Inherited house to rent - Ceiling Problem

1jacks64

I have inherited a house and I want to rent it out. The thing is it has ceilings in some of the bedrooms that have been made of a foam type of material that have been stuck to the original ceiling.

A friend has told me that it would be classed as a fire hazard and I would therefore not be allowed to rent the house out unless I got rid of these ceilings. Because these ceilings and so well stuck to the original ceiling it would probably mean I would have to smash the ceilings up totally and re-do the ceilings in the upstairs bedrooms.

Does anyone know if these type of ceilings really are a fire hazard and would therefore prevent renting out the property.

sneekymum

Renting out property is much more complex than many people think. Polystyrene tiles on ceilings are one thing - but does it have adequate means of escape? fire alarm & fire fighting equipment with a current service plan in force? annual electrical testing certificate? gas too?

The least hassle would be to approach a professional letting management company - the biggest ones have their own tradesmen - these can advise what is needed - and are the least hassle for getting tennants and collecting rent and sorting out general maintenance.

But why do you want to do this anyway?

An inheritance is tax free. You can sell it and seek professional advice (from an Independent Financial Adviser) on how to invest and produce returns better than the current buy-to-let market with no hassle at all and the ability to withdraw lumps of cash whenever - "tax free" too if you withdraw less than you annual capital gains tax allowance (currently £8,200) in growth. Trying doing that to a pile of bricks.

frugal_dougal_3

In the first instance I would try a wallpaper steamer to see if that will take it off. These devices are often very good at removing things other than wallpaper (like artex for example).

mountainofdebt

My Mum had these on her old kitchen ceiling and they were a NGHTMARE to get off but got them off we did (eventually!) with a good old bucket of soapy water and a wallpaper scraper.