Page 2 | Tips on being a landlord

hellohellooo · 2025-02-24T19:56:36+00:00

Hello all My parents house has been vacant for a few years now A friends colleague wants to move in He wants to paint and put in a new flloor I willl of course pay for everything How do I keep this all formal so that I ensure he does not do extra work and could claim to not owe rent (if that's even a thing)?? I'm new to this I have a contract to be signed Checks every six months Landlord insurance Photo Id for all tenants What else am I missing? Should I give a receipt if I am giving them money for doing the floor?? Not done this before so please go easy on me

Original poster

hellohellooo · 24/02/2025 20:33

@PinotPony super helpful

Thanks

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Dontlletmedownbruce · 24/02/2025 20:37

Are you already a homeowner Op? If you are it will be easier but if not you should bear in mind the lifespan of things and make sure you do a repair cost analysis and save for that with the rental income jnto a separate account. For example a boiler cost 3k and lasts 10 years, therefore you need 300 per year saved towards this, 50 per year for the washing machine, 60 for fridge etc..I'm just making those figures up to make the point. Know how much you need to save per month to cover all depreciation and typical repairs so you are always able to deal with it without any stress or dipping into your own pocket.

Original poster

hellohellooo · 24/02/2025 20:38

@Dontlletmedownbruce great idea

I think at least half the rent needs to be put aside for this after tax

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Original poster

hellohellooo · 24/02/2025 20:45

PinotPony · 24/02/2025 20:32

I used to act for landlords evicting tenants. It’s very easy to come unstuck if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Ensure you have a written Assured Shorthold Tenancy drawn up. Make sure your rent payment dates coincide with the monthly rental period i.e. the 1st of each month. I think the minimum rental period is 6 months (the fixed term). After this, you either sign a new agreement or it continues on a rolling monthly basis.
Research your obligations under the Tenancy Deposit Scheme. You must provide certain prescribed information to your tenant and ensure their deposit is paid into a recognised scheme. If you fail to do both these steps, you will be unable to serve notice and your tenant can sue you for three times the amount of the deposit.
Research your obligations around gas certificates and other safety checks.
You’ll need landlord insurance.
You’ll need to maintain the property. Be prepared for calls at any time day or night because the boiler has packed up etc.
You cannot stop your tenant acquiring security of tenure, even if they do no work on the property. You cannot evict them within the fixed term without good reason e.g. rent arrears or some other breach of the tenancy.
You can serve 2 months notice at the end of the fixed term (a s21 notice). The notice must expire at the end of a monthly period. If you get the date wrong, the notice is invalid and you have to start again.
If the tenant fails to vacate at expiry of the notice, you must issue possession proceedings and obtain a possession order from the court. If the tenant still refuses to leave, you have to instruct high court enforcement officers. Costs to evict are upwards of £1,500. Plus lost rent for several months if they’ve stopped paying you.
You’re not allowed to discriminate against tenants on Housing Benefit but many landlords prefer tenants who are paying privately as they are more likely to be able to rehouse themselves and less likely to require eviction.

If you think you can manage all that, great. But you might prefer to pay a letting agent to deal with it all.

Edited

Can I ask a stupid question

If they do some 'home improvements'
Do they have more of a right to the house than I would?

Someone said this the other day and I don't see it anywhere else online

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WonderingAboutThus · 24/02/2025 21:00

Euh, there's not much they should be allowed to change on your house.
Don't think of it as improvements, it's changes and they don't get to decide. (Don't let them, it confuses things.)

But seriously, get a professional to do this for you, you already sound in over your head.

Original poster

hellohellooo · 24/02/2025 21:00

WonderingAboutThus · 24/02/2025 21:00

Euh, there's not much they should be allowed to change on your house.
Don't think of it as improvements, it's changes and they don't get to decide. (Don't let them, it confuses things.)

But seriously, get a professional to do this for you, you already sound in over your head.

True !!!!

