Would this make me a landlord?

JimmyTheWig

Interesting thread.
OP, it seems that there are various elephants in the room that we can't see past.

If you want help I think you're going to have to tell us
1. What you want to do
2. Why you want to do it
3. What restrictions you have on doing some things

lazer

Pixie5740 wrote: »

You can't just leave the property empty anyway. It will invalidate your insurance.

Most insurance stipulate that you can't leave it empty for more than 30 days in a row, so just spend a night a month in it and you are covered. (Some insurance stipulate a maximum number of nights away per year, and some don't, so make sure you read the fine print!)

Fireflyaway

Yes good point -

We would like to hold onto the place to use it as an investment or hand it on to our child at a later date rather than lose it - I guess its just because we love the place!

We are planning to go and rent somewhere else for a few years before buying somewhere to hopefully stay for good. Renting because we may have to move for our childs school and my husbands work.

Cant rent this place with existing lender - cent get a buy to let ( bad credit and rental wont cover repayments yet ). In a few years I think we could get a buy to let so its just a temporary thing. Would like to keep it rather than start from scratch in future.

Ozzuk

its a little clearer now. Well, you could just do it, rent somewhere new and keep checking on your old property - treat it as a weekend home. Easier to sell (as in justify) if the old and new property are in different areas. I certainly wouldn't be letting anyone else live there as that will just create issues.

I'm not saying its a good idea and could get you in hot water (literally...floods, pipe burst etc) and its probably up there with renting your house out and not declaring it but still, you could!

If it was me, I'd just sell, too much risk and properties sat empty can develop issues, I guess less risk with a flat.

lovinituk

I guess you will struggle to rent too with bad credit history.

Pixie5740

lovinituk wrote: »

I guess you will struggle to rent too with bad credit history.

Only if the OP has CCJs or is bankrupt as letting credit checks usually don't show up much else.

Foxy-Stoat_3

You have enough equity in the flat to consider a BTL mortgage.
You have enough income to pay a mortgage, utilitys, maintenance and ground rent on a flat that you want to leave empty for a few years.
You have enough income to rent another place for a few years, including all the bills etc, before;
Buying a second property, while converting your existing mortgage to a BTL.

But you have bad credit......

:undecided

JimmyTheWig

Can you afford the mortgage and rent?

benjus

Pixie5740 wrote: »

You can't just leave the property empty anyway. It will invalidate your insurance.

You could switch to an empty property policy, but be prepared to pay much higher premiums and you'll probably still have to inspect the property (or have it inspected by someone representing you) every couple of weeks.

Mattygroves2

Having two properties is expensive even without considering the mortgage / rent issues:

- 2 lots of council tax
- 2 lots of insurance (and difficult to get for a property that isn't your main home or let out)
- 2 lots of utility bills and the need to run the heating over the winter in both for at least part of the day

If you've really got the cash to pay for all without the need for rental income that I also can't see why some credit issues are going to be a problem as you must have quite alot of surplus income now.

If the rent won't cover the interest part of the existing mortgage then I'd question how much of an investment it is likely to be.