General Chat

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We currently have builders etc doing up my old family home and will probably be moving into it some time later in the year. We had intended letting this house, rather than selling, in case we didn’t settle. And even if we do settle we thought it would be a nice monthly income when we retire. However, OH has been talking to a man he works with who did the same and has had a nightmare. His tenants stopped paying the rent after 3 months and he had to go to court to get them out. It cost him a fortune and they left the house in a real mess. Does anyone have experience of letting because it’s worrying me? Gwynne

We had intended to use an agency and it all seemed like a good idea until we realised what could happen. If anything can go wrong it does for us, which is why I'm worried. Gwynne

if you use a letting agency you may get better safeguards but less profit

FIRST DONT DO IT YOURSELF. SONS FRIEND OWNS 12 HOUSES FOR RENT AND WILL ALWAYS USE A RELIABLE WELL KNOWN AGENCY, THEY DEAL WITH EVERYTHING I KNOW YOU PAY BUT ITS PEACE OF MIND

Gwen, Do you know what the agency does about legal costs? Is it possible to take out insurance? Gwynne

I WILL ASK SON AS SON AS I SEE HIM

I DO THINK UNLESS YOU HAVE LEGAL EXPERIECE YOU NEED A AGENCEY THEY TAKE COMMISSION,BUT DO ALL

Thanks, Lynda and Gwen, I really don't want to sell this place yet - just in case. Gwynne

I have sent you a pm hope you understand my waffle..lol

If your worried about long term letting have you thought about short term lets? or letting it out to companies? or as a holiday let?

Where I live, the Council (Housing Association?) do a guaranteed let arrangement. You rent your house to the Council, who then find a tenant and take legal responsibility for anything the tenant does. The scheme is designed for people just like yourself, who have a vacant property but who are reluctant to rent it out because of possible problems with tenants. Might be worth ringing your council and seeing if they do a similar scheme? OC

We have rented out properties for some years now, and have always used Agents....don't even consider NOT using one!! I would also strongly advise you to Let the property 'unfurnished'. And shop around your area for Agents, there are good ones and not so good ones!! So far we have been very lucky. Only one nightmare - one of our properties, being small, tends to attract lots of short lets, so the house itself takes more wear & tear generally. We had one bad tenant in there, but to be honest that was as much the (useless) Agent's fault as the tenants. After months of arguing with the Agent I eventually threatened to take them to court and they settled...rather quickly! We changed Agent and have had no further problems. The Agents in our area take a 10% fee, for 'full management'. That is to say, they deduct 10% from the rental income before it gets paid into your bank a/c, but they will often reduce that if they are handling more than one property for you. Full Management means they handle everything (as we are mainly out of the country, it suits us). They market the property, 'vet' the prospective tenant with background checks and credit rating, do a quarterly inspection of the property (for which they must issue you with a report), handle any maintenance work and annual inspections (Gas & Elctricity), and so on. There is an insurance you can take out (usually the Letting Agent will offer/suggest it) against non payment of rent. Your buildings insurance will probably go up, not horrendously, but you must have it insured for rental purposes. You also need permission from your mortgage lender, the Agent requires this is in written form. Depending on your mortgage lender, you MAY have to change your mortgage product, the rules have changed considerably over the last few years, and many mortgage lenders are jumping on the bandwagon by making you have a 'business' mortgage, which costs slightly more....but shop around if your lender insists you must do this. That's all I can think of at the mo'. PM me if you have any questions, I'm happy to help. Good luck. Karen

Thanks, everyone, now I know there is insurance available I'm a bit more at ease. I wouldn't do it other than through an agency, for sure. We've lived here for years and the neighbours on one side have been here nearly 40 years and 25 for the other side. They have been good neighbours and I worry about bringing trouble to the lane. Gwynne

Oh, I hadn't thought about that. No problem with kids but I would say no pets. There is enouugh cat poo in the garden from next door's cat ............... Gwynne

My daughter is in a beautiful rented property, which she rented privately from a friend who is in the forces. This arrangement works well for both of them - the landlady knows that my daughter has very high housekeeping standards, as she has been a visitor to my daughter's marriedd home in the past. Do you have any service bases near you? Service couples make very good tenants, and you have someone to scream at if things go wrong (very unlikely). My friend has let out various properties over the years and only had one nightmare tenant - he was her BANK MANAGER!!!! OC OC

My daughter has 5 flats and houses plus a villa in Lanzarote all on long lets and all done through agencys.Never had any trouble. annie

I let my house when I worked in USA for a year. It was a small, 2-bedroomed modern house and I let it through an agency. Two single girls were put forward as tenants, and I wish I'd gone with my 'gut' instinct about them and refused!! One left after a couple of months and the other one stayed, but eventually stopped paying rent. The agency were great, and eviction notices were issued etc. Luckily, she went without a fuss and left the place clean and tidy. I never got the rent back and was inundated with letters from creditors for months afterwards, all of which I had to deal with as she had 'disappeared' leaving debts with lots of other companies, as well as me! A bad experience but there are plenty of instances of good tenants.

Gwynne we had a nightmare even with a letting agency but that wasnt up here. Just a thought got the new cov hospital and with the elliot you are right in middle might be worth asking both if they have a department that deals with rentals for their staff they are always looking for good accommodation and you are right on the bus route, an added bonus. d x

That's a good idea, Dawnie, thanks Gwynne