Renting out your primary (non-UK) residence?

[Alcemeg]

Just wondering if anyone has tried this, would be grateful for advice. Not sure if this is the right place for the thread!

Our house is in central Portugal, off the beaten track, not a touristy area. For work reasons, want to divide our time between France and Czech Republic for the next 5 years or so. Our plan is to get the house ready this year with a view to letting it out, say, from next spring.

I'd be grateful for advice from anyone who has done this sort of thing, in particular:

Involve an agent, or find your own tenants?
If finding your own tenants, what's the best way (e.g. website)?
Tax -- e.g. where do you pay tax on the income: in the source country, or the country where you are tax resident?
Any top tips generally?

I’d recommend an agent who can sort out plumbers etc Normally you pay tax in source country. Assuming there is tax treaty with the country you’re resident in tax paid should be deductible from your tax bill.

We let out our home (in UK) when 5000 miles away.

Despite the income loss I'd recommend an agency, as over the 4 years we had several issues - e.g. blocked toilet, water running down wall, needing fitting a new carpet - and it felt very good someone else was close at hand and troubleshooting finding plumbers.

Thank you both very much for your replies!

I think having an agency involved would feel more secure -- not just for plumbing but other things that could go wrong, like tenants not paying! a bit hard to deal with if you're on the other side of Europe!