Renting out flat/becoming a landlord checklist

missityflissity

Hi all,

I'm emigrating in 3 months (!!) time, and am beginning the process of renting out my flat.

I've been researching, and other than getting a EPC (does this expire?! I'm in a new build so got one when I moved in); gas and electric certificate, appointing a letting/managing agent; getting an inventory professional in (is the 'check in' option worth it, or a con?!) is there anything else I need to do?

Also - landlord insurance. There's a lot of conflicting information out there about whether it's necessary or not.

Also also - does anyone have any experience of a mortgage lender turning down a request to rent out property? I'm currently on a repayment mortgage, and don't want to switch (don't know how long I'll be out of the country for).

Thanks in advance!

Pixie5740

Having a decent inventory done at the start of a tenancy will make it easier for you to prove any damage to the property done by tenants (not that all tenants will cause damage but it's possible for anyone to have an accident).

Employing a letting agency won't absolve you of your LL responsibilities such as protecting the tenant's deposit. You will also have to manage your agent to ensure they are carrying out inspections and repairs.

GwylimT

We rent a house out, our insurance wouldn't give leave to let and so we had to remortgage to rent our home out. Think about housing benefit, our mortgage doesn't allow us to rent to recipients, this is a reason why we actually don't use an estate agent as so far every one we have used has completely ignored this and so when we have found out we have had to evict tenants as not only are we breaking our mortgage terms this would have also voided our insurance during that time.

Landlords insurance, not necessarily needed, it can depend on your lender, ours require us to have landlords insurance. But really, I wouldn't be willing to self insure.

While this isn't actually necessary if you have any white goods being left in the property leave an instruction manual, this could be the original or just a print out from the online PDF manual. It would also be useful to make a property manual, information about bin day, any quirks in the flat, e.g. a room apart from bathroom that is prone to condensation, etc.

You need to decide what you will okay. Are you happy for tenants to dry clothes in the property, what about pets? If you do decide pets are okay will you charge a slightly higher deposit.

While you are out of the country you need a representative in the UK, this can be a friend, family member or an estate agent.

I'm not sure about tax implications with a landlord living abroad, so hopefully someone else will be along to offer some advice in that area.

I'm not sure if you will need a new EPC, along with your gas certificates you will need to protect your tenants deposit, otherwise they can sue you for 3x the amount and you wouldn't be able to evict them with an S21.

As a landlord myself, if you use an estate agent demand to see everything as it happens, never trust an estate agent has protected a deposit until you see proof, ultimately if they fail to do this you are the one who is legally responsible.

00ec25

missityflissity wrote: »

I'm emigrating in 3 months (!!) time

GwylimT wrote: »

While you are out of the country you need a representative in the UK, this can be a friend, family member or an estate agent.

I'm not sure about tax implications with a landlord living abroad

as Gwylim says you must provide a UK address at which the tenant can contact you. This can be a letting agent or anyone else who will act as your representative, without a UK address no rent can be demanded from a tenant and you would lose in court if you sue them for non payment.

as for tax, most tenants and (many) letting agents do not know that unless you provide the HMRC certificate of registration under the Non resident LL scheme , then the tenats/LA is legally required to deduct 20% income tax from the gross rent they pay/receive and pass that directly to HMRC themselves on your behalf
if you want to avoid that and therefore receive the rent in full yourself you must register under the NRL ...
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/international/nr-landlords.htm

chris_aaaaa

You say flat so I assume leasehold, you may need permission from the freeholder.


The mortgage company may well insist on a remortgage or increase the rate. If you have to do a BTL remortgage go for interest only, if nothing else it makes accounting for interest easier.


Make sure you get liability insurance, this may mean buying minimal contents insurance to get it thrown in.


As you are new to this and very distant you might want to consider one of the big guaranteed rent agencies, they essentially give you about 80% of the rent every month and take care of everything.


Having said that, remember an agent takes care of everything except legal responsibility, keep an eye on things like the gas safety cert.

G_M

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