What do I need to do to rent my house out????

[HMTheQueen]

Come September I'm hoping to rent my house out. I know I will need to do some work on it between now and then (and move all my stuff out obviously) - but what will I need to do (in the legal sense)?

I remember something about a gas safety certificate for the boiler - but do I need a safety certificate for the electrics too? Also, how does it work with Estate Agents? I don't really need them to manage the house, I can do that as I'm really local to the area - but some help from them finding tennants and reference checking them would be good. Does that mean I would have to pay them a fee every year the tennants renew their lease - or is it a one off fee?

If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'd really appreciate it.

TIA

Marking place. If we don't sell we're hoping to rent come november.

Marking place.

You need an annual Gas Certificate, Electical test, all fabrics/upholstery needs to comply with regulations, possibly an energy check, landlord insurance for buildings and any contents (flooring, white goods?) you may leave, permission from your mortgage lender. EA can organise tenants, do references, inventory and contracts (Assured Shorthold Tenancy) for a fixed fee and management(ie organising repairs, collecting rent) is usually an optional extra. The deposit needs to be lodged in an approved scheme by EA or you. Some would charge a fee to renew others wouldn't , so worth asking several for quotesWith an AST you can roll it on after the initial term anyway, just requiring notice on either side, so no need to keep updating the contract unless there is a material change (rent increase, change of tenant etc).

Annual gas safety certificate which most plumbers can do and landlords insurance. I let privately and that's what I do appart from when issues arise throughout the year. The contents belong to the tenant in my case.

Deposits need to be in one of the approved schemes as mentioned: www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/Privaterenting/Tenancies/DG_189120

The main annoying bit I have found is the self assessment tax that you have to do. That's a pain in the arse!

What I remember from my SIL renting out her flat (in Scotland).

There's more to do if you are renting to a houseshare (House in Multiple Occupation) rather than a single family unit. If you need a HMO licence the council should give you a big long checklist. My SIL's flat has HMO inspections annually, but I suppose that may vary by council.

Check with your mortgage company that you're allowed to rent it out
Check insurance cover
Gas safety certificate - annual
Fire safety checks - annual
Portable Appliance Tests - annual safety check on any electrical equipment you provide e.g. fridge
Inventory - include everything that will be in/on the property when the tenants move in, and update it as necessary
Decide on and set out what the tenants are responsible for by way of maintenance and repairs

HTH

Thank you!

I'm planning on putting all furniture into storage, so shouldn't need to worry about fire safety in terms of fabric (although, do curtains count?). Otherwise, it'll be unfurnished apart from whitegoods.

I like the idea of not paying estate agents - so will investigate the AST route for myself. Thinking about it, I only ever went through one estate agent when I rented - always managed to find somewhere through the small ads!

Thanks again

I rent my flat out, and have been doing so for nearly two years now. I use a letting agent to manage it because this was the first time ive done this and I wanted someone else to be the first point of call for issues. My agent also has found and reference checked my tenants, the place has only been empty for 6 days in nearly 24 months. My agents also will pay my rent for up to 6 months if they don't find me a tenant which was reassuring to me I terms of paying the mortgage.

The main point I would make is that you need to check your mortgage allows you to rent out your property as there are heavy penalties if you're on the wrong mortgage.

The self-assessment tax return can be a pain, but I found all of the notes I'd written the first year I did it (when it took me nearly 3 hours) really helped this and it was done in less than 30 mins!

Good luck!

A local letting agent refused to act for us part way through the contracts stage of the beginning of our rental.

Apparently I was a nightmare tenant and not the sort they usually let to (at the time two professionals). My landlady is a friend and has known us for over a decade but to make it all professional and ensure both interests protected we decided to get the AST drawn up by an agent. They would also help her with checks.

The letting agent were useless. The contract was littered with errors which I know would have made it useless in a court of law. They refused to do a inventory check until I had signed contract and had moved in!!! Errr no you do it on handover of keys.

In the end apparently we were too much hard work after my landlady phoned they with a list of amendments to the contract I had shown her (they didn't send her one) so that the contract was legal and they refused to act. They then lost keys , apparently in the post to LL then suddenly found.

My LL joined the ARLA paid a small annual fees and got All the templates she needed.

Btw there were many more problems with the agent other than the few things I mentioned. I have dealt with a few agents over the years. Only one was decent and earned their commission by relieving the landlords burden.

Speaking as a tenant here BUT i would be very careful with EAs. We went through one to get our current accommodation. From my understanding they are suppose to fully manage the property yet they have not passed on the rent for last 3 months (this is out of three months!) in a timely manner nor did they do an inventory - they claimed too but they were not our signatures! This is a large firm not a little one so just be careful.

Our last landlady did it all herself (worked p/t and had children) and was brilliant! So i would say try it yourself; one thing our last landlady did was to have everything covered so she had boiler cover, electric cover, washing machine cover etc and left us with telephone numbers and references so we could get things fixed yet if something came out as our fault we paid.