Where to start

ANGLICANPAT

I have a small property I need to let out to help fund a nursing home place for a relative. I think I can manage the letting out side of it ok with a bit of reading up , but not sure about how to get it 'ready'.Externally its upgraded, but it needs rewiring, some polystyrene stripped off ceilings, some work in kitchen , bathroom retiling, and other odds and ends before redecorating. I could do a lot myself and buy in the rest separately, but I havent the energy, so who am I looking for to carry all this out ? A building firm? Specialist project manager? A firm who do exactly this service? Any advice on locating what I need, the most cost effective way would be great. Financially I need to keep costs down so Ill rent it out myself, so I cant really ask an EA for advice on how far to go with whether to choose lower spec and a lower rent or go for the opposite. Its a small semi bungalow on the fringe of an estate in a nice area which isnt particularly rentable in that theres no factories , hospitals, uni's etc- but where bungalows are few and far between. Im thinking maybe likely to appeal to pensioners more, so do I leave things relatively 'traditional' , or do I go for 'posh and modern' so it may appeal across the board ,including ' many' but not all pensioners? The value is probably at the moment around £140k

G_M

Yes you can ask a letting agent for advice - You may plan to 'manage' the letting, but it can be helpful/easier to use an agent on a 'tenant find' basis: they advertise and find the tenants, vet them, sort out the contract and you pay a one off fixed fee. Then you manage the letting thereafter.

So an agent will advise if they think you'll use them.

Your property MUST be safe. So get a GasSafe engineer in and an electrician, and get safety certificates.

Beyond that, you need to dedise on your target market. If you plan to let to posh professionals, the property must be up to the standard they expect.

If students, you need broadband these days, and basic furniture, but overall standard need not be so high.

I imagine pensioners may have much of their own furniture etc, so unfurnished might be best - you can always offer to buy furniture if the right tenant comes along but says they want a furnished place.

Now read this post and all its links:

New Landlords (information for new or prospective landlords)

tim123456789

Re-wiring will need to be done by a qualified electrician.

The rest you can get a local handyman in.

Would recommend that you rent unfurnished. This will put off far less people than the "wrong" furniture will.

and unless the target market is a family, so will the garden. The lower your expectation for the upkeep of this the easier it will be to rent.

ANGLICANPAT

Holy cow! Will I ever have time to even blow my nose ?
Thanks for that , all info will be duly taken on board.
The place is furnished but with all built in wardrobes. Do the latter make it harder to offer as 'unfurnished '? Need to remove them perhaps as well as furniture? -
I recall there used to be horror stories about getting people out of unfurnished properties in particular -has legislation made it equal to furnished yet?
Oh and I see a link says to make sure tennants tell you if they change utilities - Im presuming then that its normal that if the place has a long fixed utility gas/electric contract you just inform the provider of the change of 'payer'?

Werdnal

Regarding utilities, up to the point where a tenant moves in, you are the account holder, but you take meter readings for each and advise the suppliers - make sure you do this, do not leave it to the tenant who may conveniently forget!

All bills then become the tenant's responsibility - if they default or leave any debt, the companies will chase them direct and enforce debt collection etc. Same with council tax - advise them the moment new tenants move in. Take readings when tenants leave, and put bills back into you name in the interim period. There is nothing to stop tenants changing to different supplier/better tarrif as they are the "consumer" and have a right to chose the supply that suits them best. If the worst happens and they leave without advising who the current supplier is, there are ways you can find out.

Re: furnished, if the built in wardobes do not adversely affect the size of the rooms, and they are presentable, I would leave them in. Beware that if you do let furnished, all furniture should be up to current fire safety regs - if your elderly relative had old suite, beds etc, they may have to go. Similarly, electrical applicances need to be PAT tested, and if there is gas, you'll need an annual gas safety cert.

