Letting my house out - Worth joining RLA or NLA?

olic

I am letting my house out whilst I go travelling and have decided to try and do this without using a letting agent, as have already found some suitable tenants via Openrent.

However, there is a lot I need to do and I am wondering whether it is worth joining RLA or NLA, especially as they offer discounts on deposit schemes and insurance - does anyone have experience of them? I have also struggled to find a forum to discuss these issues with other landlords -if anyone can offer any help, it would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

Pixie5740

olic wrote: »

I am letting my house out whilst I go travelling and have decided to try and do this without using a letting agent, as have already found some suitable tenants via Openrent.

However, there is a lot I need to do and I am wondering whether it is worth joining RLA or NLA, especially as they offer discounts on deposit schemes and insurance - does anyone have experience of them? I have also struggled to find a forum to discuss these issues with other landlords -if anyone can offer any help, it would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

If you're not going to use a letting agent then what addrsss for the serving of notices in England or Wales will you provide the tenant(s) with?

Have you looked at the forum landlordzone?

How familiar are you with all the legislation you will have to comply with?

olic

I haven't heard of landlordzone no, so thanks for that Pixie!

I was going to use a family address for serving notices - I assume this would be OK? My family have also said they would be happy to be a point of contact for the tenants, but also they realise they are saving a lot of money, so are happy to go the extra mile where necessary themselves.

I have done a fair bit of research, so know about the certificates needed and plan to get British Gas Homecare Four insurance to cover any issues (my tenants are happy with this). I was also planning to use one of the contracts gov.uk has online and amend it for my own purposes.

Thanks again for the help.

Pixie5740

As long as the address is in England or Wales that should be ok.

You will need the tenant to register with HMRC and deduct/pay the tax due on the rental income.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/paying-tax-on-rent-to-landlords-abroad

franklee

olic wrote: »

I have also struggled to find a forum to discuss these issues with other landlords -if anyone can offer any help, it would be much appreciated!

These are pretty good landlord forums:
https://forums.landlordzone.co.uk/
https://www.propertytribes.com/categories.php

And this is good on the legal front:
https://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/

Are you travelling abroad? If so check this out:
https://www.gov.uk/topic/personal-tax/non-resident-landlord-scheme
Basically if you are non-resident and the tenants pay you directly then either you apply to HMRC to have rent paid gross or the tenant deducts tax and sends to HMRC.

Not forgetting G_M's excellent guides:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5180214/tenancies-in-eng-wales-guides-for-landlords-and-tenants

Sootoo

Just remember to send them the EPC, How to Rent Booklet and gas cert at the start of the tenancy. Register the deposit within 30 days (its normally free I think if you use the custodial schemes) with one of the schemes and send the prescribed information on that scheme to the tenants. If you've taken out references on the tenants via Openrent you may be able to get rent guarantee insurance which will give you peace of mind.

olic

Sootoo wrote: »

Just remember to send them the EPC, How to Rent Booklet and gas cert at the start of the tenancy. Register the deposit within 30 days (its normally free I think if you use the custodial schemes) with one of the schemes and send the prescribed information on that scheme to the tenants. If you've taken out references on the tenants via Openrent you may be able to get rent guarantee insurance which will give you peace of mind.

Thanks, but I read the openrent tenant checks were really not worth it, as they miss out a lot of things..Would you recommend them yourself?

G_M

There are many commercial providers of tenant checks (in addition to your own). They all do much the same thing. Use google or see the links within my landlords post (thanks franklee). For the full links to it see below.


Do you have a mortgage? If yes
1) you'll need the mortgage lender's Consent To Let (CTL), and
2) how would the mortgage be paid if the tenant stopped paying rent or ended the tenancy?


Oh! And yes, join the RLA!


** Tenancies in Eng/Wales: Guides for landlords and tenants This thread is intended to provide information to both landlords and tenants relating to Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs) in England and Wales.

Topics covered:

* Repairing Obligations: the law, common misconceptions, reporting/enforcing, retaliatory eviction & the new tenant protection (2015)

* Deposits: payment, protection and return

* Ending/renewing an AST: what happens when a fixed term ends? How can a LL or tenant end a tenancy? What is a periodic tenancy?

* Rent increases: when & how can rent be increased?

* Repossession: what if a LL's mortgage lender repossesses the property?

* New landlords: advice, information & links

* Letting agents: how should a landlord select or sack?

* Lodgers: advice & links for landlords & lodgers

olic

Thanks GM - I do have the CTL thanks. Very annoyed my mortgage company added on 1%, but what can you do!

I was sure I was on the RLA site the other day and it had an offer for £39 to join, but I am no longer seeing that, so very confused - did I just imagine that?

Thanks for all the links, very useful!

TallGirl

I joined RLA I didn't find their landlord insurance particularly cheap but I do glance at their emails and sometimes they have some interesting stuff in them. I use an agent for everything as I'm 70 miles away it's working fine only had two tenants first one not good second one is a dream. Good luck with it.

One piece of advice line up trades people so you got contacts to sort out repairs or even just someone to go around and check out what is what. My agent totally messed up a missing key to a sliding door that ended up needing a new door. They did pay half when I complained but better communication would have avoided that.