First Time Letting Out a Property - Advice Please!

HRC99

clutton wrote:

how many bedroom does it have ? the 2005 housing act is now in force, and if you let to more than 2 folks who are not a household, then you may have to license your property as a House in Multiple Occupation. If your property is 3 storeys and you rent to more than two households, you will definitely have to license it, and it may be very difficult if you have no experience. Stick with one family or a couple and you will be fine.

It's a two bedroom two storey semi. It would only really suit family or couple anyway. From the research I've done, it's not an HMO then and doesn't need license.

What are mortgage companies attitudes in situations like this? Would they just give consent or require a change in the mortgage to BTL?

HRC99

regularsaver1 wrote:

if there is a mortgage on the property she will need consent from her lender to let

conditions of most lenders - are that property must be managed, also insurance must be right

not on about BTL here - but consent to lease if current mortgage residential

What insurance would be required?

MortgageMamma

You will need landlords buildings (and if furnished contents) insurance, with an unoccupancy cover for 90 days (if you are tenantless and no one lives here this helps most insurers will only do 30 days). I would recommend taking out a rent and legal protection policy (costs about £50 for 6 months cover) this will pay the rent if the tenant defaults and also any court costs in the event of eviction. Home emergency cover would also be useful, and could save you a bomb in tradesmen bills and if there#s an emergency such as boiler breakdown in winter, tenants lose keys, burst pipes, blocked drains, failed electrics. There are a lot of legal responsbilities in being a landlord, and one is to provide alternative emergency accomodation for your tenants should your property become uninhabitable - one polic I know pays for a night ina hotel too. You can also include your annual boiler maintenance and CP12 (gas safety checks - got to do this by law) in these policies.

By taking these policies you wouldnt need a letting agent in my opinon, and you would just need to collect the rent - best doing this in person weekly, they are most likely to pay up if you actually go round to collect in person, and then they won't do stupid things like buy a rottweiler puppy that will chew up the house.

Good Luck!

MM

archies_2

Hi, I am a newbie to this site although I have been reading the posts for quite some months. I have put up my house for sale with no result yet. So I am thinking of letting it. Thanks to all the wonderful advice I have learnt many new things. Keep the advice coming Mortgagemamma and all the others.

clutton_2

""From the research I've done, it's not an HMO then and doesn't need license""

it may not be necessary to buy a compulsory license. Have you checked if your council is using the "Selective Licensing" tool within the Act to get a shed load of money from landlords of ordinary family homes in "regeneration areas"? Manchester, for example, are contemplating making ALL private rentals licensable in certain postcode areas !!!!!!

Its an excuse to get more money from landlords.

I have a good team of workmen who i can call on for emergencies, but, this did take me a year or two to settle on the guys i now use. For this reason i dont pay for emergency cover policies. I get all rent monthly via standing order. Its horses for courses really, folks manage in different ways - it all depends on how near/far you are from the property, and how "hands on" you want to be.


""They also know the tricks and scams people will pull as where newbie landlords do not""

i thought i knew all the tricks, and recently i was interviewing a family who were prospective tenants, in their own home. They had all the paperwork, completed application form, references, deposit, credit check fee, blah blah - really nice home and i had turned up unexpectedly. I had virtually no qualms about letting to them, but, nevertheless i sent their current Housing Association a Fax of the data protection release form they had signed, and then discovered that they owed £600 rent on their current property and nearly £1000 on the previous one !!!! You have to be SO careful. I wrote a letter saying that i could not offer them a property. I never heard from them again.

best of luck