Reluctant Landlady To Be

Torndao01

Hello Everyone

I have been a lurker of this site for a number of years only posting every now and again. Im now hoping you wonderful posters can help me out.

My husband is in the forces and we are being posted overseas for 3 years.:j We want to let out our house which is a 3 bedroomed detached close to good schools in a small town in Lincolnshire.

We have permission to rent from our morgage company and are looking to rent via a letting agent(coming to visit on Thurs).

Im looking for as much advice as possible regarding letting both from landlords and renters.

We will be moving in Sept for 3 years and renting the house unfurnished.

Thank you in advance

G_M

This will give you a starting point for learning what is involved, what you need to do, and where to get the information you need.

mlz1413

I think if you will be stationed abroad then you will need the tenant / agent to arrange part of the rental to be paid directly to the tax man.

GM's post is very good I would add that if you read the T&C's for an agency and don't understand any point do get them to put the answers in writing so that there can be no mis-understandings later on.

I think the point about handymen for repairs is very good, will you have time to organise someone you know and trust and is there a time difference that will hold up communications?

G_M

mlz1413 wrote: »

I think if you will be stationed abroad then you will need the tenant / agent to arrange part of the rental to be paid directly to the tax man.

Not necessarily. Read the HMRC link in my post above for details.

climbgirl

Agree the point re the handyman - my previous landlord lived abroad and was a long-haul pilot so wasn't able to be easily contacted by phone at times. We had an arrangement where he gave us numbers for handymen we were to call in times of emergency (and we discussed previously what was and wasn't considered an emergency!). But you'll need to set up an arrangement to cover this type of thing before you go abroad.

Please do read up on exactly what your responsibilities are as a landlord - there are too many "accidental" landlords out there who don't know their obligations under the law and muck their tenants around.

Torndao01

Thank you for your quick replies and the excellent link GM. I will be reading as much as possible and hopefully I wont be a rubbish landlady. I want this to work for me and the possible tenants.

Ill be back on once Ive talked to the letting agents with more questions. Hoping the more advice I get the better.:o

Thanks again.

Werdnal

One point you may want to bear in mind, is that you will eventually want your property back to live in when your return to the UK.

Even when tenants are outside a fixed term contract, it can take some time to evict them if they chose to ignore any notices issued to them, and sit tight. You/your agent or whoever is acting on your behalf in this country, would then need to seek possession through a court order, which can be a lengthy procedure. I have seen posts on various forums saying "I am coming back to the UK and need my property vacant, and tenants won't move out" or similar.

I am not wishing to worry you unduly, as you will probably get excellent, reliable and trustworthy tenants who abide by the notice when issued (you should give minimum of 2 months), and move out willingly. But just as a caution, it may be wise when you do know your posting date back to the UK, that you might want to cut your losses and issue notice early, possibly leaving the property empty for a few weeks/months, just to be sure you will be able to get vacant possession when you need to live there again. Or, possibly have a contingency arrangement of alternative accommodation, just incase things don't go to plan.

By then, no doubt, you will have a good idea of your tenants and whether they will leave willingly, so you may be able to disregard this advice, but just thought I would mention it now, as its has been proved before that issuing the magic piece of paper with the notice details doesn't always have the desired effect!

Good luck!

Torndao01

Werdnal thats excellent advice and has gone straight on my list, will definitely organise that, thank you.