FAO anyone letting out their house

rilou81

Sorry GM you have been very helpful!

My MIL self manages too, but although she is great with it she also earns a LOT more than us ( from her day job) if there is an issue its not a problem to pay for it.

There are a few companies that offer different % for different levels of management, I may look into using one of those to be on the safe side.

G_M

property.advert wrote: »

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Using an agent to find a tenant and then not using the management is a bit daft IMHO. Either you do it yourself or you do not. Can you get a website together quickly or does Gumtree work for your area ? What do adverts in the local paper cost ?

I totally disagree. I would never use Gumtree for a start, but anyway agents have full page ads of all their properties and prospective tenants coming through their doors all the time. So a 'tenant-find only' agreement with an agent can make sense. They can also help with referencing (yes, you can do this yourself) and contracts/inventory.

Then skip the monthly management thereafter if you want.

Yes, I sometimes advertise myself, but hanging around the property for prospective tenant appointments (2 out of 3 fail to turn up!) is a pain, unless you can combine it with re-washering that tap and touching up the scuffed paintwork from the previous tenant!

property.advert

rilou81 wrote: »

Sorry GM you have been very helpful!

My MIL self manages too, but although she is great with it she also earns a LOT more than us ( from her day job) if there is an issue its not a problem to pay for it.

There are a few companies that offer different % for different levels of management, I may look into using one of those to be on the safe side.

Beware though that in my experience, most management companies are bloody useless. This is experience as tenant and landlord. The vast majority simply have a list of phone numbers for local contractors which you could easily compile after speaking to the contractor beforehand.

Most stuff can wait until the weekend but the utilities, glazing, heating etc. all need to be sorted out ASAP. If you can cover those, then you are more than half way there.

molit

I'm in the same position as you - I have chosen to wait for a couple of years before selling my old house.

Personally I would go for fully managed, it saves being botherred with lots of niggly little questions from the tenants, when you move in, and there might be a time when you dont know somenoe in the area. It also helps you out as you are an inexperienced landlord. They also know the law and organise thing like gas certifictes etc. In terms of cost, I work on a 10% introductory, and 12-15% fully managed type of cost - I think that its money well spent.


BTW try to ignore people who just say keep dropping the prices until you sell - if you are not happy selling it at that price the don't sell it. A house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it is try, but a house can only be bought when someone is willing to sell it. There is a risk that the doomsayers will be proved, but it is your choice.

real1314

I'd say it all depends:-

What range is the property in - basic (starter home/terrace), mid (3 bed town house/terrace) , high (semi - quite high for rental) or above.

How much do you love / depend on it retaining it's value? If everything is basic and you're happy to replace or everything is decent / top qiality and you'd hate to see it ruined?

What area are you in? What sort of places are being rented out / what are the locals like?

What's you attidue to risk / ability to absorb risk; financially?

Using an EA or property company can't take away many of the financial risks; they might do a few credit checks, but will they care hugely about YOUR property above getting it rented out?

If you go it alone you can meet / asses / check the people yourself - do you have the time / inclination / experience for this (credit checks can be done via various companies).

rilou81

Thanks, either way I would use an EA to check the tenants and do everything apart from manage the actual house day to day. All the Ea's in the area do that.

I am ready to replace most things at the end of each tennancy and we will not be spending any money made from the rent each month and will put this into a savings account for anything thats needed throughout and also when peple leave.

MrsAmanda_2

I'm a landlord, and got into it for similar reasons as you - couldn't sell my property without making a loss.

We have two properties we rent out, one only 7 miles away, the other 50. Both are fully managed by letting agents.

Both letting agents are pretty hopeless. I don't think they're worth the fee we pay them, we get very little for our money.

However, I don't have the time to do the donkey work myself, so we grit our teeth and pay up. One property is Victorian, the other is new; both have had several maintenance issues during the time they've been tenanted. It's handy to have the agent take care of everything but it is just chucking money at the situation.

If you do get the agent to manage, my top tip would be to have a paper trail for everything. Whenever you have a telephone conversation, follow it up with an email outlining what has been discussed/agreed. We got into bother because agent wasn't doing what we thought had been agreed on the phone. Keep on their backs and don't let them get away with any nonsense.
For example, before new tenants moved in, they suggested we have the flat professionally cleaned (it had been cleaned at the end of the previous tenancy but was vacant for a couple of months so got dusty). We paid for it and were told it was done on 3rd Feb. The new tenants moved in the next day. The agent arranged independent person to do inventory and check in. I got copy of the check-in report afterwards, with the words 'dirty' and 'dusty' cropping up everywhere.

If I'd not checked, that would have gone unchallenged.


Oh, and another thing. We had a tenant who threw away our dining table as he had his own (??!!). When the agent did the inspections and at checkout this wasn't noticed as there was a table, they didn't realise it wasn't ours. So, I'd also suggest you take photos.

Bottom line - agents are worth paying for you don't have the emotional and time resources to do it yourself, but do your research and expect to still get some hassle. Being a landlord isn't stress-free.

sharpee

If you have no previous expereince of being a Landlord it may be worth the Management fee.

Don't forget there are a lot of rules and Regulations for renting your home out. Things like Gas Certificate, Landlords insurance, Tensants Deposit and which scheme are you going to use, Tenancy Contract, how do you propose to cover voids when you have no tenants?

Also don't forget the Tax man and your Self Assesment

Orpheo

sharpee wrote: »

If you have no previous expereince of being a Landlord it may be worth the Management fee.

Don't forget there are a lot of rules and Regulations for renting your home out. Things like Gas Certificate, Landlords insurance, Tensants Deposit and which scheme are you going to use, Tenancy Contract, how do you propose to cover voids when you have no tenants?

Also don't forget the Tax man and your Self Assesment

And you must seek permission from your mortgage lender. If you are lucky, they may give you "consent to let" without insisting that you take out a BTL mortgage product. If you are lucky.

flora48

I have a full management with a respected local letting agency as I do not live locally and prefer the tenants to contact the LA. I am not able to do repairs myself and trust the LA to use accredited workmen. I pay 9% for this service. My LA found me tenants within a week last December. Yes there were tenant find fees, inventory costs, gas safety cert plus a couple of minor repairs as well as their commission which meant that I only saw a small amount of income that month which was better than no income if I had to wait to get a tenant. P.S You will also need an Energy Performance Cert which if ouu do not have they can arrange also.