What happens if tenants don't pay?

[ducdo]

Thinking of renting our house out and I know we can pay the estate agent a management fee to find tenant, get rent etc.

Does anyone know what happens if the tenants stop paying .. can we get cover or pay extra management costs so the estate agent still pays us the rent and they are the ones chasing the tenants for the rent, rather than us?

Basically dont want to risk us being out of pocket one month as the rental will be covering the mortgage costs.

you can get insurance to cover non-payment and the costs of eviction for non-payment if necessary.

however, i'm not sure you could get the money from the insurance company in one month so i would HIGHLY advise having at least one month in savings to cover any late payment.

also, you need to allow for at least a few weeks between tennants... and for maintenance and breakdown costs.. and things like gas safety checks and PAT testing of electrical appliances.

i would say that on average i pay out for something smallish about one month in every three..

If it is going to be that marginal tbh I'd reconsider. There are lots of extra costs, possibly tax to pay, and as fluffles has pointed out there will be weeks of no income and increased expenditure (Council Tax, utilities etc) between tenancies. You can't start eviction until several payments have been missed and I'm sure there are caveats on insurance policies to delay if not minimise claims, so read terms carefully.

thanks both, maybe sounds more of a headache than I thought. need to move for childrens high school and can't afford to buy ATM so figured would be easier to rent our place out but maybe not ...

You need to check references very very carefully.

If you are worried by any tenant, you can ask for more than one month up front.

Use a good agency, get them to credit check and use their legal services insurance.

You also hear of tenants turning rented houses into cannabis factories.