Anyone here rent property out

[kopchoir]

Decided I'm going to rent my house out.
It's a financial decision and I need a bigger house. I don't want to sell it as my mortgage is only low.
Anyway anybody able to give me some advice.

Cheers Si

 

[twoeyedbob]

Make sure you have the lease agreement double/triple checked by a lawyer...use a letting agency for less hassle..
Dont spend a fortune on decor/furniture.
Apparently...in the city at least..there are quite alot of shady characters renting and then using loopholes to avoid paying rent/refusing to leave/taking landlords to court.
Make sure all you safety cert's are in order

Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk 2

 

[kopchoir]

Make sure you have the lease agreement double/triple checked by a lawyer...use a letting agency for less hassle..
Dont spend a fortune on decor/furniture.
Apparently...in the city at least..there are quite alot of shady characters renting and then using loopholes to avoid paying rent/refusing to leave/taking landlords to court.
Make sure all you safety cert's are in order

Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk 2

What kind of loopholes ??apart from gas cert what else do I need.
My mate owns a lettings firm so he's doing it for free (haven't told him yet)
Cheers
Si

 

[CooperUK]

Take photos of the place before the tenants move in as proof of what it looked like.

Get an inventory done of what you leave in the place,

Get landlords insurance, boiler care plan etc. A few quid outlay each month may make a big difference later,

 

[RBZ5416]

Check if your local council/housing association are looking for properties. You'll get a lower rent but a long lease, so no dead periods between short lets. They will deal with all the maintenance as well.

 

[sergiup]

I'm a tenant, so slightly different point of view: take clear photos of everything, don't go crazy on furnishings etc in any way (personally I prefer renting unfinished anyway, but that's just me), what you do put in should be sturdy. Use neutral colours if you're going to decorate, some of the stuff out there is hideous. I agree on getting insurance for most things, it's good for peace of mind. A 6-month break clause might be a good idea too, depends on your flexibility.

Keep in mind that this is a two way thing - I completely agree that there are nightmare tenants out there, but there are plenty of shocking landlords too. Hope you get some good ones, good luck!

 

[Epicurus]

From my own experience of lettings it's usually less hassle to use a reputable agent.

As someone else said, check all the paperwork though. I got screwed when trusting the agent to do an inventory properly, I should have been more thorough but it's hard to check everything on a 7 page list. The tenants had noticed an expensive item that wasn't on the list and took it when moving out. They fell back on the inventory as their defence and so did the agent.

Ultimately I asked the agents if they'd rather lose £300 or a customer and they decided to give me the money.

Finally consider some form of landlord insurance. The deposit won't cover anything and although I've always self insured in the past, the rising rate of liability claims would leave me worried not to have some form of insurance now. Some agents might provide this as part of the service.

 

[Cyland101]

Interesting thread as we are also considering something similar. How do you find a descent letting agent, and whats the going rate?

 

[Ayub]

Gas safe every year-

If you plan to give to one RELATED group,may need a Eco certificate.

If you rent to students you will need to HMO your house.

Rent to a family is ok, low rent yield and endless stress from then. Most will PUSH YOU TO YOUR LIMIT, simply to bypass the councils 2-4 year waiting list. They will leave your house looking like ****, and will wilfully destroy it in front of your eyes and there will be sweet f.a you can do. As soon as you say something councils up your arse.

Rent to a group, ok good rental income but you need to sell your house to them. Good money to made but you need to spend some to make some.

All depends on your local council guidelines, ring them and loosely ask them.
Don't go into specifics, they will get excited.

I would consider council/ housing association people as a absolute desperation move. Try to avoid if you can. I speak from experience, with over 15 years of providing services to people.

 

[Ayub]

If your doing it yourself

Get a good deposit, secure it via any landlord deposit scheme.

When they move in inventory EVERYTHING they have ACCESS too. Describe condition colour and quality agree with Tennant. Expect the odd chair breaking wear and tear. If in doubt, take pics both sign and date. I do, and I picture speaks a million words.

 

[MaturityDodger]

One thing unrelated to the actual renting...
Check the mortgage conditions on the house that you plan to rent out. You say the payments are only small but conditions are usually different for residential mortgages and buy-to-let.
I got my annual mortgage statement through last night and spotted that they charge a fee if I start to rent out the property.

So you might be better off taking a slightly larger mortgage on your new residential property so that you can pay off the old one in full.

