Rent out house

littlefred

Hi All,
Thinking of renting out my house for 2 yrs. any advice about Building Insurance. Do I have to inform building society? anywhere I can get advice.

rebeccaj

littlefred wrote: »

Do I have to inform building society?

yes.

oh and saying please might just help encourage more people to respond. Being polite costs nothing.

littlefred

massive apologies!! Rebecaj! Thought I was being 'polite'!! Just trying to get to the point - find it upsetting for such a reply. Thankyou.

dippydora_2

littlefred wrote: »

Hi All,
Thinking of renting out my house for 2 yrs. any advice about Building Insurance. Do I have to inform building society? anywhere I can get advice.

Hi littlefred, I rent my house out (hubby in the forces) and you must tell your building society, (mine didn't make any charges, only if it is over 4 years) If you don't and they find out, it is a breach of contract and they can call in the loan; ie. you have to pay it all off immediately or lose your house,
REALLY NOT WORTH IT!!!! Letting agents and Insurance companies also want to know that you have informed Building Society

For free advice I use www.landlordzone.co.uk the forum has lots of advice and shows you some of the horrendous pitfalls that can occur to Landlords (tenants have soooo many rights) I have a thread about the problems I have with my tenants... (NIGHTMARE)

Quick tip: Never give more than 6 months contract (Assured Shorthold Tenancy) at a time as if your tenant decides they don't want to pay your rent, then it takes months and months plus huge legal expenses to evict.
If they are good tenants you can always tell them you will renew every 6 months.

Double check references i.e contact the referee by looking up the address & phone number yourself, not just the details they give you..

If they are self-employed it is very difficult to get money out of them if they default

May I also just add (before anyone else points it out) That not all tenants are bad, some are fantastic (but I am just warning you to be careful, if you do get a "baddun" they are a total nightmare!)

Someone said to me "It is better to have no tenant, than one bad one"
How right they were. My tenants stopped paying nine months ago and I have not had one penny since and nearly £2000 worth of legal fees,(and theyare still in my house) so I am £8000 poorer for renting my house out for a year!

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

littlefred

Thanks so much Dippydora for taking the time to write! Your info is very useful, don't know what to do now! Your story is horrific! Think its all a bit too complicated for me. I wish you the very best for the future!

Tozer

rebeccaj wrote: »

yes.

oh and saying please might just help encourage more people to respond. Being polite costs nothing.

Get a grip! If you don't like the question, don't answer. Nothing impolite here. It is an internet forum for crying out loud.

dippydora_2

littlefred wrote: »

Thanks so much Dippydora for taking the time to write! Your info is very useful, don't know what to do now! Your story is horrific! Think its all a bit too complicated for me. I wish you the very best for the future!

Sorry I didn't mean to scare you off, but just trying to get you to research it as fully as you can, take out proper landlord's insurance (which includes public liability) and legal insurance, so if anything goes wrong it can help towards the legal costs.
I really didn't know anything about it when I firstrented my house out and was given some really pants advice.

I would say the majority of tenants are good, but those that are bad are a real drain on your finances.
Just put some simple safeguards into place...ie
*credit checks,
*references,
*guarantors (if possible),
*Get as large a deposit as you can (it MUST be placed in a deposit protection scheme now BY LAW)
*Get more than one person's name on the contract as everyone named is responsible for any debt, (if one tenant disappears, the other is still responsible for the money),
*Be wary of people "living with their parents" and so have no previous Landlord references. (as mine were)
*Only give a 6 month contract and check that if you do give notice to leave; 2 months required (a section 21 notice) that your dates quoted to leave are exactly right as the law is very particular about this and it can put an eviction date back months as you have to serve the 2 months notice all over again
Just remember the law and the judges especially are on the side of the tenant
There is a fasttrack way of evicting a tenant, but a 6 month contract is minimum, hence the reason for only giving 6 months at a time. "IF" the accelerated possession procedure is done correctly, the tenants should be out within 6-10 weeks of the end of the notice even if they refuse to move out, this is roughly how long it will take you to get a court order and possibly bailiffs..

Remember the ONLY way to evict a tenant is to get a court order! any other way is illegal and the tenant can cost you a huge amount in fines if your tenant is on the ball and knows how to play the system (which increasingly they do)

It can be very rewarding, please don't let me put you off, but I just wished someone had told me about the things to look out for..;) Goodluck!

littlefred

Dippydora, thanks for all the info - complicated is'nt it! Still we're unsure whether its worth all the hassle! But we're looking into all the pro's and con's as you said, then we'll decide whether its worth it. Thankyo to :T for your support and wish you 'all the best' thanks to Tozer and Guy-Montag too-they know what I mean.!! What lovely people.!

chappers

Checking out your tennants thouroughly before hand and being selective is yoiur best safeguard, if you use an agent ask them what checks they make on your prospective tennants and ask to see the reports before you agree to them letting on your behalf.If you do it yourself use a company who will do full checks for you, such as Homelet.
Checkout landlordzone and if you are worried about the rent, possibly think of taking out some insurance also consider joining a landlords association, some of them are worth it for the legal advice alone.

Also you asked about buildings insurance.Your current buildings insurance will almost certainly not have aletting clause in it so will not be suitable. I have just been looking to change my let proerty buildings insurance checked loads of places on the net and over the phone and used these people http://www.landlords-building-insurance.co.uk/quote1.asp?aff=WS1
They found me a quote which was £150 cheaper than my renewal with keyconnect ,strangely they e-mailed me the quote it wasn't one of the ones that came up on the screen, the cover is identical in every way to the policy I currently have.

woodys_wonders

Hi
Just to let you know that a good deal on Landlords Insurance can be had at www.milestonehouse.com also if you ring them for a quote on 0845 271 1831 and quote NB10 you can get a 10% discount.
Hope this helps you

:j

tbs624

Joining a landlords’ association will normally give you a discount on your insurance - lots of specialist firms such as eg, Alan Bosworth, Homelet. Some of the local associations are useful sources of advice and information and may also be affiliated to National Groups too.

Check out these sites: http://www.landlordlaw.co.uk/ and http://www.nfrl.co.uk/ for lots of helpful information.

You need to draw up a list of what you need to do to cover your legal obligations as a landlord, and make sure you have gas safety certs etc.

Following on from what dippy dora said : "*Get as large a deposit as you can (it MUST be placed in a deposit protection scheme now BY LAW)
*Get more than one person's name on the contract as everyone named is responsible for any debt, (if one tenant disappears, the other is still responsible for the money)”

I think it's worth mentioning that the maximum deposit should be the equivalent of 2 months rent (otherwise in legal terms it is a premium not a deposit). There is a choice of 3 deposit schemes and they’re straightforward enough to use , offering a measure of protection to both sides.

Having more than one person’s name on the contract isn’t enough in itself, unless it’s clear elsewhere in the contract that the tenants are “jointly and severally liable” for all payments.

[FONT=&quot]Don’t forget that you need to declare any rental income on your tax returns ( and the above sites will also give you valuable advice about what you can and can’t offset).

Whatever you do there will always be grim tales of others' harrowing experiences but renting your home out to retain a foothold in the housing market has to be a good option. Just don't expect others to look after your house in the same way that you would
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