Renting House out - advice please

ChinUp_2

Hi
I'm looking at renting out my 3 bed semi -detached house as I wish to live with my boyfriend in a different area. I would look to rent an apartment with him. I don't really know where to start or where I can find out what I need to do etc?

Can I just rent me house out myself or would it be advisable to go through a letting agent. What if I have problems with the tenant paying the rent. If they don't pay it can i get cover for this? I am concerned that I wouldn't be able to pay the mortgage on my house and rent on another place. I feel I need security that my house would have a tenant in it and they would pay the rent (this would only be a little short of covering my mortgage payment).

Also, are there any costs that I would have to pay for the house I rent out or would all bills/council tax etc be paid by the tenant?

I really know nothing about renting and wondered if anyone can give me any advise or point me to any good websites. :j
Thanks x

Caz3121

you need to speak to your lender first to either get consent to let or change to a BTL mortgage.
this site is often mentioned on here - http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/

princessamy86

You would need to pay insurance as a bare minimum. If you really have no idea about renting it might be best to use an agent as there's a lot that can go wrong. If you can't cover the mortgage if there's no tenant in there, I really don't think it's a good idea as you can never guarantee that you will have a tenant in there continuously. You also need to budget for ongoing repairs. Why doesn't your boyfriend just move in with you? You could save a bit of money up then surely.

tbs624

Even if you use an LA you need to familiarise yourself with what being a LL entails. There is no requirement for any LA to be trained, qualified , accredited etc before setting up in business handing hundreds of thousands of ££'s worth of property, rent payments and tenancy deposits. Scary? Yes, isn't it. Many of them have a woefully inadequate grasp on even the very basic LL& T regs. There are " professional " tenants who are only too happy to take advantage of rookie LLs and can run rings around both you and an inadequate LA.

Trawl the websites of LL& T lawyer Tessa Shepperson, the Residential LL Assoc, and the National LL Association. links - 1, 2 3 Read up on tenancy deposits and see here and here for much useful info. If you join one of the LL associations or Tessa's site, your membership fee is tax deductible and you'll get discounts on LL insurances and tenancy agreements etc as well as being kept up to date with LL&T rules and regs.

For tenancy deposits see link
For gas safety see link and link

Take a look at Shelter's site so that you can understand what rights and obligations a tenant has.
You will also need to read up on tax and property rental - see here and here

Edit - on your bills query, it is usual for the T to be responsible for the gas, elec, phone/broadband, c tax water bills etc.

adg1

Firstly you need to decide between an agent and private letting. An agent will cost you money but will (normally) take the stress and hassle out of finding a tenant - advertising the flat, booking and conducting appointments, credit and reference checking the potential tenants, registering their deposits on acceptance with the DPS, handling the move in etc.

Privately letting out would probably, in MHO, be less successful for you as you seem unaware of what being a landlord entails and the general pitfalls. Personally I would instruct an agent to find a tenant and manage the property for the first 3 months (unless there is a longer tie in to their management in which case don't pay the extra and look after it yourself) as most problems with a tenancy will occur in the first 3 or so months and Mr Agent can deal with the phone calls.

You will need to get landlords insurance (changes depending on what type of tenant you get in the property). You also need to check with your lender and get approval from them to rent it out prior to accepting a tenant.

During the tenancy, you would have to pay for: buildings insurance, landlords insurance etc. The Tenant pays for what they use in the house - the council tax, the utility bills, contents insurance, etc etc.

Check out http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/ for any other tips.

Logistically, the agent will want you to provide them with a date that the property is available from so you would need to decide on your onward move prior to listing with an agent. Maybe even finding a property then letting yours out.

Hope that helps!

theartfullodger

Only do this if you are emotionally & financially ready to live with 9 months or so of the "Tenant from Hell" who pays upfront then nothing & you take months & months of trying to get him out, incurring legal fees & stress whilst you still pay the mortgages etc etc etc & he trashes the place...

What, don't believe me?? Read this quote...

My name is Mark Alexander, I am a founder and the Managing Director of The Money Centre (UK) Plc...... snip! ....

28 of my properties in Norwich are managed by a lady who I have mentored to build her own Property Management business. I pay her £50 per month for full property management and she also charges £100 to tenants for referencing which we split 50/50.....snip!....

Over the years, inevitably I have been stung by the odd tenant who has damaged the property beyond the value of their deposit whereby I have not been able to recover the full costs of the damages.....snip!.... However, just recently I've had one nightmare scenario where it's taken far too long to vacate a tenant who had turned to drugs and had not been paying her rent. I had to go through the full eviction process including court orders and bailiffs. I claimed on insurance for malicious damages of course but this still left me over £13,000 out of pocket after legal costs, insurance excesses and lost rent.

(Not me btw...)

Cheers! Welcome to the fun world of property get-rich-quick land....!!

Lodger

Fire_Fox

ChinUp wrote: »

Hi
I'm looking at renting out my 3 bed semi -detached house as I wish to live with my boyfriend in a different area. I would look to rent an apartment with him. I don't really know where to start or where I can find out what I need to do etc?

Can I just rent me house out myself or would it be advisable to go through a letting agent. What if I have problems with the tenant paying the rent. If they don't pay it can i get cover for this? I am concerned that I wouldn't be able to pay the mortgage on my house and rent on another place. I feel I need security that my house would have a tenant in it and they would pay the rent (this would only be a little short of covering my mortgage payment).

Also, are there any costs that I would have to pay for the house I rent out or would all bills/council tax etc be paid by the tenant?

I really know nothing about renting and wondered if anyone can give me any advise or point me to any good websites. :j
Thanks x

Do you have permission to let from your mortgage provider? Have you factored in income tax on your rental income? You can only write off the mortgage interest, not the repayment part.

ChinUp_2

Thanks to all who replied. I will read into everything, am bound to be back on with more questions!

ChinUp_2

What is the general opinion - renting my house furnished or unfurnished? What sort of price difference can I expect and what do people tend to want? What does 'furnished' include - sorry if this seems a daft question! I think I could offer either.

clutton_2

unfurnished everytime - unless it is a professional yuppy flat in inner city

James_N

Basically, if you are worried about any aspect of letting, then the agent you pay will take the worries off you. A good agent will handle it all - for a fee.
If you don't like the idea of a fee, and are unwilling to take risks or do the work yourself, it's best to sell the property.

ChinUp wrote: »

Hi
I'm looking at renting out my 3 bed semi -detached house as I wish to live with my boyfriend in a different area. I would look to rent an apartment with him. I don't really know where to start or where I can find out what I need to do etc?

Can I just rent me house out myself or would it be advisable to go through a letting agent. What if I have problems with the tenant paying the rent. If they don't pay it can i get cover for this? I am concerned that I wouldn't be able to pay the mortgage on my house and rent on another place. I feel I need security that my house would have a tenant in it and they would pay the rent (this would only be a little short of covering my mortgage payment).

Also, are there any costs that I would have to pay for the house I rent out or would all bills/council tax etc be paid by the tenant?

I really know nothing about renting and wondered if anyone can give me any advise or point me to any good websites. :j
Thanks x