rent out myself or use agency

bunnydrumming

My 2 bed house outside Chester has been on market since May last year as i moved to Leeds for new job and am now renting here. I did hope it would have sold by now so i can buy my new home.(would like to put a link but don't know how!)

I have been weighing up renting it for 6 months or more whilst market picksl up slightly and so that i am not paying two lots of heating, council, insurance etc.

the daughter of a lady i used to work with is now looking to rent in that area and has rung me up to see if i would consider renting it out.

My question is should i do all the work myself and set myself up as landlord or should i go through a letting agency - how much would this cost me to use agency or what would i have to do to take care of it myself!

Advice much appreciated

silvercar

Normall agency fees for finding tenant and managing property is about 15% of annual rent. Finding tenants alone costs about 10%, so the true management cost should be about 5%. You will have to put feelers out to find independent agents prepared to manage only, they are out there.

You could manage yourself if you have contacts in the area for maintenance etc.

paintpot

Hi if you are not familiar with the laws relating to renting properties then I would suggest you use a reputable letting agent. There are alot of things to consider, firstly you will need permission from your mortgage provider to let the property, you will need to get a gas safety certificate, if the property is let furnished you will need to comply with the legislation relating to this, then your deposit will need to be protected under the new laws, you will need to prepare a tenancy agreement and an inventory/schedule of condition etc etc. Even though you know of the person you need to treat this as a business relationship and I would suggest following all the the usual processes for vetting tenants so a letting agent could credit check and reference the tenant and also sort out the deposit and tenancy agreement for you. If you don't do things right you could be heading for a very difficult time.