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Original poster

hellohellooo · 24/02/2025 21:00

It's a minefield

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PinotPony · 24/02/2025 21:02

hellohellooo · 24/02/2025 20:45

Can I ask a stupid question

If they do some 'home improvements'
Do they have more of a right to the house than I would?

Someone said this the other day and I don't see it anywhere else online

Show quote history

I’m not sure I understand what you mean by a “right” to the property.

Whether the tenant can make improvements to the property would depend on the wording of the AST. Usually you’d let them decorate but they’d need your consent for any major improvements.

But that’s irrelevant to your respective “rights” to the property.

They can’t acquire legal ownership of the property. You would continue to have legal ownership but they are entitled to security of tenure which means living peacefully without threat of eviction. You can’t force them to leave their home without a court order.

Original poster

hellohellooo · 24/02/2025 21:03

That's really clear

Thank you

I guess I meant a right to stay I definitely if they put their time and effort into painting and a new floor in one room

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WonderingAboutThus · 24/02/2025 21:06

No. Tenants don't get to invest X amount to get Y property rights. That's just not a thing. I think you are somehow confused with rights that may or may not build up between partners.

Original poster

hellohellooo · 24/02/2025 21:07

Ahh yes

Plus the movie Pacific Heights sort of got me thinking 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️😅😅

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Original poster

hellohellooo · 24/02/2025 21:07

I need to ask my siblings to step in and do more as it is too much and I have no clue

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Original poster

hellohellooo · 24/02/2025 21:11

WonderingAboutThus · 24/02/2025 21:06

No. Tenants don't get to invest X amount to get Y property rights. That's just not a thing. I think you are somehow confused with rights that may or may not build up between partners.

Or just really easily confused in general

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Jibberjabba · 24/02/2025 21:13

It’s not too hard to manage yourself, join the national landlord association, their information is invaluable, someone on the end of the phone for advice if needed. A letting agent charge a percentage and then if something goes wrong you will still need to pay for repairs anyway . if you have can find reliable trades to call on then that’s half the battle.
alot of changes though with laws , there will be no such thing as ASTs and a tenant will be able serve 2 month notice the first day they move in for example. If you do your homework it’s still worth it imo

Original poster

hellohellooo · 24/02/2025 21:14

Jibberjabba · 24/02/2025 21:13

It’s not too hard to manage yourself, join the national landlord association, their information is invaluable, someone on the end of the phone for advice if needed. A letting agent charge a percentage and then if something goes wrong you will still need to pay for repairs anyway . if you have can find reliable trades to call on then that’s half the battle.
alot of changes though with laws , there will be no such thing as ASTs and a tenant will be able serve 2 month notice the first day they move in for example. If you do your homework it’s still worth it imo

Thank you

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WonderingAboutThus · 24/02/2025 21:19

Especially if there are siblings involved too, no way should you do the work ánd then be the one at fault if you get something wrong!

Original poster

hellohellooo · 24/02/2025 21:19

WonderingAboutThus · 24/02/2025 21:19

Especially if there are siblings involved too, no way should you do the work ánd then be the one at fault if you get something wrong!

Well that's the truth

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Jibberjabba · 24/02/2025 21:19

PinotPony · 24/02/2025 20:32

I used to act for landlords evicting tenants. It’s very easy to come unstuck if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Ensure you have a written Assured Shorthold Tenancy drawn up. Make sure your rent payment dates coincide with the monthly rental period i.e. the 1st of each month. I think the minimum rental period is 6 months (the fixed term). After this, you either sign a new agreement or it continues on a rolling monthly basis.
Research your obligations under the Tenancy Deposit Scheme. You must provide certain prescribed information to your tenant and ensure their deposit is paid into a recognised scheme. If you fail to do both these steps, you will be unable to serve notice and your tenant can sue you for three times the amount of the deposit.
Research your obligations around gas certificates and other safety checks.
You’ll need landlord insurance.
You’ll need to maintain the property. Be prepared for calls at any time day or night because the boiler has packed up etc.
You cannot stop your tenant acquiring security of tenure, even if they do no work on the property. You cannot evict them within the fixed term without good reason e.g. rent arrears or some other breach of the tenancy.
You can serve 2 months notice at the end of the fixed term (a s21 notice). The notice must expire at the end of a monthly period. If you get the date wrong, the notice is invalid and you have to start again.
If the tenant fails to vacate at expiry of the notice, you must issue possession proceedings and obtain a possession order from the court. If the tenant still refuses to leave, you have to instruct high court enforcement officers. Costs to evict are upwards of £1,500. Plus lost rent for several months if they’ve stopped paying you.
You’re not allowed to discriminate against tenants on Housing Benefit but many landlords prefer tenants who are paying privately as they are more likely to be able to rehouse themselves and less likely to require eviction.

