Letting Update Journal Templates

The Letting Centre have created standard article templates (listed below), which are used for submitting articles for the Letting Update journal (LUJ) to the LUJ Editorial Team at The Letting Centre, in Exmouth. They are available in Microsoft Word 2003 format.

Writers can choose to write their articles straight into single-column format using the 'Early Draft' template, or into triple-column 'Print ready' format using the other templates.

NB. Please read the Writer's Style Guide before submitting articles to the Letting Update journal, which can be downloaded on the Writing for LUJ / Style Guides page under the 'Style guides' section.

Single-Column Templates:

Early Draft Template

The 'Early Draft Template' is designed for writers use to write their articles into and then send to the LUJ Editorial Team at The Letting Centre. It contains fields for the author to fill in information about their article, including the author's name, article title and word count for the article, along with space to insert your article. There is also a field for the location of article once it is submitted to The Letting Centre - which is completed by the Editor upon submission - and also space on the left-hand-side of the page for the Editor to mark up his or her comments.

You can download this template below:

You can also downloaded an example version this template below:

Triple-Column 'Print ready' Templates:

If you would like to set your draft article into our standard triple-column 'print ready format, then the templates below are the ones to use. The templates below include: Main and Feature articles, Recent Housing Reports articles, Case Study articles, Management Matters articles, Building Briefing articles, Student Notes articles, Q&As articles, and Humour articles.

Main and Feature Articles Template

MAIN ARTICLES:

Typical page size: 3-5 pages, 2800-4800 words. 

Main articles are large articles containing important information for the lettings industry and usually consider serious subject matter, usually going into a lot of detail (hence the long page allowances).

Main articles typically include:

• Headings – used to split the article up into sections;
• Preamble – to introduce the article briefing and identify the author. Should be 20-80 words;
• Quotation boxes (if applicable);
• Illustrations or photos;
• Article summary;
• References used to build the article;
• Insert boxes – for extra information which is not included in the article;
• Further information box – at the end of the article. This points readers in the right direction for more information on the article subject.

N.B. Main articles can consider any area appropriate to the PRS of lettings. This could be: political, legal, tax, finance, etc.

FEATURE ARTICLES:

Typical page size: 1-3 pages, 800-3800 words. 

Feature articles are smaller than main articles and can contain less ‘serious’ subject matters. These articles can be more opinionated than the main articles.

Feature articles typically include:

• Headings – used to split the article up into sections;
• Preamble – to introduce the article briefing and identify the author. Should be 20-80 words;
• Quotation boxes (if applicable);
• Illustrations or photos;
• Article summary;
• References used to build the article;
• Insert boxes – for extra information which is not included in the article;
• Further information box – at the end of the article. This points readers in the right direction for more information on the article subject.

N.B. Feature articles can consider any area appropriate to the PRS of lettings. This could be: political, legal, tax, finance, etc.

The template used to write all the 'Main' and 'Feature' articles can be downloaded below:

Recent Housing Reports Template

Typical page size: 1-2 pages, 800-1500 words.

This section is used to summarise information from recent market reports regarding the private rented sector (PRS), which could be:

• Market surveys and research findings;
• Government reports;
• Summary of recent consultation documents.

The template used to write all the 'Recent Housing Reports' articles can be downloaded below:

Case Study Template

Typical page size: 1-2 pages, 800-1500 words.

This section provides an opportunity to present situations from one of our readers’ own experiences. Readers can identify with practical examples and like to learn from other practitioner’s experiences. Case studies help break up the other more theoretical and technical articles with the LUJ and can also be used to present summary ‘best practice’ advice at the end of an article.

The template used to write all the 'Case Study' articles can be downloaded below:

Management Matters Template

Typical page size: 1-2 pages, 800-1500 words. 

These articles deal with issues that occur in the specific area of property management, and can be used to express opinions, letters or feedback.

The template used to write all the 'Mangement Matters' articles can be downloaded below:

Building Briefing Template

Typical page size: 1½-2½ pages, 1200-1800 words. 

Subscribers to the LUJ are mainly either landlords or property managers.
The ‘Building Briefing’ section aims to provide background or technical information about the more practical aspects of property management, helping readers understand the construction and property defeats, as well as repair techniques, etc.

For example: What is a HIP? What is a ‘valley’? What is a ‘purlin’? These are terms that property managers may need to be familiar with when discussing a roof repair.

The template used to write all the 'Building Briefing' articles can be downloaded below:

Student Notes Template

Typical page size: 1-2 pages, 800-1500 words.

We generally use this section to present a topic of general interest to the readers or particular technical issues, such as service of notice or meaning of ‘mitigation’.

The template used to write all the 'Student Notes' articles can be downloaded below:

Q&As Template

Typical page size: 1-2 pages, 800-1500 words.

The template used to write all the 'Q&As' articles can be downloaded below:

Humour Template

Typical page size: 1 page, 0-800 words (depending upon the inclusion of an illustration)

The humour section of the LUJ is designed to leave readers on a ‘lighter note’ and should be humorous as appropriate to the PRS of lettings.

The template used to write all the 'Humour' articles can be downloaded below: