single person living in suburbs

tylerjames

The maisonette I bought several years ago is out in the suburbs, has a bus route outside, 30 mins to rail station and 5 mins to local amenities. It is close to my parents house so I've been in the same area for most of my life.

I work the other side of town and get a lift, its a 20 mins drive, but some weeks I cannot and as I don't drive it can be a long cycle.

I would prefer to live near the town centre, as there's more going on, it would be walking distance to work, and I would be able to walk to loads of pubs, shops, big railway station etc.

I think it might be a bit extreme to try and sell my property and something else in town.

So I was thinking -could I rent my place out? I know it would rent quite easily, and then I could rent somewhere for myself in the town centre?

agrinnall

I strongly recommend that you read G_M's post and the links that it contains:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=41160642&postcount=12)

As soon as you rent out a property you become a landlord and are running a business, this carries with it many responsibilities that you must be aware of.

Werdnal

Is is leasehold? Check your lease to see if you are allowed to let it?

Is it mortgaged? You'll need permission from lender to let aswell. They can agree and hit you with an increase in payment and/or and annual renewal fee, or they may refuse. You will also need LL based insurance, as your normal household policy will not cover tenants living there.

How are you going to finance your move? Are you planning to use the rent on the let property to cover your own rent/mortgage? Very dodgy ground, as if rent stops for any reason, you could be left high and dry.

Are you also aware that you need to declare your rental income for tax?

Read the thread linked to in the above post.

Becoming a LL is not rocket science, but you have to be committed enough to read, learn and inwardly digest everything you can about letting, tenancy law and LL responsibilities BEFORE you even make the definate decision that renting it out is an option.

Do you plan to use an agent to manage the let?

Kynthia

When letting you'll need to comply with all relevant legislation such as gas safety certificates and deposit protection. You'll need to declare the income to the HMRC and possibly pay tax on it but you won't be able to deduct the rent you're paying or the capital element of your mortgage repayments from your 'profit'. You will also need a reserve of funds to cover any maintenance issues with your property or to keep you going if your property has voids or a non-paying tenant. It can take six months to evict a non-paying tenant and you don't want to get evicted yourself because you then can't afford to pay your rent.

Agents can charge over a month's rent to find a tenant and then 10% plus VAT to manage it. This eats into your funds significantly, particularly if your tenants don't stay long and you keep needing to find new ones.

If it's still financially viable after all this then it's up to you whether the effort is also worth it.

tylerjames

this renting out business sounds a lot of hassle. i like the idea of it being an investment, an income without doing much work. maybe i should plan to do this for a retirement fund, when/if i can afford a second property.