Inherited House - Keep and leave empty vs renting it out

Den1970

I have inherited my late mothers house earlier this year and I have obtained probate. I feel a bit lost about what to do. At present I do not need the funds that are tied up in the house and the value of the house has increased by 12.5% in 6 months which is much more than if I had sold it and invested the proceeds. I have considered renting it out fully managed with an agent but I'm not sure whether I want to be a landlord at this present time, in my opinion although the house is in good condition it could do with some work such as decorating and I'm not ready to undertake this quite yet. The other option is to keep the property empty until I am ready to move forward. I appreciate that the house value may fall and I am aware that I will be required to pay council tax, utilities, insurance and any costs required to maintain the house. Have I omitted any costs from this list and are there are pitfalls from doing this that I may not have considered?
Thanks for reading and any advice.

Norman_Castle

Leave it empty. Unless you are willing to work at it being a landlord is a chore and can easily become an unwelcome burden. You can always change your mind at a later date.

Thrugelmir

Why not sell the property? 

Empty houses will still incur costs. 

canaldumidi

Sell it. Just bite the (emotional) bullet and sell.

Leaving it empty it will just slowly leach money - council tax, insurance, utilities, maintenance - and cause hassle with visits etc. Yes, the market might go up.Or might not. But you've already seen a profit from the probate value(beware Capital Gains Tax on that...).

Letting is an option,but you need to do a lot of research first and know what's involved, as well as doing a realistic budget to see if it is genuinely a good financial option.

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Cash-Cows

Another option is speak to your council and see if they are running a scheme. They put their own tenants in your house paying you rent guaranteed. You deal only with the council not tenants. Check terms but you won't have to do minor repairs and the council will return the house in a no worse condition than you gave it to them. You will get less rent than commercially but its no hassle. 

TonyMMM

Sell it ....empty properties take looking after

canaldumidi

Cash-Cows said:

Another option is speak to your council and see if they are running a scheme. They put their own tenants in your house paying you rent guaranteed. You deal only with the council not tenants. Check terms but you won't have to do minor repairs and the council will return the house in a no worse condition than you gave it to them. You will get less rent than commercially but its no hassle. 

There are downsides to these arrangements. Think hard before going down this road. To start with if you rent to the council it's a commercial contract, not AST.

Post 7: New landlords (1):advice & information :see links in next post

Brie

I'm under the impression that most insurers will be very unhappy with a property being left empty for an extended period.  You may need to go an stay for a week or something to satisfy them.  

Den1970

Thank you everyone, I really appreciate the advice 

Slinky

If you have an emotional attachment to the house, don't let it out. Tenants will never look after it the way you think they should do and the inevitable wear and tear or damage feels personal.

AdrianC

12.5% increase in value in six months sounds like the PERFECT time to sell...

Simple question: If you had that money sat in the bank, and saw that house for sale, would you even contemplate buying it to start a residential lettings business?

When you say "ready to decorate", do you mean you still have an emotional tie to the place? Letting a house that you're emotionally attached to is a recipe for disaster. You will not be able to give the tenants the space they deserve.