Private Landlords advice needed! (or anyone else)

CB1979_2

hi guys, I'm just in the process of buying a flat and it goes through on 18th August, but I need to rent it out for 6 months whilst my girlfriend has an op.

so questions are,

1a) do you advise going through an Agent? if so, would you go with one with a few properties on their books or with loads?
to me it's a toss up between if they have a smaller selection, then it means less competition to mine, however if they're a smaller agent then less potential tenants???

1b)If I let an agent deal with it, but I'll take care of maintenance, by bro is a plumber & my dad is an electrician, so don't want to pay their rip off prices for "work" that may not need doing.


2) What do i need for me to be a legal landlord? I know you need a gas certificate is that it?

3) If i decide to be a private landlord, does anyone have a contract i could use?

cheers

Chris

gwinnie

Hi Chris

On question 3, WHSmith sell various DIY legal packs including landlord/tenant contracts.

Hope all goes well for your girlfriend.

Tassotti

Hi Chris,

if the property is in demand then doesn't matter what agent you use..It will rent.

Use agents to find tenants and check all the referencing that they do.

You need to check credit suitability, previous LLs reference, work reference. Private references aren't worth anything.

The most important thing is to get a decent tenant in your property. Do NOT accept DSS (DWP) tenants

If you pm me your email address, I will give you a copy of the AST I use. It is very extensive and covers all potential problems.

If you decide to go alone, check out this link...It will serve you well

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/successful_landlording.htm

Be lucky

Tass

CB1979_2

cheers Tass, have PM'd you.

anyone else with any advice or such?

silvercar

We went with a small agent, they sorted out the gas check and referencing. They were not actually in the same area as the property but I had confidence in them. They had a tenant moved in 10 daysafter i completed on the place. As it happens tenant is claiming housing benefit so the tenant and the guarantor hed to be referenced.

Tenant said they found the property on a website, so I would say go with someone you fell comfortable dealing with.

rsykes2000

MisterTwister wrote:

I done a little research on estate agents and being the hip, cool, tech-savvy modist kinda guy that I am, found my tenants on one of a number of websites:

Be warned though, most of them will charge you £5+ to browse or create profiles, or to simply view full profiles, apart from this new one I found SPAM edited which lets you make free profiles and have pics etc, and you can contact tenants you like the sound of instead of waiting around for them to come to you...

I'd definitely recommend it!

Your SPAM Edited posts smell like poorly marketed :spam:

MisterTwister

Smells like spam???
Sound to me like you may have synus problems... have you considered Vicks...?

:P