Cant sell my home and am forced to let

GavB79

I am bemused by this thread. Can't sell your house but don't want to stay put? Just rent it out and use that rent to rent another place. How is this sound advice? People in this situation are not choosing to be landlords and are likely to get into trouble.
One earlier poster said congratulations on renting your house out - afaik, the OP only got consent to let, they don't have a line of tenants waiting outside and may not do for some time. Or they may get tenants in who stop paying rent, then with a mortgage to cover and their own rent, it's not going to be pretty. The fact that those in this position are unable to re-mortgage or drop their asking prices does not suggest reserves of cash to draw on.

A serious question to those considering this is the only option being forced upon them - if you do not receive rent for your property, will you be able to cover your own rent repayments and mortgage repayments?

digitalphase

brit1234 wrote: »

Rents have fallen the last two months in a row (LSL) and set to continue falling with the poor economic conditions and housing benefit changes in April.

I don't know where in the country you are, but rents round here have gone up certainly since last year, and even though there is a fair amount coming on the market, there are so many people looking to rent that there is ridiculous competition for every decent rental.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Lets see what the professionals think.

From the latest Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors report on the rental market.

Strong tenant demand resulted in rents rising rapidly in the three months to the end of January, according to the latest Residential Lettings Survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Forty per cent more chartered surveyors reported rising rather than falling rents, the highest positive reading in the survey’s history.

A shortage of mortgage finance and lenders’ demands for large deposits have been driving tenant demand since late 2009 but the supply of rental property to the market has decreased of late.

According to the survey, 4% more RICS members reporting decreases rather than increases in supply and looking ahead, surveyors expect the market to remain buoyant, with 37% more predicting rent rises in the current quarter.

RICS spokesperson, Jeremy Leaf, says: “Demand for property to rent will remain strong and in all probability will continue to outstrip supply.”

He adds: “In this environment, rents will remain on an upward trajectory adding to the pressure on many households whose incomes are already being squeezed by rising inflation prices and the hike in VAT.”

tbs624

Hamish McT - let's not be quite so selective in our quoting

Remember that these surveys are based on the responses from a limited number of RICS members who responded to a survey. See for example, just 7 respondents from NE area and 24 in W Midlands. link

Here's some more quotes for you:

- Rents have remained static in the West Midlands for some time.

- Prospective tenants who fit landlords criteria are becoming scarce

- Lettings market remains difficult for all types of property with tenants becoming quite discerning.
Poor quality property seeing significant reductions in rent.

- Tenants continue to be selective with high expectations. A slight tendency to try to negotiate on rents has emerged
which hitherto had never occurred.

- Rents are holding well in the main, but tired properties or unpopular areas are having to lower prices to secure tenancies

- Rents have remained static in most areas and the key has been to let at a reduction rather than hold out for expected rent.

- there seems to be a more flexible approach from landlords who have had rental voids in the past to reduce rent if necessary to find a tenant as soon as possible.