Renting my house - beginner questions

00ec25

Snakes_Belly wrote: »

@OOec25 My agent only takes on properties that have had the electrical check.

fine, you appear to have an agent with (some) knowledge

Letting Agent is not a regulated occupation. No training is required, no qualifications are needed. Knowledge of many agents is lower than that of the tenants, let alone the LL. Never forget the sole purpose of an agent is to make money for themselves, not to be an employee of a LL.

the key point being made here though is a prospective LL must read G-M's pages and all the links therein so that the LL is well enough informed that their decision to employ an agent is not because the LL thinks they can abrogate their responsibilities to someone who "knows" what they are doing, but is instead simply a choice between who does the work, LL or agent.

loveka

It sounds like you have a tenant already? If not, Open Rent is very good.

Yes, of course you need landlord insurance! And just do the electrical check. It is under £100.

Yes, it's barmy that you can't evict if people stop paying. This is the law though. If you take a deposit this covers one month. Although that leaves nothing to pay for the inevitable damage caused by non payers.

I think you are getting a hard time. Do everything by the book, and don't cut corners, then being a landlord without an agent is fine. In my experience agents are useless and do nothing you can't do yourself.

Comms69

loveka wrote: »

It sounds like you have a tenant already? If not, Open Rent is very good.

Yes, of course you need landlord insurance! And just do the electrical check. It is under £100.

Yes, it's barmy that you can't evict if people stop paying. - you can evict them. All you have to do is follow the proper steps. This is the law though. If you take a deposit this covers one month. Although that leaves nothing to pay for the inevitable damage caused by non payers.

I think you are getting a hard time. Do everything by the book, and don't cut corners, then being a landlord without an agent is fine. In my experience agents are useless and do nothing you can't do yourself.

You have to realise the reason the law is this way as a tenant has a legal interest in a property and it would be unjustifiable for a landlord to unilaterally remove that on a whim.

Snakes_Belly

You can use an agent to advertise and vet the tenant and then manage yourself. I agree that they are obviously in it for the money and some take a kickback on the property maintenance.

foxy-stoat

1) Get a new one - they are like £50 and you can it as expenses.
2) If you had done your research you will know the answer, seeing as you havent, you dont need a certificate, your installation just needs to be save - how you confirm that is up to you, get it checked by a professional.
3) I would let the property as unfurnished and he can buy the white goods secondhand off you (un-installed).
4) Once you let out your property you cannot just change the locks, that would be unlawful. To properly eviction a good tenant it takes months, to evict a bad tenant can take longer - so you need to have enough cash behind you to pay the mortgage for 6 months to save your credit history.
5) You need Landlords Buildings Insurance which normally covers F&F and sometimes missed rent payments.

Good luck