Buying to let in N Ireland

Legacy_user · 1 October 2006 at 9:46AM

My brother is in the process of separating from his wife and when the finances are sorted he will be left with a good deposit to place on a new house. However he intends to live with my elderly father (mutual agreement)for a while and we have advised him to buy a property asap which he can rent out until he is ready to move into it himself.

So my question is this has anyone any tips on renting out a property? Is it better to let an Estate Agent manage it or is it easy enough to do it yourself and most importantly what are the pitfalls?

ginger_nuts · 1 October 2006 at 10:08AM

pam17 ,I have sent you a pm

irishno1 · 1 October 2006 at 2:45PM

As someone who bought to BTL a few years back and has seen property prices soar since I would urge anyone thinking of coming into buy to let now to be cautious.

Unless you have a huge deposit, possibly 40% plus, you are going to have to supplement the rent yourself each month to cover the mortgage, even interest only, plus rates, insurance and in time water rates. You could be talking about a few hundred quid each month (which will obviously soar if for one or two months of the year there is no tenant). Rents have not gone up like property prices so the rents will not cover the mortgage at todays prices. As a result fewer investors getting involved now and that is why the price rises are vey likely to slow down in the next year. However if you do your sums and think your deposit etc can cover it it still does offer better return in the long term on capital investment than a savings accounts or stock market.

System · 1 October 2006 at 6:19PM

Thanks Irishno1. My brother hopes to have at least 50% depending on the housing market in Lisburn. He only intends to rent it out for approx 1 year then move in himself. He just wants to put his money somewhere where he will get a better return than the bank whilst he sorts himself out after the split.

jetboy · 2 October 2006 at 12:49AM

perhaps he find a mortgage while allows an 'agree to let' clause rather than a full buy to let product..especially if its only for a short time and could save a packet in the long run.