Back up income - Buy to Let, Let out to Serco.

Qyburn

You don't say what sort of property, or where, is expected to fetch £18,000pa rental.  Or what the normal private rental figure would be for the same property.

For reference our local authority was offering rental 20% below market price, for fixed one year agreement with the council covering property management and minor repairs.

patgarrett

There's more info about the Serco contracts here. Personally I wouldn't touch this with a barge pole!

https://www.property118.com/serco-contract-details-asylum-accommodation-request/

P1Fanatic

patgarrett said:

There's more info about the Serco contracts here. Personally I wouldn't touch this with a barge pole!

https://www.property118.com/serco-contract-details-asylum-accommodation-request/

Landlord Responsibilities:

1) New floor coverings after 4 years (then every 3 years after)
2) Full decoration of the property after 4 years (then every 3 years after)
3) New kitchen, new bathroom and Replacement windows at 6 years
4) Replacement of the boiler following 2 or more repairs over 3 months or a repair bill of more than £500 or replace the boiler if 3 or more repairs to the boiler over a 6 month period and/or expenditure of £500 or above in a rolling 6 month period.

Sounds like a great deal (for Sertco and the tenants).

Malthusian

jimjames said:

Not sure what crab mentality is 

It's the difference between taking on a huge amount of risk and hassle primarily for the benefit of a colossal quasi-governmental corporate, and keeping your money.
It stands for "Certain Ruin, Activate Bargepole."
@OP: Do you think you'll be able to get a mortgage with this plan? I would have thought that almost all lenders would run a mile. If the plan is to buy a property as a cash buyer to rent out to Serco, would it not be realistic to use that cash as a deposit for the level of property you desire for yourself? 

strawb_shortcake

P1Fanatic said:

patgarrett said:

There's more info about the Serco contracts here. Personally I wouldn't touch this with a barge pole!

https://www.property118.com/serco-contract-details-asylum-accommodation-request/

Landlord Responsibilities:

1) New floor coverings after 4 years (then every 3 years after)
2) Full decoration of the property after 4 years (then every 3 years after)
3) New kitchen, new bathroom and Replacement windows at 6 years
4) Replacement of the boiler following 2 or more repairs over 3 months or a repair bill of more than £500 or replace the boiler if 3 or more repairs to the boiler over a 6 month period and/or expenditure of £500 or above in a rolling 6 month period.

Sounds like a great deal (for Sertco and the tenants).

This is far superior to the decent homes standards that is afforded to council and housing association tenants 

Albermarle

annabanana82 said:

P1Fanatic said:

patgarrett said:

There's more info about the Serco contracts here. Personally I wouldn't touch this with a barge pole!

https://www.property118.com/serco-contract-details-asylum-accommodation-request/

Landlord Responsibilities:

1) New floor coverings after 4 years (then every 3 years after)
2) Full decoration of the property after 4 years (then every 3 years after)
3) New kitchen, new bathroom and Replacement windows at 6 years
4) Replacement of the boiler following 2 or more repairs over 3 months or a repair bill of more than £500 or replace the boiler if 3 or more repairs to the boiler over a 6 month period and/or expenditure of £500 or above in a rolling 6 month period.

Sounds like a great deal (for Sertco and the tenants).

This is far superior to the decent homes standards that is afforded to council and housing association tenants 

Also far superior to the replacement cycle of most homeowners. Perhaps more realistically like this.

1) New floor coverings after 14 years 
2) Full decoration of the property after 14 years 
3) New kitchen, new bathroom and Replacement windows at 16 years

Malthusian

This is far superior to the decent homes standards that is afforded to council and housing association tenants 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't council and housing association tenants be living there permanently, or at least for a long time compared to asylum seekers?
Tbf (following on from reply #2) I don't think anyone would dispute that more maintenance and repair is going to be required for a slum property occupied by transient expats than the typical owner-occupied property. 
Redecoration every 3 years sounds too little if anything. 
It sounds like an arbitrary number plucked out of the air with the aim of not being so low that property owners all run a mile, and not so high that they smell a rat. (I know we're smelling rats all over the shop anyway, but somebody somewhere must be falling for this stuff. Surely?)
I would bet a fiver that if you tried to do the job "properly" including getting insurance from a specialist (and expensive) insurer willing to provide cover, there would be no chance (or even less chance) of making money. On the other hand, if you don't do the job properly, Serco can refuse to pay your rent and you can't exactly "send the boys round" to a FTSE 250 company as a real slum landlord would.

[Deleted User]

Malthusian said:

This is far superior to the decent homes standards that is afforded to council and housing association tenants 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't council and housing association tenants be living there permanently, or at least for a long time compared to asylum seekers?
Tbf (following on from reply #2) I don't think anyone would dispute that more maintenance and repair is going to be required for a slum property occupied by transient expats than the typical owner-occupied property. 
Redecoration every 3 years sounds too little if anything. 
It sounds like an arbitrary number plucked out of the air with the aim of not being so low that property owners all run a mile, and not so high that they smell a rat. (I know we're smelling rats all over the shop anyway, but somebody somewhere must be falling for this stuff. Surely?)
I would bet a fiver that if you tried to do the job "properly" including getting insurance from a specialist (and expensive) insurer willing to provide cover, there would be no chance (or even less chance) of making money. On the other hand, if you don't do the job properly, Serco can refuse to pay your rent and you can't exactly "send the boys round" to a FTSE 250 company as a real slum landlord would.

What on earth is a transient expat?! 

Reading between the lines, they are expecting the sap / BTL landlord to gut the the place every few years. 

Qyburn

In addition, how is this maintenance supposed to be managed if the place is irregularly occupied?  When we rented we mostly did intrusive or preventative maintenance at tenancy change overs.  We typically redecorated one room each time, but some of our tenants did they're own as well.

phillw

P1Fanatic said:
Landlord Responsibilities:

"LANDLORD OBLIGATIONS – IF REQUESTED TO DO SO"

It doesn't specify who would be responsible for requesting it...