Any advice for a new Landlord please?

[ThreeLittlePandas]

Dh and I are about to (reluctantly) let out a house because we have been unable to sell it.

It's been repainted and we've also had new carpets fitted and a new cooker. We plan to let it out unfurnished.

We have no idea what we are doing though and wondered if anybody had a tips or advice. I want to get tenants who aren't going to wreck the place but we don't mind people on HB or those with children.

Help! Please

Eek! what is an EPC AND THE NLA??

I assume if you've got an outstanding mortgage then you've talked to your mortgage provider? Need to do this before you let it and they'll let you know whether/when you will need to shift onto a different (higher) rate.

Same with buildings insurance.

Have you priced up the rental income correctly? i.e.:

Gross rental income * 0.8 (or whatever occupancy rate you forecast)
minus letting agent fees
minus maintenance fees
minus mortgage interest payments
minus buildings & landlords insurance
= gross pre-tax income
minus mortgage repayments

We went through the same calculations last year and decided (particularly as we expected prices to fall in our area over the next few years) that it made more sense to drop our asking price further to attract a sale. This will vary by region.

I'd go through an estate agent and get it managed. I had DSS in mine first time around and they trashed it. Also they kept getting their benefits stopped and were in arrears with rent leaving me out of pocket
This time I said no DSS, no pets and paid 1% extra for guaranteed rent

Nice to hear someone say they dot mind tenants on HB as not all of them wreck places, just a small group of tenants on HB that do wreck places give the rest of the people a bad name! Good luck letting :)

Agree with much of the advice here.

Using agents is very much your own decision - how much time do you want to spend managing it vs cost of agent.

If you are leaving any manuals (e.g. boiler, cooker) - scan them and send tenants electronic copies as a pdf. They will always lose them.

Make and keep copies of all keys including window locks. Again, these are often lost.

Be very clear about what is and isn't acceptable. E.g. we don't ever allow smoking - even in the garden after one tenant set alight to the recycling with an unstubbed fag (fire spread from garden to house in middle of night and they are all lucky to be alive!).

Install smoke alarms and make sure tenants know it is their responsibility to test / change batteries.

Trust your gut instinct re tenants.

If anyone makes any noises about having to stretch to make the deposit / rent - don't rent to them, it's usually a big red flag.

As a courtesy to your neighbours let them know that you are going to rent and give them your number or details of letting agent in case they have any concerns.

There are safety standards such as the Gas certificate and all soft furnishings must meet Fire Retardancy standards. Check your mortgage and insurance conditions re. letting. Draw up an inventory and look into how to bank the deposit securely. Will you be local in case of emrgency and to do checks yourself ? You'll probably need to file a tax return even iof you aren't making any profit.

As other have said go with your gut instincts on tenants, agents of have wide sweeping generalisations to rule out lots of potentially fab tenants. Local agents here don' t like hub or eastern Europeans or single mums my best tenant ever is an Easter European single mum on hub and my property has never look better. When you get a good tenant love them and nurture them with quiet enjoyment of their home.

Also make sure you put the tenants' deposit in the official deposit scheme - or else they can claim 3x the deposit back if you decide to 'look after it' for them. It's not your money. You will also need to let your buildings and contents insurers know you are renting the house out - otherwise it becomes uninsurable. I agree with the advice that for most folk it makes more sense to cut their asking price further and sell. Being an accidental landlord at this time in the housing cycle isn't a nice thing to be. Most big property investors and landlords I know have been getting out of the industry before house prices fall further. What is your logic re house prices recovering? I think with the unwinding of the credit bubble, austerity, rising living costs and falling wages - we are onto a long term trend of falling or stagnating house prices.

It would also be technically illegal to state 'no children' in your advert. That might be your preference but given that your house will become the tenants' legal home for the duration of the tenancy they are legally obliged to do anything considered normal in ones own home - that includes breeding (and also smoking and keeping pets). It would be considered an unfair contract term, unenforceable in a court of law to stipulate such things formally.

But if the carpets stink of their cigarette smoke when they move out or the walls are stained with nicotine you can deduct the cost of replacing and repainting from the deposit.

List the white goods and take pictures. Our last tenant stole all of ours make sure you get buildings insurance & have permission from mortgage co.

Nocake. You can dispute but can't deduct. All deposits have to be registered with a deposit scheme. We are still in dispute 6 months later

Make sure your insurance policy covers malicious damage by a tenant. Most a an add on. Endsleigh have it as standard. If you don't have it and tenants trash the place you are not covered.

Might be better to state on the agreement that all carpets should be cleaned at end of tenancy and any damage reinstated. Realistically you are faced with redecorating at least every 5 years anyway - costs of which can be offset against income.