 

[ldoodle]

Check if your local council/housing association are looking for properties. You'll get a lower rent but a long lease, so no dead periods between short lets. They will deal with all the maintenance as well.

You don't get to choose the tenants though. So expect the worst and hope for the best!

Any income you earn is taxable, and at the same rate as your income tax. Take that into consideration when deciding on the rental charge.

 

[Noggin1980]

buy to let mortgages have horrible interest rates though, up to a couple of percent worse than a normal mortgage or have a large set up fee or both. We mortgaged our house to the max to make sure the buy to let mortgage was as small as possible.

 

[RBZ5416]

You don't get to choose the tenants though. So expect the worst and hope for the best!

True but as your contract is with the council/HA then it's their responsibility to return the property to the same state as when they took it on.

Not saying it's the best option but one to investigate as many people aren't aware of the possibility.

 

[Epicurus]

You don't get to choose the tenants though. So expect the worst and hope for the best!

Any income you earn is taxable, and at the same rate as your income tax. Take that into consideration when deciding on the rental charge.

If you're going to say that then at least balance it out. Income can be offset against expenses including interest payments on the mortgage, replacing wear and tear items, equipment purchased for/maintaining the property. Hold onto receipts in case you ever have a tax investigation. I've never made money on rental income, I've always seen it as a way to pay for an appreciating asset.

I've only ever had issues with one set of tenants who incidentally were on housing benefit but I took some of the deposit to cover the damage. They were the same ones that stole an item as well.

 

[zed4]

Check with your mortgage co. to see if they allow you to let the house out.

 

[ldoodle]

One thing that's in the OP favour is that it's not a 'normal' B2L mortgage as he's lived there for so many years.

I think this makes something more favourable for him (but can't remember what).

 

[imightbewrong]

Presumably he will need a mortgage for the new house, in which case the fact that he has another will probably come into the equation.

 

[Godric]

I'm a tenant so again slightly different point of view then a landlord... but here's my advice..

Decorating, I would just put white wallpaper up and new carpret, allow tenant to decorate how they wish when they move in expect some nails in walls for photo frames etc but tell them to not over do it.

Furniture: I wouldn't put any in and keep the rooms empty as much as possible, and ya take photos of every room at all angles.

 

[pxr5]

One thing that's in the OP favour is that it's not a 'normal' B2L mortgage as he's lived there for so many years.

I think this makes something more favourable for him (but can't remember what).

IIRC it's a Consent to Lease, which also comes with certain conditions, which may need to be investigated before taking the plunge. I had one, but I was overseas at the time and was no issue, but I do remember that I had to make certain declarations about it being my main property with every intention of moving back to it after repatriation

 

[kopchoir]

Yeah I haven't spoke to my building society yet with regards to letting my house out.
Im going to be try and be pro-active as a landlord, pay your rent and we will be just fine.
Im also thinking of renting and not buying, I have used up all my savings over the years weddings time off work for the wife and me.
So I have no deposit, there are a few options open to me,

Option 1: I borrow the deposit to buy another house and link it to my first house.
Rent will pay the mortgage and my deposit loan.
My only concern with option 1 is 2 mortgages 1 at peanuts but if I have no tenants then its an extra cost.
Option 2.
I borrow the money and use it towards rent on another larger house im not then paying tax on any income I receive from the house. (is that right) Say my mortgage and loan is 300 and my rental income is 300 then I wont be making any cash to pay income tax???

Option 3.
I borrow the 15k pay off some debt and lower my outgoings

Long term I want the wife not to work, I want after that 4 years be debt free and remortgage the original house and pay it off over say 8 years then its fully owned by myself.
I could just sell the house and buy again, I would have a deposit but for the sake of a £100 a month mortgage and rental income of 600 its a no brainer IMO

I have to move as I work outside of the area I live, and its becoming hard with young children and a pregnant wife.

Si

 

[kopchoir]

Also if I rent it as furnished that's an extra whatever a month but I was told say if the bed broke I would have to replace it as its contractual furnished property???

 

[IronGiant]

Do you still have more rights as a landlord if it's furnished?

 

[kopchoir]

Do you still have more rights as a landlord if it's furnished?

I don't know a lot of my friends are estate agents and this is what I was told about replacing furniture

 

[Ayub]

Do you still have more rights as a landlord if it's furnished?

Doesn't matter Tennant always right because they don't want to rehouse them. Shelter, in communities etc all worthless sh*tholes. Everyone has a grudge against you simply because your the landlord so your at fault.