Renting out my house

[toolittletimeagain]

I am moving into my boyfriend's flat towards the end of the month and I am thinking of renting out my house rather than leaving it empty. I am completely new to this so if anyone could help me with an idiot's guide to letting their property I'd be very grateful!

I have already considered:

• tax implications
• change of mortgage
• possible storage costs if tenants want the property unfurnished
• estate agent management fee
• upfront costs (gas safety certificate etc)
• repair costs if anything goes wring

Are there any other costs to be aware of?

Is letting out my home a good idea? It could be reasonably lucrative and I could do with the money as I am currently a student but it seems like a lot of hassle upfront.

Anyone else who has done this - what did you do with all your stuff? I am decluttering at present but I've still managed to accumulate a lot of things in the years I've been here.

Is it worth putting a clause in the contract about the house and garden being kept to a reasonable standard?

Ideally I'd let it furnished but I understand that most people probably want unfurnished.

Is renting out my house a good idea and is there anything else I need to consider?

I’d be more tempted to air b and b it

@rwalker I did consider airbnbing it but the drawback would be having to go back and forth to wash and change sheets, clean etc. Renting it out and leaving it to the management company means I don't need to do anything.

If an agent is going to let and manage it for you they’ll sort out the contract so it’s watertight and legal. You can buy contracts online if you want to rent it without an agent but personally I wouldn’t recommend that if it’s your first time as a LL.

Research your letting agent carefully and you can always negotiate their fees. Watch what they’re charging for. Repairs — agent will try to get you to use their people but you’ll pay at least 20% on top of the bill.

Where would you live for the 6 months+ it might take to get your house back if you broke up with your boyfriend and he told you to leave immediately?

Think the only thing you’ve left off your list is: insurance, electric safety along with gas safety, Smoke and Carbon monoxide alarms.
Get tenants through an agent so you’ve got all the affordability checks etc.
Good idea to keep your flat just in case you need to return to it at some point in the future.

Are you prepared for tenants that don't pay. Tenants that need to be evicted. Why not sell your house instead?

What put me off becoming a landlord was the worry if rent was unpaid and tenants trashed the place before leaving. It was not something I was willing to risk.

In my experience most people want furnished but maybe that changes in different areas of the country.

With unfurnished you probably end up with tenants more committed to a long term stay - that can be a good thing or a bad thing - great if you feel you'll not need it back for a long time and helps have tenants more invested in a place. But lower rent usually.

I would take all the things that are valuable to you but honestly would probably just leave the rest and just itemise on an inventory. I take a video of the place with tenants at the beginning so that we've both got a record of how things were at the start of the tenancy.

There will be reasonable wear and tear, and you can not charge or deduct from deposit for that.

I like getting my own tenants in as I feel I can get an idea of who they are, if they are a good fit for the place, and I'll chat with their references over the phone to hear about their prior tenancies. You can arrange credit checks through a 3rd party if you want. I put rent low and have open viewings where many attend and select tenants from that. But of course there are many pluses to just handing everything over to a reputable agent.

Insurance can be a good idea, I have it but have not had to use but some policies cover for non-payment of rent etc so could be worthwhile.

It's possible legislation will change to enhance tenants rights (I'm in Scotland so this has already happened.) If you're a good landlord this shouldn't scare you. I am sure, for example, if you wanted your flat back due to relationship breakdown this should be possible , but with stricter rules you might have to eg, sign an affidavit with a solicitor about the reasons you need the flat back ie. that you need to be housed. Maybe research this area a bit.

Because she wants her home to go back to if the relationship doesn't work out.

if she sells, the money won't keeping up with the price of houses & she won't be able to buy as good a house.

@toolittletimeagain

I would use a solicitor, not Rental Agent. I'd rather choose the tenant with financial checks done by a solicitor that use an Agent

I couldn't be arsed with Air B&B, but if you are somewhere it would be popular, you could use a key safe and pay someone to change the beds, clean etc if you don't want to be tied to it yourself

Are you relocating or staying in the same locality? How serious is your relationship?
My now dh and I had to make the same decision when I moved in with him, which meant me moving over an hour from where my house was and also meant me changing jobs. Keeping my house would have given me the idea that I'd kept hold of my security but:
A) if I had tenants in it and we had split up, I wouldn't have been able to move back to it so it wouldn't have been an 'escape' for me.
B) my house was pretty much all my assets (I owned more than 80% of it and only had a tiny mortgage) - if we'd split up and I'd rented it out, I wouldn't have been able to access the equity I would have needed to enable me to move on.
C) as I changed jobs when I moved, my house would have been in the wrong place anyway.
D) we both had children who'd been through some traumatic events (no-one's fault, think illness and bereavement rather than horrible break ups) and we really wanted them to feel that their new family was permanent and that dh and I were in it for the long haul; keeping my house would possibly have sent very mixed messages.
E) renting it out didn't really bring in much profit every month once costs were covered; any time without tenants would have hit us in the pockets quite hard.
F) my house was immaculate and very much at the top of its potential sale price; tenants inevitably would have caused wear and tear, meaning taking a hit and / or doing repairs if I decided to sell later on.
G) selling my house enabled me to buy 50% of dh's there and then; it instantly became 'our' home and we both had cash left over meaning we could have a new kitchen, extension, garden renovation and decorate throughout. Within a year it was completely transformed and emotionally was 'ours' not his.

For us, selling was the right decision BUT I had known him 15+ years (as friends and neighbours for a long time before he moved away for work and then told me how he felt about me!). Also, moving locations and changing jobs meant that my old house wouldn't actually have been the 'emergency get out' it was initially tempting to hold on to as I wouldn't have been able to go back there anyway.

What ever you decide best fits your situation, get everything sorted legally. We had to pay a fair bit to get wills drawn up ensuring that we and our children are secure and protected should anything terrible happen.

Hope that helps a bit.

You need to check with your mortgage lender that they will give permission for you to rent it.

England is different to Scotland and Wales in terms of tenants’ rights but I can see things changing in favour of the renters in England. In Wales, landlords have to do online training for example and no fault evictions are different I’m told. I couldn’t be bothered with it all tbh. I’d sell.

Check the new fire regulations. They're quite draconian