If you think you can manage all that, great. But you might prefer to pay a letting agent to deal with it all.

Edited

Section 21 is going to be scrapped as well as ASTs

Original poster

hellohellooo · 24/02/2025 21:19

Are 6 month tenancy's a thing or do they all have to be 12 months at least

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Parsley1234 · 24/02/2025 21:20

You must be insane with the RRB coming down the tracks there’s a reason why 28000 properties are being sold it each month as monitored by Hamptons. Rentals is a mugs game now you cannot evict a tenant if you really want to keep the property air babd b is a million %?better

Original poster

hellohellooo · 24/02/2025 21:21

Parsley1234 · 24/02/2025 21:20

You must be insane with the RRB coming down the tracks there’s a reason why 28000 properties are being sold it each month as monitored by Hamptons. Rentals is a mugs game now you cannot evict a tenant if you really want to keep the property air babd b is a million %?better

Good to know !!!!

It's all so new to me 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

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Jigglemytibia · 24/02/2025 21:23

Join the Residential Landlords Association and use their templates for contracts etc. Ensure that you serve your tenant with the prescribed paperwork and get them to sign for it. Do a thorough inventory with photos before they move in. Get them to sign that too. Ensure that you protect their deposit with a govt. approved scheme and get them to sign that they know about it. Make sure that you have covered your obligations re GDPR. ….. honestly, if you can, please just sell up!

Jibberjabba · 24/02/2025 21:24

6 month tenancy still being used but it’s not really worth the paper it’s written on as law comes into effect spring/summer unfortunately so they won’t be breaking contract as such if they hand in notice. People still need to rent so if you can do all your background homework wouldn’t imagine it will happen that often. Section 8 will take the place of section 21, which ends no fault eviction. One of the grounds you can is if you decide to sell

LumpyandBumps · 24/02/2025 21:53

I am a landlord.

The first piece of advice I would give is don’t rent the property.
Even if you had sole discretion without being answerable to siblings, renting out property can be a nightmare, and unlikely to improve with current raft of new legislation.
If you choose to ignore my first piece of advice and rent anyway my second piece would be to not rent to friends or colleagues. It muddies the relationship. Whilst I try to have a good relationship with my tenants I am not their friend, nor they mine. Renting out a property is a business transaction, and that is how it should be managed.
Thirdly, I would suggest that you get a Letting Agent. Otherwise you’ll find yourself having all of the responsibilities, but only an equal share of any profit. At least let an agent take some of that load.

Original poster

hellohellooo · 24/02/2025 21:54

LumpyandBumps · 24/02/2025 21:53

I am a landlord.

The first piece of advice I would give is don’t rent the property.
Even if you had sole discretion without being answerable to siblings, renting out property can be a nightmare, and unlikely to improve with current raft of new legislation.
If you choose to ignore my first piece of advice and rent anyway my second piece would be to not rent to friends or colleagues. It muddies the relationship. Whilst I try to have a good relationship with my tenants I am not their friend, nor they mine. Renting out a property is a business transaction, and that is how it should be managed.
Thirdly, I would suggest that you get a Letting Agent. Otherwise you’ll find yourself having all of the responsibilities, but only an equal share of any profit. At least let an agent take some of that load.

Wise wise words thank you

It is not for the faint hearted

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