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Consent to Let

I was reading about consent to let recently. I have two questions:

1) I received a flyer through my door from this company recently: http://pridea.co.uk/who-are-we/. They say: "we'll let your property for free!". What does this mean? They will find tenants?
2) I had a call from another estate agent recently saying they would find tenants and guarantee my rent each month. How much does this typically cost (% of rent).

I am trying to understand what services an estate agent provides from a lettings point of view and I am particularly interested in the two points above, which appear to be the two extremes.
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Comments

  • csgohan4
    csgohan4 Posts: 10,600 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    if it's to good to be true....
    "It is prudent when shopping for something important, not to limit yourself to Pound land/Estate Agents"

    G_M/ Bowlhead99 RIP
  • They sound like rent-to-rent schemes.

    Basically, you hand your house over to someone who guarantees to pay you a certain amount each month. They'll sub-let it from you and find/manage their own tenants.

    The idea is that they'll find individual tenants for individual rooms and charge an 'all in' price which should net them some profit after they've given you your guaranteed fixed amount each month.

    Some people like the idea of having a guaranteed income every month without the hassle of managing tenants etc.
  • csgohan4
    csgohan4 Posts: 10,600 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    but if you need to evict them all, that may be a pain
    "It is prudent when shopping for something important, not to limit yourself to Pound land/Estate Agents"

    G_M/ Bowlhead99 RIP
  • csgohan4 wrote: »
    but if you need to evict them all, that may be a pain

    Yep, comes with risks.
  • foxy-stoat
    foxy-stoat Posts: 6,879 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Either do it yourself or through an agent that local folk can recommend.

    Guarantee rent schemes are ok if your mortgage is low and your out of the country say, but sub letting may not be allowed, and you wont have a clue who is in your property.

    You pay for it on a guarentee rent scheme, a lot, for my old 3 bed house in Sussex I used to get £800 a month every month, if I used a local firm who said that "we become your tenants" I would of got £250 in month 1 and £590 for the other 11 months and I would be liable for utilities and council tax for voids - so they wouldnt become my tenants....my lender wouldnt of been happy with the contract either after reading their terms on the Consent to Let.

    Good lucks however you go - be sure you crunch the numbers if your buying a second property and know how much tax you will have to pay.
  • w00519772
    w00519772 Posts: 1,297 Forumite
    foxy-stoat wrote: »
    Either do it yourself or through an agent that local folk can recommend.

    Guarantee rent schemes are ok if your mortgage is low and your out of the country say, but sub letting may not be allowed, and you wont have a clue who is in your property.

    You pay for it on a guarentee rent scheme, a lot, for my old 3 bed house in Sussex I used to get £800 a month every month, if I used a local firm who said that "we become your tenants" I would of got £250 in month 1 and £590 for the other 11 months and I would be liable for utilities and council tax for voids - so they wouldnt become my tenants....my lender wouldnt of been happy with the contract either after reading their terms on the Consent to Let.

    Good lucks however you go - be sure you crunch the numbers if your buying a second property and know how much tax you will have to pay.

    I have generated a quote here: http://www.legalandgeneral.com/insurance/landlord-insurance/

    The result was: £566.94 per year or £51.27 per month (building insurance, contents insurance and rent guarantee for a property in Lincolnshire) assuming rent of £700 per month. This seems low based on what Foxy-Stoat said above. Is it low?
  • AnotherJoe
    AnotherJoe Posts: 19,622 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fifth Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 27 December 2016 at 12:18PM
    w00519772 wrote: »
    I was reading about consent to let recently. I have two questions:

    1) I received a flyer through my door from this company recently: http://pridea.co.uk/who-are-we/. They say: "we'll let your property for free!". What does this mean? They will find tenants?
    2) I had a call from another estate agent recently saying they would find tenants and guarantee my rent each month. How much does this typically cost (% of rent).

    I am trying to understand what services an estate agent provides from a lettings point of view and I am particularly interested in the two points above, which appear to be the two extremes.

    All pertinent questions, but pretty much nothing to do with the title of your thread.

    Note also its likely that even if you get CTL, it will be for a short period, maybe a year or two and then you'll have to go to BTL mortgage (higher rates) for which the rules are getting stricter every year. That may also apply to CTL now.
  • w00519772
    w00519772 Posts: 1,297 Forumite
    AnotherJoe wrote: »
    All pertinent questions, but pretty much nothing to do with the title of your thread.

    Note also its likely that even if you get CTL, it will be for a short period, maybe a year or two and then you'll have to go to BTL mortgage (higher rates) for which the rules are getting stricter every year. That may also apply to CTL now.

    The bank offers consent to let for three years. I have 3.5 years left on my mortgage. I am thinking about using Consent to Let in 0.5 years. I guess the title of the question is too broad.
  • w00519772
    w00519772 Posts: 1,297 Forumite
    Is it permitted to rent out your current property using consent to let and then buy another property in another city?

    I spoke to my lender today. The first advisor I spoke to said no. Then he put me through to another advisor (as I had another question) who said it is discretionary. He said that as you are moving to another city (about 50 miles away) for work then you should be able to buy.

    I am not planning to do this at the moment. Just thinking about my options for the future.
  • silvercar
    silvercar Posts: 49,778 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Academoney Grad Name Dropper
    Is it permitted to rent out your current property using consent to let and then buy another property in another city?

    Some lenders will agree, some won't. For some it may depend on the cirumstances eg working in a new location, caring for relatives etc
    I'm a Forum Ambassador on the housing, mortgages & student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.
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