It worries me slightly that you give the impression you are "depending" on the rental income, and have limited funds already to commit to the property upgrade and refurbishments. I hope you understand that rental income is by no means guaranteed to make any profit, and one major repair bill can wipe out several month's rent in one go! If you do not have sufficient contingency funds to cover a major repair and/or up to 6 month's rent (can take you that long to evict a bad tenant), then this may not be a wise venture!

tim123456789

Fitted cupboards, wall units and shelves are fine.

It's the soft furnishings you need to avoid (unless you know that you are going very top end ... or very low end)

Put in too low quality and some people will think, "that's too uncomfortable for me to use for a 12 month rental",

Put in too good quality and others will think "my family wont look after that and I'll be left with a big deduction from my deposit for damage to expensive furniture"

Getting the right middle ground is next to impossible

And it's been decades since furnished accom had more (or was it less) rights than unfurnished (if it ever was the case)

tim

Better_Days

Werdnal wrote: »

It worries me slightly that you give the impression you are "depending" on the rental income, and have limited funds already to commit to the property upgrade and refurbishments. I hope you understand that rental income is by no means guaranteed to make any profit, and one major repair bill can wipe out several month's rent in one go! If you do not have sufficient contingency funds to cover a major repair and/or up to 6 month's rent (can take you that long to evict a bad tenant), then this may not be a wise venture!

This is really important. I am currently in rented and there has been ongoing problems with the heating system. I can't fault the LL as he has got someone out to look at it the same day and next day every time it stopped working. In one seven day period the heating engineer had to come round every day except Sunday (when I didn't have the heart to ring him and moan that I was freezing cold even though he did say 'ring anytime'!). We have only been here since the end of Jan but I have lost count of the number of times the heating engineer has been round.

Then there was a leak in the loft and there is now a big stain on the ceiling in the bedroom.

And the heating still isn't fixed. Two of the rads remain stubbornly luke warm and the engineer has told me that he needs to take them off the wall and flush them out in the garden.

This must be costing the LL a lot of money. And it is with only one aspect of the property.

Don't overlook the exterior condition of the property either. This bungalow looked worse than it was because no one had bothered to wipe the green alge off the exterior upvc windowsills. The cleaner got it spruced up in no time.

You will have a lot of responsibilities as a LL, make sure you understand them all. And a longer void period is better than a bad tenant.

ANGLICANPAT

quote--- It worries me slightly that you give the impression you are "depending" on the rental income, and have limited funds already to commit to the property upgrade and refurbishments. I hope you understand that rental income is by no means guaranteed to make any profit, and one major repair bill can wipe out several month's rent in one go! If you do not have sufficient contingency funds to cover a major repair and/or up to 6 month's rent (can take you that long to evict a bad tenant), then this may not be a wise venture!"

No, the income from the bungalow is beneficial, not essential. It just means the cash capital being used for nursing home costs will last a bit longer .
Im under no delusions about it being a cash cow, Im well aware that to stand a chance of making money you have to ideally be a DIYer, have a really low value property with lots of bedrooms, in a very specific area ie nr hospital, uni etc. The yield on this particular property will I suspect be fairly pathetic . Thanks for all the help though folks. Think Im going to be far busier I thought! Still , its better than leaving the property empty , and in time its capital may increase back to what it was.

PasturesNew

ANGLICANPAT wrote: »

I recall there used to be horror stories about getting people out of unfurnished properties in particular -has legislation made it equal to furnished yet?

Yes it changed. Now it's as difficult/easy to get people out whether it's furnished or unfurnished..... and there are horror stories for both.

You do need to understand how you get people out. Under what circumstances, the proper route etc. If you get it wrong it can mean prison, so it's not something to make up your own rules.

ANGLICANPAT

Regarding the polystyrene ceiling tiles. Last time I removed these from our first home, it left lumps of unmovable glue on the ceiling , almost impossible to move. Took a month of an hour a night patient scraping a meter at a time and finally putting over a slightly textured paint . Now insulation is a big winner, have any of you landlords found a harmless ceiling tile I could replace these with ? More expensive perhaps, but a quicker job with savings on heating (which may appeal to pensioners if thats who ends up renting it. )

Fire_Fox

Is this your property and capital or does it belong to the person who is in a care home?