Accidental landlord looking for advisor

Tokmon

Beverley said:

steve866 said:

AdrianC said:

steve866 said:

hazyjo said:

Why accidental though? It's a choice. They could sell. It's what I've always done.

Yes of course, she decided to become a landlord after his circumstances changed, this is obvious, but it still a different journey from purchasing a second properly specifically as an investment. I don’t know why people get their knickers in a twist with the term accidental landlord when everyone knows what it really means.

It's a cop-out to try to pretend that starting a business wasn't deliberate, therefore you shouldn't need to conform to the same standards when running it.

I respect your opinion, but in the OPs case and on other threads here it isn’t the case that people are trying to dodge standards. The OP here seems to have followed the rules, possibly undercharged rent and got an expensive problem fixed straight away, sounds like a great landlord to me. 

That's pretty much it. I'm sorry if I offended people by describing myself as an accidental landlord. I'd read that the term applied to someone like me, who didn't buy the property with the intention of letting it but instead found themselves with a property to spare after moving in with a partner. I didn't realise it was a term that people would object to.

I decided to keep the property as my late son was born, and lived all of his life, in that house and it's a link to him that my daughter values so she begged me not to sell. I thought it would be a good bequest in my will but obviously didn't want it to sit empty in the meantime.

My tenants are very happy with the situation. Any issues/repairs needed, however slight, are dealt with promptly. The property is insured and has all of the necessary annual safety checks.

It's like people who call all vacuum cleaners a "Hoover" even though it's certainly not a "Hoover" unless made by that company for some reason people have decided to use the term incorrectly so much it is now normal.

"Accidental Landlord" is relatively new compared to "Hoover" and in the same way it is used to describe situations where it certainly wasn't an "accident" like yours but it's so common now it's not really incorrect to use it in that way unfortunately. Nobody is offended they are just trying to stop the term from getting traction but unfortunately i think it's too late for that!. 

tourist4ever

As long as you have ALL checks done then you are legally covered, have you done an EICR? if not do it instantly as it's illegal not to have one if the property is rented. Don't go for the cheapest price for the EICR, look up reviews first as a lot of electrical companies put their EICR prices down and then quote a lot of remedials. Make sure the gas safety and EICR gets sent to the tenant as well.

Beverley

Thank you tourist4ever. I have had the EICR and gas safety checks done but I wasn't aware they must be sent to the tenant. I'll rectify that immediately.

Grumpy_chap

Tokmon said:

Beverley said:

steve866 said:

AdrianC said:

steve866 said:

hazyjo said:

Why accidental though? It's a choice. They could sell. It's what I've always done.

Yes of course, she decided to become a landlord after his circumstances changed, this is obvious, but it still a different journey from purchasing a second properly specifically as an investment. I don’t know why people get their knickers in a twist with the term accidental landlord when everyone knows what it really means.

It's a cop-out to try to pretend that starting a business wasn't deliberate, therefore you shouldn't need to conform to the same standards when running it.

I respect your opinion, but in the OPs case and on other threads here it isn’t the case that people are trying to dodge standards. The OP here seems to have followed the rules, possibly undercharged rent and got an expensive problem fixed straight away, sounds like a great landlord to me. 

That's pretty much it. I'm sorry if I offended people by describing myself as an accidental landlord. I'd read that the term applied to someone like me, who didn't buy the property with the intention of letting it but instead found themselves with a property to spare after moving in with a partner. I didn't realise it was a term that people would object to.

I decided to keep the property as my late son was born, and lived all of his life, in that house and it's a link to him that my daughter values so she begged me not to sell. I thought it would be a good bequest in my will but obviously didn't want it to sit empty in the meantime.

My tenants are very happy with the situation. Any issues/repairs needed, however slight, are dealt with promptly. The property is insured and has all of the necessary annual safety checks.

It's like people who call all vacuum cleaners a "Hoover" even though it's certainly not a "Hoover" unless made by that company for some reason people have decided to use the term incorrectly so much it is now normal.

"Accidental Landlord" is relatively new compared to "Hoover" and in the same way it is used to describe situations where it certainly wasn't an "accident" like yours but it's so common now it's not really incorrect to use it in that way unfortunately. Nobody is offended they are just trying to stop the term from getting traction but unfortunately i think it's too late for that!. 

I do understand the term"Accidental Landlord" as having application to describe that letting was not the intent when the property was purchased.

The term should not be used as a cover for not understanding the obligations of being a LL and / or an excuse for being a bad LL.  Gladly this does not seem to apply for this OP.

There was a recent thread with someone buying an unlicensed HMO with sitting tenants (4 people / 3 households) and they were trying to claim "Accidental Landlord".  That is stretching the term somewhat.

Ratkin007

If not already done, check on the local authority's website to see if a Selective licence is required