Renting to local Council

Tamarin

I am writing to ask if any of the members have rented their houses to a local Council?

We are looking at all our options ie selling or letting our house out before we make a final decision

We understand that although you do not receive as much income from the local Authority, they continue to pay even if their tenants do not do so.

If you have had experience of this type of letting, then please can you let us know the upside and downside.

Thank you
Tamarin

wecanhelpu

This "renting to the council" stuff on this forum is beginning to sound like people are looking at it as a BTL safety net.

It is typical end of bubble activity.



(OP- I'm sure someone will be along soon to tell you the pros/cons. I can't be bothered)

m00m00

Most BTL mortgages though will prohibit sub letting of this type, so the small print will kill many peoples hopes.

Tamarin

Sorry I believed members of this site were not only helpful but polite to new members. How wrong one can be

We have owned our house for over 30 years. Been mortgage free for years. Circumstances are dictating that we either sell or rent out our property to enable us to take out a mortgage on another house over 450 miles away from friends and family and move to Scotland

This I can assure you is not a get rich quick scheme - we are exploring every avenue to either sell or rent our house as quickly as possible

Tamarin

casperlarue

Hi Tamarin,

We have 2 flats rented to our local council, both have BTL mortgages on them. So far we have had no problems with the rental, it's paid directly into our bank account every 4 weeks. The rental income is the same as we would get from a private tenant.

We met up with the prospective tennants before any agreements were signed, tenancies are 6 months AST. If you deal directly with the housing officer at the council rather than advertising in the paper you should get a half bond half cheque deposit, also we were given a years free insurance against damage and loss of rental during the AST.

Finally we even got a years free membership to the Guild of Landlords thrown in!

It's worth checking with your local council to see what they could offer you.

Hope this helps.

Tamarin

Hello

Yes thank you. This is the sort of information we need to know, where to go how to get started etc.

Can I ask what is ATL? Sorry but as you can guess we are new to all this.

Thank you again
Tamarin

eco-friendly_2

I do. Recently the new leases that have been offered the rent has been cut ! chopping £30 from a lease set 2 years ago :eek: told em GET LOST

There are many hoops you will have to jump through , like elec testing. some properties I have had to re-wire. Think the deal will vary according to demand.

kingkano

Sounds like casperlarue has a cushie council deal. They can vary alot. My local council offers 3 or 5yr leases (hence why it won't work on a mortgage). You are guaranteed the rent in this period, and any maintenance is undertaken by the council. ANy major replacements (beyond economical repair - ie boiler) you have to pay for. You also need to arrange all the safety checks etc.

They offer a bit below market value rent, also subtracting agency fees they assume you'd have to pay. IE if the market rent is 1000 for your property they will take off 10% agency fees, to 900, then probably offer something like 800. You have to balance the reduced rent with the guarantee and hassle free. They handle all tenants, leases, etc.

But thats my council. You need to get onto your own council's website to find out who they deal thru (which association) then find out from them what your deal is

Good luck.

casperlarue

Hi Tamarin

Can I ask what is ATL? Sorry but as you can guess we are new to all this.

Do you mean BTL? it's a buy to let mortgage, which you will need if you want to take the equity from the property you want to rent out.

As kingkano says, it varies from council to council so it's worth checking what they offer, and although I wouldn't go as far as so say we have a cushie deal (!) at the moment the rental income covers the mortgage payments at 150% so we are happy to retain the properties and rent them out.

Casper

Tamarin

Thank you for the information

I am going for a brief chat with one of the Private Housing Officers next week so we shall see what they have to offer.

We are still thinking of selling. Tidy the place up a bit as advice on this site, but looking at prices in our area, to sell quickly they keep putting their house prices down, but we shall see.

Thank you again
Tamarin