Letting my house (not using agents)

TomBxx_2

Hi,

I've been lucky enough to be offered an overseas job posting and am looking to rent our house. I'm keen to avoid using letting agents. We have somebody who can manage the propery but need to market it ourselves.

Can anybody suggest websites where I can advertise my property with photos? So far I have found houseladder.co.uk, gumtree.com and loot.com (although no photos).

Many thanks,
Tom

PasturesNew

TomBxx wrote: »

Can anybody suggest websites where I can advertise my property with photos? So far I have found houseladder.co.uk, gumtree.com and loot.com (although no photos).

If you've got an afternoon spare, check out for some free website space with free website builders... and create yourself a full paged online advert with all the photos. Then when you're advertising, you just need to link to that for fuller details. You're not limited to just places where you can upload photos then.

clutton_2

please dont do this - please dont find your own tenants - if you have not done this before - you are entering a minefield - p lease pay an agent to do all the checks for you - professional scam tenants can spot newbie landlords a mile off - they pay the first month, or even less, then you never see any more money and it takes you months and months and months to get them out via court order - mainly because newbies get all the paperwork wrong in the first place

"managing" is a lot more than taking in the rent every month ,.....

fc123

To second Clutton, we rent out family home too and though agents are a bit of a pain and an extra expense, worth every penny for the credit check, experience in weeding out scam tenants etc.
My brother did as you did...disaster...after 2 months no probs..then late rent, then no rent...took 3 months to get property back and was trashed.

I think (you can check) it costs around 1 months rent plus VAT for a finding fee only but full mngmt varies from 10 - 15% pcm + VAT...worth every penny.

Alleycat

Plus, doesn't there need to be a UK contact? So if OP is going to be abroad he would need an agent in the UK to manage it for him.

Bungarm2001

You will need an agent of some sort in the UK to manage the property for you to stay legal.

DEFINITELY get an agent that belongs to a professional body like ARLA. At least then you'll have peace of mind that the agent has and will have to abide to a certain set of standards and will have at least some basic training in letting property, doing credit checks etc etc .

I can't stress strongly enough how important it is to research the agent...there are so many cowboys out there that have no qualms about ripping both you and any potential tenants off.

Make sure you are aware of what ALL their charges will be, particularly if things go wrong at the property like leaky taps etc.

Letting property, especially for a first time LL is fraught with pitfalls, so a good LA in this case is essential, but like I say, do research several of them before you make your choice.

Bungarm2001

P.S. Just another thing to think about...make sure you inform your mortgage lender (if you have a mortgage on the property) that you are thinking of letting the property. You will almost certainly need their permission to do this.

Also, check on your contents insurance wether you intend to leave it furnished or not. Getting landlord building insurance is a must...in fact, if you do have a mortgage, your lender may insist on this.

Shop around for insurance...some co's will insure contents together with buildings insurance.

TomBxx_2

Thanks all for the replies - extremely helpful and food for thought certainly.

I will certainly consider using an agent.

dopester

Just sell it and be done.

tbs624

TomBxx wrote: »

Hi,

I've been lucky enough to be offered an overseas job posting and am looking to rent our house. I'm keen to avoid using letting agents. We have somebody who can manage the propery but need to market it ourselves.

Can anybody suggest websites where I can advertise my property with photos? So far I have found houseladder.co.uk, gumtree.com and loot.com (although no photos).

Tom - many people do successfully let a property for the first time without using a LA. What counts is the research they put in beforehand and the very careful vetting of tenants.

You can arrange credit checks yourself, using the same firms that the LAs use, and always, always follow up references etc.

You say that you have someone to manage the property for you - if they are someone that you have total faith in, and particularly if they have particular professional skills, then they may do a better job than some of the charlies who set themselves up as LAs (no expertise, no qualifications, nor training and no common sense) Bungarm is right that you have to have somone who acts as your agent whilst you are overseas, but that merely means "on your behalf", not that they must have the job title of "Agent"


Take a look at sites like www.letlink.co.uk and www.landlordzone co.uk, and Tessa Shepherson's excellent Landlordlaw site. Paying out for your or your "manager" to be a member of a local or national LL association would be money well spent- you can get meber discounts on LL insurance & local DIY places etc for repair and there is a valuable source of information on tap for you. RLA, NFRL etc ( The RLAhave set up their own tenancy check service and members can also download tenancy agreement templates (ditto Tess Shepperson's site - alternatively you can use firms such as www.tenantverify.co.uk).

You as LL are ultimately responsible whether you use a "professional" LA or your manager friend so you need to fully acquaint yourself with all the applicable rules & regs.

Other places to advertise include vivastreet and letalife and again the local LL assoication may have a website for advertising properties, and they do tend to pass on contacts for potential new tenants to other members, if their own properties are full or not suitable.