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

[Tedsabear]

Hi all, so my DS’s dad passed away a couple of years ago, between his pension, life insurance and home DS and as able to sell his home and buy a flat in central London. He spent over 1 million on this (his dad wasn’t super wealthy or anything he just owned a property in a nice area of London and it was paid off mortgage wise). His girlfriend is Portuguese and also owns property in Lisbon.
They are mid 20s.

They have decided to spend the next year as digital nomads as they are able to work remotely. I told DS he should rent out his flat and his girlfriend should do the same. One from a security perspective and two as extra income. He has said no he doesn’t like the idea of someone staying in his space, he’s said I can go and check on it once a month or “whatever” if I like. He said his girlfriend will be doing the same anyway.

AIBU to think he’s being ridiculous?

Agreed. It sounds ridiculous, and it is very sad given the number of people desperate for decent housing, but a 12 month tenancy could be a real balls ache. I've had a property in the past that was empty - post financial crash, flat housing market - and all the insurers asked was that it was checked weekly. If I was planning to be out of the country for less than 18 months I'd be unwilling to go through the hassle and expense of renting. Potentially it is a big up front expense which you'd recoup but only over a 3-5 year period

@BreadInCaptivityand one of the reasons there's not enough homes is that there are so many vacant properties - it's scandalous and it's not hard to join the dots up.

Whether the flats is empty or not is irrelevant

It is not a requirement to insure its contents.

I certainly didn’t bother with contents insurance for any of the flats I have lived in and I only have it today for my house as my buildings insurer gave it to me for free.

Have you ever arranged buildings insurance for a block of flats ?

No, I thought not.

You are not being unreasonable but purely because we are in a housing crisis and no one should be leaving properties empty for long periods if it can be avoided.

Renting out is a total pain - paperwork to sort, compliance with all the regulations, do self assessment to pay the tax, deal with any issues the tenants have etc and then potential hassle if they break stuff or won't leave etc
However house insurance won't be valid if it's empty that long (most have 30 days unoccupied max clause) though there might be something specialist
Air BnB? Through a management company?

Air B&B?

If the flat is that price i doubt you’ll get slum tenants - he needs to reconsider with the housing shortage.

Thats a lot of money wasted on not receiving rent and assume he’ll still have to pay rates etc

Rents in london on that sort of property are £4000 plus a month!

nearly £50 a year and he can travel the world on that alone.

Utter madness

Fortunately for him, he is allowed to do just that with his private property.

I agree it's risk, partly squatters, but also flooding or other stuff. If he doesn't like the idea of renting it out, and it has 2 bedrooms, he could get a lodger? Lodgers don't have all the rights of tenants, so it's a way of keeping the flat occupied without the same levels of risk. I'd have thought he'd be able to find one quite easily for a central London address.

Sounds ideal for weekends in London while you ‘check up on it’

What’s this actually got to do with you? He’s a grown man.

With whom the Op doesn’t seem at all close with and admits to having a “strained” relationship with!

I rent out two properties via an agent. Piece of cake. He's on it regarding rent rises too.

Do you pay for full management?

Yes, he takes ten percent. Passing it over to him was the best thing I've done. He's a Rottweiler that gets stuff done. I used to have constant issues with it. I barely think about it now, it's just a background income.

Why would you rent it out if you don't need the money? It's so much work packing away your stuff for storage and then taking them out again, and you risk damage to your flat from renters.

I wouldn't lease out my home for a year. Far too many potential issues like it being trashed, the occupants causing a nuisance to other residents, refusing to leave the end of the tenancy, not paying rent or bills.
I would however pay for a company or family member to come in once a month and dust, check for any issues like leaks and get it ventilated. Left unheated and not properly aired could lead to damp. Personally, I'd be more than happy to go over monthly and stay for the weekend!

As others have said, he really needs to check his contents and buildings insurance policies. They usually say no empty periods over 30 days. Could you stay every couple of weeks or he’d need a specialist insurance cover.

I mean yes he is being ridiculous. But equally, he’d be an overseas landlord, so he might not actually make that much money from it, particularly after tax.

My good friend, had a really nice apartment in a nice part of London, he would do the same, go off for months at a time. One time he returned, to find squatters had moved in 4 months previously. For that reason, I wouldn't leave it empty for long periods.

I was in this situation five years ago. I went to live for a year in a European country with DD & fam. I'd tried to get a house-sitter but it fell through. In the end: installed cameras at front door, back-garden and in thru-living-room, which I could monitor remotely; retained my trusted cleaner to keep e'thing clean and check all was ok on a weekly basis. Worked perfectly. I also "popped back" for a few weekends of UK based work.

Point out to DS that it isn't safe to leave his central London flat empty for a year.
No insurer would insure it and there would be very little you could do if it was damaged or finished up with squatters. Better to have someone you have vetted in the space than finishing up with squatters.

It's a million pound apartment, so a year's rent will be like 40-50k. He should do a corporate let, therefore don't have the issues with tenants and usually a lot more reliable. Sad that his inherited money has given him that attitude to a nice opportunity to make some money.

Honestly if it isn’t needed…
plus on that selling price…what would be the rent? Why would people paying this rent want to stay only one year??

I am team DS.

I know a few people in London in this situation or similar e.g. a work opportunity comes up abroad for a year or so, or they're moving in with a new partner but don't want to sell their place until they're sure it's going to work out. In all cases they're worried about nightmare tenants they can't remove if they need to return to their flat, especially with the Renters Rights bill coming in where you have to give someone four months' notice in the first year of the tenancy if you need to move back in or sell. Nobody who can afford not to rent their flat out is going to risk that. Some had family members move in or stay when working in London so the property wasn't left empty.