Possible costs of being a landlord

bris

If you are struggling to sell then just find a reputable letting agent in your area and hand it over to them.


They will advise on everything you need to do to bring it into line with the regulations and even organise all the work for you.


They then do all the paperwork, check out the tenants and manage it for you. It should cost 10% of the rent charged, give or take a couple of %


P,S rough costs
Smoke, heat and carbon monoxide detectors, hard wired. £300-400
EICR, £100 every 5 years
Gas safety cert £100 every year
Portable appliance testing £50 yearly
EPC £50 Every 10 years
Legionnaires report £50 a year or if your competent do it yourself, its easy and you can find a template and instructions online.
Inventory and condition report £100, a one off


I recommend you let unfurnished but then I only do long term tenants so it suits me as the government did away with the wear and tear tax reduction.


They break things and expect you to replace them so take it out the equation, they look after their own stuff better than yours.


Letting agent costs? Negotiate they do all the paperwork and find the tenants free for you with them getting the monthly charge. Take your business elsewhere if they refuse, they wont.


As you have no mortgage to worry about the first couple of months rent should cover the works required to bring it to line with the regs as long as it's not trashed.
Once established you will have a revenue stream every monyh

In Scotland the lease is basically forever, you can no longer evict tenants for no reason. The list for getting the property back is short but includes selling so if you ever decide to sell you can evict for this reason.

baldelectrician

I do landlord electrical checks as part of my business and I come across landlords who are unprepared to the extreme.
Do your homework

Try the Scottish Government property chamber site

You will also need to register as a landlord and pass the fit and proper person test.

Above- I have linked to the repairs guidance page as the site is hard to navigate. This page gives you the info on electrical checks, smoke detector guidance

Always use a registered electrician and check them on the links below BEFORE you engage them

In Scotland
https://www.select.org.uk
or
https://www.niceic.com

In England and Wales;
http://www.electricalcompetentperson.co.uk/

googler

What area are you selling in? City? Large/small town? Village?

Are you selling with a solicitor/estate agent, a standalone estate agency, or an online agent?

Durham_andrew

Hi something eles to be aware of we where in a very similar boat a couple of years ago. First house payed off and about to move into much bigger home and was considering renting our first home out. So now I need to give you a little background about me and my family I work full time and my wife works part time and we have a disabled child so we get tax credits. If or when we get moved onto universal credit we won’t be able to clam it because on universal credit it you have more then 16k in equity in a second home you can’t clame a penny while on tax credits you only lose on your profit. I worked it out that if I went for a fully managed plan I would have been loosening money every month if I moved onto universal credit. So we payed 90k off the mortgage

lookstraightahead

Becoming a landlord is not a quick fix. If your heart isn't in it then don't do it. It's a business that you have to work at. I believe prices are and will continue to come down. I suggest lowering the price.

getmore4less

do the basics

At what value(cash in pocket) does the rental business stack up and break even as a business?

Current asking price?
Current rent estimated?
selling costs estimate?
Interest rate on new mortgage?

sunk costs? including but anymore?
3% extra LBTT
cost per month to have on the market with no rent.
costs to prepare the place to rent

Mutton_Geoff

I'd ignore the comments to drop the price, auction or advice on becoming a landlord. All you need is patience, you're trying to sell at the wrong time of year. Take it off the market and put back on at the end of February.


Forget the hassle of becoming an accidental landlord, you will live to regret it.

AdrianC

If you're feeling thick-skinned, let's have a look at the property details - RM link...

There's usually a fairly obvious reason why there's not much interest. We won't sugar-coat, but we will be fair and constructive.