Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if anyone has rented out their home before?

30 replies

Hungryy44 · 03/07/2025 15:19

I own mine and considering doing this later down the line, however I'm worried about having nightmare tenants who refuse to pay, trash the property etc..
Has anyone got any tips or experiences of this? Thanks

OP posts:
Movinghouseatlast · 03/07/2025 17:53

I rent my house out as I had to move for work.

My tips
Use Open Rent so you can vet the tenants yourself. Meet them in person then choose who you want. Agencies just give it to the first person who wants it.
Don't fall for any sob stories. This is business, you need someone who passes the credit checks.
Get insurance that covers non payment of rent

Movinghouseatlast · 03/07/2025 17:57

SummerInSun · 03/07/2025 15:51

I find this totally weird in the U.K. We own a flat in Australia which we rented out when we moved to the U.K. (only planning to be here a few years and may want to move back into it when we return). It is managed by a real estate agent - they find the tenants, check the references, arrange the lease agreement, collect the rent, organise the repairs, do an annual inspection, ensure we comply with rules eg around smoke detectors, etc. For all of this they take 7% of the rent as a management fee, plus two weeks’ rent whenever they find new tenants. This is totally the standard model in Australia. I don’t understand why in the U.K. there is this assumption that if you rent out a property you would so all of this yourself instead of handing it over to a professional to manage for you?!? Can’t you do that in England?!

Of course you can, that's generally the model here too.

Personally I prefer to manage it myself as agents are pretty useless in my experience.

Hothothothothothotlovingit · 03/07/2025 18:04

Yes we moved abroad. Only rented to professionals. Vetted. It was not a bad experience financially (no missed rent or anything). However, the way some people live is so different to me. We started making everyone pay for a professional clean at the end. It was different because it was our home once. I don’t regret it but not in a rush to revisit it either!

JDM625 · 03/07/2025 18:15

I already posted above about renting to students, but my parents rented out our family home, when we moved abroad due to my dads work. This was years ago and not in the UK, so appreciate things are different, but just things to consider:

-1 family took every, single light bulb. You don't think its much , but when you add up how many bulbs are in a large, family home- its £££.
-Also stole the garden hoses, so make sure those and bulbs are listed on the inventory
-1 family had a table tennis table and at both ends, the carpet ended up being thread bare due to them playing. I assume they paid to replace the carpet but its something you don't think about
-Same family had budgerigars, which my parents said was fine. We didn't know that the birds would be flying free within the house though! Their poo is caustic and burnt holes through the French polishing on the wooden banisters and stairs!
-Others grew marijuana in 1 room, installing fans/lights etc then not paying rent. I was young, so don't know the details, but it went to court and my parents lost the case!

pasanda · 03/07/2025 18:16

I have rented my 5 bed property out for nearly 20yrs. Manage it myself.

never ever had a problem with rent

New posts on this thread. Refresh page