Have you ever wanted to rent a truly unique property?  This medieval castle located in the Valley of the Sorgues in France is the perfect place for your wedding, to celebrate your birthday or to host a party.  With 10 stunning bedrooms it offers accommodation for up to 27 people.  Meals are taken in the vaulted dining room and there is even a swimming pool for guests to enjoy. See the full listing here.

We have completed the first stage of integration of PADZ with Google’s Real Estate search engine, also known as Google Base.  Google are currently preparing to launch their property search functionality in Britain.  This will bring property search to a wider audience through the familiar Google search, Google Maps and Google Streetview.

All properties adverts created on PADZ.com will now also be shown on Google base.   This applies to properties that have been added as well as adverts which have been restarted by clicking the ‘Advertise’ link next to the property.

Landlords and Agents will have the advantage that their PADZ property adverts appear in the search results of the world’s biggest search engine.  After finding the rental property on Google, prospective tenants will then be forwarded to PADZ to check the properties’ full details, reviews and contact information of the landlord and agent.

Advertising on PADZ combines the dedicated functionality of PADZ’ worldwide property rental network with Google’s potential to expose adverts to a huge audience which is great news for Landlords, Agents and Tenants.

Residential Land (http://www.residentialland.com), London’s Largest Private Landlord with a over 1,200 rental properties have uploaded their entire portfolio of available properties on PADZ.com.

The company owns several buildings in the best areas of the capital and manages all of them in-house. Residential Land provide dedicated building managers and 24 hour maintenance support.

Thomas Karcher, co-founder of PADZ said “This is exciting development for us and shows that PADZ is attracting interest from the major players in the market.”

All of Residential Land’s rental properties can be found on PADZ.com site as well as on the dedicated company channel http://residentialland.padz.com

PADZ has introduced Agent Channels which allow companies to set up their own websites in minutes. A channel is like an agency’s own website and will show all advertised rental properties, all branch contact details and links to the profiles of all its agents. The company logo and brand message can be displayed prominently at the top of the page. This allows companies to create effective letting websites without the need for a web designer, domain registration or hosting.

Agents can apply for a company channel from the welcome page which appears directly after registering on www.PADZ.com . If a company has already set up branches and assigned agents to these to advertise rental properties on PADZ, the company manager can apply for a company channel at any time after logging in.

Company Channels allow agencies to use their company name as part of the domain name for their channel, which can then be accessed directly by going to http://companyname.padz.com.

Setting up and maintaining a company channel is completely free on PADZ. Potential tenants can view the branch and agent profiles and search for all the company’s rental properties and rooms to rent. All properties advertised by the company’s agents on PADZ.com will also appear in the company channel. Agent profile and branch contact information is also edited on PADZ.com in the usual way and the company channel is updated at the same time.

Visitors to the PADZ homepage will have noticed that we have implemented a few changes and new features over the last few weeks.  Apart from improving the rental property search component and giving it more space and prominence at the very top of the page, the map which can be browsed by clicking on it now lives within it’s own box.

The biggest change, however, has been the introduction of five categories: Properties to Rent, Rooms to Rent, Vacation Rentals, Short Term Rentals and Bed & Breakfast.   The new categories will make it easier for tenants to find the rental accommodation they are looking for and showcase the potential of PADZ across a wide range of rental types to our users.

Adding and advertising your rental accommodation on PADZ is still as simple and straightforward as it used to be.   There are no additional criteria to enter for landlords.  PADZ will know in which categories an advert should be shown, depending on the type (property or room) and the minimum stay set in the property details.  Vacation Rentals and Short Term Rentals include properties with a minimum stay of less than one month while Bed & Breakfast accommodation includes rooms to rent for one month or less.  This could be rooms in someone’s private house or in a houseshare which accepts renters for short periods of time.

Clicking on one of the categories and performing a search will show search results page where all the search criteria can be modified, providing maximum flexibility when looking for rental accommodation.

Creating an advert on PADZ is easy and we have refined the process to make it even quicker and simpler.  If you have already added your property or room and the advert is no longer active, you can restart your advert by clicking Advertise next to the property listing after logging into your account.

But what about users that want to create an entirely new advert?  PADZ allows you to create adverts for any type of rental property.  Initially you will be able to select if you want to add either a property or a room.   The term Properties includes anything which is let out as a whole – this could be flats, apartments, houses, vacation rentals and short term rentals. Rooms are usually located in shared properties, such as a houseshare or a hostel/hotel. It is also possible for individuals to rent out a room in their main residence for the short or long term. 

If you have already created a room advert and want to advertise another room in the same house or apartment, it is not necessary to enter all the information such as location, general photos or the general description again.  When asked if the room you want to add is in one of your other flatshares or house shares, simply select ‘YES’ and the shared property from the drop down menu. All you then need to do is to enter the room details and add a photo and the advert is ready to go live.

Entering a new property or a room in a new houseshare requires a few more details but we have aimed to make to process as simple as possible and divided it into four easy steps:

Step 1 allows you to search for the property address and automatically completes the address form. Simply check the address details and if necessary amend them.  Once they are correct, press Next.

Step 2 is an important step as it is here where the location of the property is defined.  Note that PADZ saves the exact geographic location of the property.  This makes it possible to add properties anywhere in the world and tenants will see the precise location on the map and Google Streetview of the apartment or house for rent.  Simply drag the red marker to the correct position.

Step 3 allows you to enter all the necessary details, availability and the price, which can be set in any of 18  popular currencies.  The preview at the bottom of the page shows what your advert will look like. If you are adding a room in a househare, then you will see a few more options on this page which will allow you to  add details for the room as well as the shared house or apartment.

Photos can be added in Step 4.  You can add as many photos as you like on PADZ.  One photo can be chosen as the main image and this will then be displayed in the advert and at the top of the property’s photo page.

Clicking Finish will save all the entered information and the rental advert will be live immediately.  You can amend any of the details by clicking on My Account and selecting the advert on the Properties & Rooms page.

Today we have released the new homepage for PADZ. The search functionality has been extended and simplified. As before, you can search for properties in any location by typing in the city, country or postcode you are looking for properties to rent in. In addition, the homepage now allows users to click on any location worldwide, bringing a truly international feel to the site. So far PADZ has attracted interest from people in countries around the world, including the UK, USA, Spain, Greece and even Ecuador. A list of countries is also available to help you locate even the smallest island states. As the PADZ community continues to grow, we hope the new ways to search for properties and rooms to rent will make it even easier to find your ideal home.

Also part of the new homepage design is update released at the end of last week changed the appearance of the property search results, which now groups the properties by date, distance, price, size or rating. The layout of the information displayed for each property has been changed to make it easier to see all key details at a glance.

You could be living a luxury lifestyle in a stunning penthouse apartment in Manchester for just £150 per month. A landlord in Manchester is offering two rooms in his luxury penthouse for just £150 per month, provided that you also provide some cooking, cleaning and ironing.

The apartment boasts an extremely high standard of design and contemporary interiors to create a luxurious property including superb open plan state-of-the-art kitchen, dining room and living room. A stylish staircase leads to a galleried landing with stunning views and three double bedrooms.

As a resident you will also have use of the the health spa, sky pool, fitness centre, roof garden with open-air hot tub and further roof terrace. The apartment also comes with concierge, porter, security and valet parking.

You can find out more about the apartment and how to apply at http://www.padz.com/property-to-let/overview/432/rochdale-rd-m4-4jr/room/326.html