Tips on letting property out to family!

outofmoney

OK, well, just going to throw my pennies worth in.

As someone who rents, pays on time and keeps the house as clean and tidy as possible, I would say I would do this whether I rented from a stranger or from family.

If you trust the family member, and as long as you get watertight paperwork drawn up, then go for it.

However, looking at things from their side. I notice you said No pets, no smoking and no decorating without permission.

I can understand the no smoking. Do they smoke? If they do, are they likely to stick to this? If they don't, then not really an issue. Pets ... Do they have some? Would they like some? Do you have any? Many families like to have a pet. Would they have any bad feelings against you over this. Then we come to decorating. I hate it when Landlords come up with this 'rule'. I can understand them not wanting to walk in and find bright pink or lime walls from floor to ceiling but to have to request each time a tenant wants to decorate really goes against the idea that whilst paying rent the house is that persons home. It might make them quite uneasy each time you call round. And if you have very different tastes, you might start insisting on keeping it to a style that suits you and this could cause ill feeling. Maybe better to just have an agreement that any 'way out' decorating is returned to normal if they ever leave. And maybe agree on no woodchip or artex

spingirl

Thanks Yorkie1 - we haven't fully made up our minds & am so glad I posted as was unaware it was an issue with some lenders & insurance to let to family members. Still deliberating it but most points made on the negative I was already aware & most of these apply whether letting to family or strangers.

I have to agree with mojisola, there are plenty of families doing it, my sister has in fact purchased a flat for her 18 year old son primarily to help them all out as they all needed space & he is still studying so unable to afford anything. After renting a room elsewhere & that going horribly wrong my sister decided it wasn't the best option but the only option to buy herself a flat & let it out to her son.

People are still finding I hard to get on the property ladder, who wants their children living with them once their in the 20s/30s!! That is reality for most.

My husband & I met when 18 & rented flats together until we raised enough for a small deposit on a house. It was before the market "crashed" & we got in at exactly the right time as within a year we sold that property & went for a larger house in a better area, we lived there a couple years then went on to sell that property but it was just as things really started getting tough. Even though we had a large deposit & no bad credit we were at that point unable to get a mortgage & we had sold our home!!
Half the time it's who you know, relative sent us to a friend who had no problem helping us out with a mortgage & so we moved into our current property 7 years ago.

You might ask why we did not rent from family ourselves? Simply because we are ambitious & did not see point in renting when we had worked hard to gain a large deposit.
We had moved 8 times in 8 years at one point!!

I agree Kynthia - letting to family members is about helping them out but it is not just that. It is a long term investment for our own children as we can imagine it will be almost impossible for them to own their own properties. We are not against using an agency or renting to strangers either. Not necessarily an easy option to let property as we well know but nothing you want comes easy. No one else is going to look after us if we don't take action to look after ourselves we will end up old, with no pension & have children who are struggling to get by!
Although hopefully they will both be super intelligent & make lots of money of their own to survive

Out of money - I like to hope most tenants would think the way you do, we always looked after our rented accommodation & I'm fairly sure the land lords broke a lot of rules & anything that broke down - we got it fixed!
The reason for having such agendas as no smoking & no pets etc is that we have seen first hand the problems these can cause! My father in law has had major problems with tenants who have smoked & kept pets (dogs mainly!) the often disappear off the scene leaving stained decor & bad odours & damage!! If its clear from the start then everyone knows where they stand. Dogs can also upset neighbours due to issues such as barking all day long whilst the owners are out!

I know other land lords have these rules as at one point in between moving house we looked at temporarily renting & had two dogs of our own. The land lords either rejected us immediately (no pets) or wanted such a huge deposit on top of several months rent - it was not an option (thankfully).

Our sister / brother in law have no pets & have never smoked so that suits us fine. Whereas with a stranger they may say they do not smoke or want pets but then it gets tricky if they lie & go against the rules.

As per decorating, husband is an ex decorator & would happily do the decorating as he has very high standards & would not be happy to discover pink & green walls, gaudy colours or indeed artex or woodchip:D

We would be happy for tenants to choose colours & designs within reason but only ask for notice of what they want / plan to do & that the job is done properly as what happens if they go all out with horrific decor then decide to move on leaving us to have to completely redecorate in order to be able to interest new tenants! And also foot the bill!

We're not the sort of people who go around bothering others for the sake of it & we do not just turn up at other people's houses whether they be friend/family/tenant etc

Sorry for the ramble but now maybe people can see where I'm coming from...

Dan-Dan

We rented off friends , two properties in a row..
Both times , i was fully aware of gas safety checks etc , which were done , without problems
i pushed for maintenance , sure , but in general, it was done , with not much problems
i think ti can work , but every single situation is different so really , people can only warn you , this is a money saving site though ,so i can see why you wnat to avoide letting agent fee`s etc

spingirl

Thanks Dan dan, good to hear another positive story. I agree I think it had to be judged on an individual basis & yes you are right always good to save money if possible. Some friends of ours have used agents, still had issues & had to pay the agents so guess that depends on individual circumstances too, cheers