Renting (Scotland)

lemon26

Hi all,


I'm shortly moving away to a job with a probationary period and, for the probation, wish to rent out my house.


Due to the distance we're moving I will be using a fully managed letting service who will take care of deposit protection, inventory and inspection, electrical checks, legionella testing, landlord registration and informing the local authority for council tax.


My question is what else do I need to do?


I'm looking for landlord's insurance, and believe that it'll be sensible to get an accountant to do the tax calculations as I'll offset costs against tax. The tenant will be responsible for all utilities and council tax.


Can you think of anything I'm missing?


Many thanks! David

Cocorita

You might want to use a small leeting agent. The big ones are a total disgrace. Also, make sure that you force yiur agency to give your email (or phone number) to your new tenants, in case they have any dispute with them. They could reach you and you won't have to come back to a destroyed house because the letting agency mismanaged the property.

theartfullodger

You'll understand that the Scottish PRT tenancy means a tenant can give notice after 28 days: there is no fixed term for tenancy, it carries on forever unless tenant wants to leave. A landlord no longer has the option of the old "no fault" eviction option through the Sheriff Court, has to use specific grounds to evict via FTT, a process that takes months and may not be successful. So if probation doesn't work out you probably won't be moving back in, certainly not initially.

Even if there is an agent it is the landlord who remains liable for everything.

If you don't have the financial and emotional reserves to cope with 7 months of a tenant not paying (or agent not paying), still paying mortgage plus legal fees to evict and repair costs, don't become a landlord.

If not sure why you fix repairs for a non-paying tenant think how a tribunal chair would view it.

Not all costs can be offset against tax. There are over 10 taxes a landlord may pay. Tax a landlord pays has gone up a lot over the past few years.

If you do decide to become a landlord join SaL & do the **free** LaS courses - see
https://scottishlandlords.com/
&
https://www.landlordaccreditationscotland.com/

Artful: Scottish Landlord since 2000: Most years I make money from my rentals: But not always....

Slàinte mhath!

lemon26

Hi both, thank you for your replies! I'm lucky that I'm mortgage free so don't have that burden, and I'm aware that it is in effect a rolling tenancy. There's no reason that probation shouldn't work out, I'll always have the house as an asset and could sell, although I appreciate that not everyone would like to take on an ongoing tenancy.

The main reason to rent is to keep someone in the house as the weather isn't always kind on the Outer Hebrides so wouldn't want a small issue becoming a larger one if the house is unoccupied, plus I can offset my rent down south against the income from our current property.

The letting agent is local and has a very good reputation. They will come out initially after a month then quarterly, unless they have grounds to come out more often. I do have friends over here who will keep an ear out in case anything goes on without the agent knowing about it as they go past the house every time they go to the local shop.