact companies that can work to improve the value of the property. These types of service are especially useful to absentee landlords and those who don't have much time to spend on their properties.

If you wish to rent your Docklands property and have decided a property services company is the way to go, here's how to go about it.

Having identified a reputable services firm, you need to contact them for a valuation. As leading firms have the details of a host of comparable properties such as Canary Wharf flats on file, this can generally be done online.

The firm will then give you an idea of probable income and suggestions for improving this. If all's well, the firm will put the property on their books and actively begin advertising.

They will interview prospective tenant and verify bank and employer status along with references from previous landlords. If the tenant is acceptable, the services company will prepare a tenancy agreement to gain protection of the relevant rent and housing acts.

They will take an inventory of the contents of the property and collect a deposit from the tenant. This will be returned upon check out if the condition of the property is satisfactory.

Then rent will be collected on an ongoing basis and forwarded to you the landlord less any relevant fees of expenses. Meanwhile they will contact utilities companies for meter readings to calculate water, electricity and telephone charges. In addition they will take care of expenses such as insurance, services charges and ground rents.

Other than the standard procedures above, they will also inspect the premises on a regular basis, usually quarterly and coordinate any necessary repairs.

Upon the check out of the tenant they will carry out a rigorous inspection and take care of any damages before repaying the tenant's deposit.

As you can see, this is a complex, time-consuming procedure that's best left to the experts. And if you're offering short lets London, it's something you'll need to do over and over. By putting all your rental affairs in the hands of a property management services company, you get quality tenants, the highest rents and the assurance that comes from knowing your precious property is in capable hands.

Unlocking the value of your London Docklands property such as Canary Wharf flats is as simple as visiting the web site of a leading property management services firm. You can find full information online and request a valuation.