Need help regarding renting and full management

*depressed*

Basically we are a young couple (21 and 23) with a high mortgage of £820 a month, after months of worrying about money we have decided to rent out our house and move back in with OH's parents for around 2 years to clear our debt. We have gotten our consent to lease with halifax and the estate agent has been round and valued our house at £575 pcm.
Now we have to decide if we want full management or not, this means that they collect the rent each month, deal with any late payments, check our house every 3 months and sort out any breakages etc, they also deal with any calls from the tenant such as the boiler isnt workin etc. Now we really wanted this option, so we can jus forget about the house and leave the estate agents to deal with it all, but its costs 10% of the rent so 57.50 a month every month, and we are looking to move out for 2 years so thats nearly £1500 in fees. I feel that considerin we are movin out to clear debt, paying fees which we dont have to seems silly, but then am worried about pple not payin the rent on time etc i really cant decide what to do, but i need to let them no later today


does anyone have any advise please

xxx

jjwhittle1981

The only thing that i can suggest is to make sure that the LA your using has a good reputation with other landlords. I have fully managed property and spend more time now ring them up chasing rent from them, problems with repairs. The tenant is wonderful, but the LA is just a waste of space, just be careful before you sign anything, ask friedns and family if they have had any dealing with the LA before you do.

princeofpounds

Firstly, think you are doing the right thing. It's inconvenient but will help a lot and you will probably feel a lot better without the stress.
Ok property management....

First thing to understand is that it's not hard, not even remotely, as long as you have some common sense and experience.

The second thing to understand is that whilst you might have the first quality, you don't have the second, and that will mean that you could get things wrong which cause unnecessary hassle.

So the bottom line is how possible is it for you to put some effort into understanding what you have to do, and then doing it when required?

My generic advice would be to for your first ever let get an agent doing a full management service. Then as you become comfortable with the idea and the processes, move to a find-only service.

My specific advice is a lot more long winded, so here are some key points:

- Full management services do not allow you to forget about the house and the tenant. Agents will still be contacting you to make decisions, sign things etc., and some agents are more diligent than others. There are no qualifications for being an agent so you get anything from cowboys to the ultra-professional. And I have even known agents to disinstruct themselves if the going gets tough! For instance, if you ever need to evict, it will probably be you handling the process. Just so you don't get a negative surprise here!

- Terms and conditions in the contract you sign with the agent are *critical*. This is a commercial agreement and so you are not so protected if you sign anything stupid. Most reputable agents won't be trying to totally do you over but if you are not comfortable with anything you read, negotiate it.

- The things that are really critical for you to get right are gas safety certificate, putting deposits into a scheme and sending the tenant the necessary info within 14 days, and letting with an energy performance certificate. All these things will send you to court if not done.

- The things that are important are credit-checking tenant, doing inventories properly, doing the AST contract properly, insurance and responding to repair and maintenance - especially heating and hot water.

- I commend you for getting permission to let, even though it's possible to get away without it. Many landlords don't and I think it should be a criminal offence personally as it deprives tenants of their tenancy rights much like an illegal eviction would.

- Be careful of 'extras'. Agents have been known to charge a little more than required on repairs, inventories, tenancy applications (often they try to charge both prospective tenant and the landlord!). They then get some of that little more back from the contractor. It's not necessarily something to panic about the first year you rent out as it only adds up over time, but you will become accustomed to how things should be done and recognise these practices.

- There are many resources for you to educate yourself. Landlordzone website is one. Your local landlords association is another. There are good books out there too, though I don't know which to recommend. Just make sure it's not an old edition.

- The house will no longer be your home but someone else's. View it as a business. Too much emotional attachment is often a problem with amateur landlords.

So there you go. If I think of anything else I'll add it, but most of the rest of what I could talk about revolves around specifics and that's probably too much to do in one day!

*depressed*

Hey

thanks so much for your reply

we have got the gas certificate done yesterday and someone is coming around tomorrow for the energy performance certificate - both done through the estate agent for £75 each. They are taking care of credit checks, references etc and putting the bond into the government account.

I am using a well known local estate agent, that a relative of mine has used, so fingers crossed they work as well for us, as they have for them.

I have also rang my insurance company and got the insurance sorted, and the price hasnt changed so thats good news.

i am goin to go find the contract they have left for us to look over now (we havent signed it yet) and have a good read

thanks!!!

xxx

jjwhittle1981

Good luck sounds like you have agent that will be fair with you. Just remeber dont sign the contract until you are both entily happy with all that it contains.

gazfocus

Just wanted to say good luck with your plans. You seem to have thought the whole process through very carefully

princeofpounds

Yeah so far sounds like they have been ok, that's good