Renting house and disappearing

lynzpower

if you dont trust this guy why are you letting the place without any legal protection for him or you. He could simply stop the DDs and refuse to move out. With no AST how will you evict?

real1314

lynzpower wrote:

if you dont trust this guy why are you letting the place without any legal protection for him or you. He could simply stop the DDs and refuse to move out. With no AST how will you evict?

With no written AST, it will be an implied AST (iirc), based on 6 months minimum, general terms will apply, eviction is still possible.

However, the bit about a agent is correct (sort of), as a landlord has to give a uk address to which the tenant can serve notices etc.

Also - have you had you gas appliances checked? If not, you could get a hefty fine. And will your existing buildings insurance cover you for liability if something happens to your tenant?

You're going to get £4800 or so, isn't it worth spending £50-100 to get the gas checks done and change your buildings insurance to "landlords" for ? £50? extra?

rosysparkle

The_Viking wrote:

Does anyone know for a fact that rental income that is less than a personal allowance is not subject to tax when the owner is abroad? I'm not sure about that...

It's not as simple as that (it's tax, you wouldn't expect it to be simple)! You are still entitled to your UK personal allowance even though you are overseas, so yes, any rental profits where your income less your allowable expenses is less than your personal allowance will not be subject to tax. You don't have to prepare full accounts, just totals if income less allowed expenses.

But you are still obliged to declare the income on your tax return. If your tax affairs are up to date when you leave the UK, and you intend to be overseas for six months or more, you should apply to the Revenue on form NRL1 for approval to have your rental income paid by yoiur agent or tenant without deduction of income tax at source. If you don't have this aproval, your agent or tenant (and if he's an accountant, he should know this) is obliged to deduct UK tax at 22% from the rent and forward this quarterly to the Revenue as long as you are out of the UK. You then have to claim it back. If the agent or tenant doesn't deduct tax when they should, they may be equally liable along with you to repay that tax plus interest and penalties.

You must have a landlord's gas cert for the gas appliances. It's a criminal, not civil, offence to rent property without one and the maximum penalty in the Crown Court is an unlimited fine or a prison term. You must get cosent to let from your mortgage company, and you must ensure that your buildings and contents insurance covers you while the property is let.

If you don't have a formal written AST agreement, a tenancy will still be created and your tenant has certain rights. It may be difficult to get them out of the property if they don't leave when you want them to, or if they stop paying rent; particularly if you are thousands of miles away. It may be difficult for you to deal with repairs or any other problems that arise.

I presume you actually mean weekly standing order rather than direct debit; you aren't in a position while you are overseas to request those direct debits, nor offer the direct debit guarantee.

hannahgibbs

I'm not qualified/trained accountant/tax person etc.... everyone has a tax allowance of APPROX £4800 under the "rent a room scheme". For self assessment, you just need to tick the box if you have received less than your allowance and no tax is paid. If you are abroad the rules will prob change and I don't know how! I would definitely suggest that you have a legally binding contract, someone you can trust to check on the house every so often and a CORGI certificate, it will cost you about £90 but it's worth it.

rosysparkle

The rent a room scheme applies to furnished lettings where the landlord is resident in the property as well. The allowance is £4250 (or £2125 each if joint ownership of the property). If the landlord moves out, a shorthold tenancy will be created by default.

Viking's proposed letting will not fall uder the rent a room scheme.

researcher

Viking, from reading this thread I'd once again urge you to do what you know you HAVE to. Otherwise the risk you take to your property, purse and freedom is far to great.

Good luck

The_Viking_3

rosysparkle wrote:

I presume you actually mean weekly standing order rather than direct debit; you aren't in a position while you are overseas to request those direct debits, nor offer the direct debit guarantee.

Er, no, he's set up a DD. Should I get him to change it to a SO? I'm not sure I understand the difference. Actually, I'm not sure what you're saying here - can you clarify please?

The DD is a weekly amount paid from his bank account to mine, paid on each Monday. Is a SO a safer way of receiving rent when one is abroad?

clutton_2

D/Ds are usually only set up for large companies who have hundreds/thousands of transactions going thru a bank. S/Os are for ordinary jo soaps like me and you. But, i have never heard of a weekly S/O for rent either = out of interest why weekly and not monthly ?

The_Viking_3

clutton wrote:

D/Ds are usually only set up for large companies who have hundreds/thousands of transactions going thru a bank. S/Os are for ordinary jo soaps like me and you. But, i have never heard of a weekly S/O for rent either = out of interest why weekly and not monthly ?

The fella renting it gets paid weekly, so he insisted on it.