DS plans to leave his central London flat totally empty for a year

I detect a hint of sarcasm in that reply..read it again

If he doesn’t need the money then it’s definitely the better option to leave it empty if he’s likely only going away for a year. Speaking from experience unfortunately, renting your home out can be a nightmare because many tenants won’t treat it with the same care you do and he could come back to a whole load of problems. Can’t you stay there once a month and have free accommodation in central London? Sounds great!

Sorry, I was being sarcastic. I agree with you. I was told by another poster that you didn’t need to worry about insurance.

How does being immune to occupancy clauses stop you getting squatters? How does it make your non-existent insurance pay out if a pipe bursts?

Yes, I've already mentioned that more than once. At present there are enough estate agents and handymen going in to prepare my property for sale, to meet the requirements and sign the book that I've left in the kitchen. When/if that ends, I've already found a someone local who can do that for me for next to nothing.

Presumably there was a clause saying the property had to be inspected regularly and a register maintaned of those visits. That's what we had to do.

The broker who arranged my unoccupied property insurance warned me that it would be expensive, so I was amazed to find that it was only £325 for the year.

Also, as it's a flat above a shop, it's going to be far less obvious to any passer-by that it's empty, compared to a house on a normal street. So I think squatters and intruders are far less likely than they could be at my property. A very normal modern three bed semi close to the road with no lights on, no car on the drive etc for a long period, is much more of a target than a flat above a shop that no pedestrian even notices.

Insurance for an empty property will be required plus payment for water supply and power standing charges, even though empty. I'd be renting it out thru an agent in a strict 12 month lease.

I wouldn’t worry about insurance. As I was so eloquently informed on this thread, flats are immune to any occupancy clauses…….

That’s very important; most policies state that the property must not be left unoccupied for more than a certain number of days. Has he also considered the risk of squatters?

This,

He must make sure he has the right insurance and it will cost him money to do it, but unless he has an incredibly reliable house sitter I would leave it empty.

As a pp has pointed out, there's no concierge.
However his insurance for an unoccupied property will insist that the flat is visited regularly, and there are companies that will happily do that and record the visits.

At the moment I have enough people visiting my property to do work/quote/inspect it regarding its imminent marketing (and signing and dating a notebook left there for that purpose) to cover the once a week visit that my insurer asks for. When those visits dry up, the cleaner who cleared the property is happy to make that weekly visit.

OP has already said that it’s a flat above a shop so no concierge, block etc.

if its a million pound flat in central London its probably in a block with a concierge etc so at least will be reasonably secure? I'd worry about leaks, moldiness etc. Can he pay for a cleaner ro go in once a month at least or pay a property management company to do checks?

I do understand about not renting it oit, they might come back now an dagain between those desiginations or get a last minute cheap flight back to London.

DP and I did a year abroad in our twenties and we rented out our flat for a year. It was up there with one of the most stressful things we've ever done. The (seemingly nice) tenants were a bloody nightmare, caused thousands of pounds of damage. Letting agent was totally useless and negligent. We all ended up in court whilst I was pregnant. Never again.

If he can afford to leave it empty and still cover the costs then this will 100% be the easiest option. Surely he has a couple of trustworthy mates who'd jump at the chance to occasionally spend a weekend there and make sure everything's fine?

Exactly this. There can be both immigration and tax issues. Some countries don’t allow ANY work (even unpaid/voluntary) without an appropriate visa.

Writing “he’s freelance so it’s a non-issue” is rather horrifying in its ignorance. I’m hoping this is just the OP’s lack of knowledge rather than what her DS has told her.

Working freelance from a country you don't have a work visa for is an immigration offence in a lot of places. He needs to be careful

I get that you find it frustrating to watch him appear to throw money away, @Tedsabear . It's hard to watch someone seem so casual about it and I'm guessing that you worry that his attitude to money has been affected by money and a £1m property just dropping into his lap.

But my enforced 18 months of being a landlord has been an eye opener. I don't know why anyone does it. I have not made a penny from it, and nor did my late mum in the last year of accounts that I saw. But it's brought me a world of pain, and I'm one of the lucky ones who's tenants left (eventually) without me needing to get the bailiffs in. The property is an absolute mess, and if it was my home I'd be heartbroken.

Your son risks all this PLUS having to move all his stuff and put it in storage, at London storage costs. Plus the extra tenants rights that the government are bringing in, make renting your own home temporarily extremely risky.

Honestly, it's not worth it.

Being able to work remotely and working internationally are different things. I know from my work that permission is needed to work from a different country unless you are sent there for work purposes
due to tax and other liabilities for the company.

From the OP:

"They have decided to spend the next year as digital nomads as they are able to work remotely"

The world is full of digital nomads at the moment. I have two friends doing it. Interestingly, given the Portuguese girlfriend, Lisbon is pretty much the European capital of digital nomad life, to the point that locals are complaining about it!

I'm renting out our flat in London while we moved abroad with DH's job.

It's a pain in the arse and I'm in the process of kicking out the tenants.

Seriously not worth it of you can afford it.

Has he checked he’d be allowed to work from different countries? There are tax implications and other restrictions for employees to work from other countries.

If he rents it out and the tenant won't leave, it could easily take 2 years to evict them. London courts have MASSIVE backlogs for hearings and bailiff appointments. Plus S21 won't exist soon so he'd need to find another ground to get them out. I wouldn't do it.