Question for Landlords / Tenants. Relocating: Sell or Rent Out Our Existing Home?

[NookAndCranny]

Bit of a dilema really. We know for certain that in five more years we will again be in an entirely different set of circumstances and then may be the time to actually choose a forever home. In the meantime we need to decide whether to keep our existing home on and rent it out as a way of maintaining a foot on the property ladder or hurry into selling and buying / renting in our new location.

Question is this: Do we / can we accept that renting our existing home out as a viable way of maintaining a foot on the property ladder? How risky is this? What do we need to know? Any words of wisdom very much appreciated. Thanks.

Thanks for all the really useful tips Cautionary. tbh we really aren't sure which way to go but are aware that we need to be able to make a fully informed decision. Current house is a wee bit too big and absolutely not in a "right sort" of location. New place on the other hand, will be all about location and most likely mean a very tiny house. But am thinking of benefits of much less housework. .

ChaoGoes Sounds like an absolute nightmare. Would you do the same again? Did reference checking and vetting fail? If it was arranged via an agents, then do they accept any element of liability?

Re trashing. We rented out for three years to families and an elderly couple. No one trashed' it but 3 years of rental definately took it toll.

Sounds like an absolute nightmare. Would you do the same again? Did reference checking and vetting fail? If it was arranged via an agents, then do they accept any element of liability?

Its complicated, but the checks and vetting did fail. It was an elderly man who was going to be claiming housing benefit. I later find out that he never had any intention of claiming housing benefit, That he (and his extended family who he also moved in) had council properties elsewhere that they subletted and also claimed hb for. So they blagged their way in my house as they needed somewhere to live rent free. I didn't use an agency, although in this situation the agency couldn't have done more than I did in terms of getting them out.
My insurance policy did cover the cost of finding the tenants and taking them to court to try and get my money back. But I chose not to, even though dh wanted to. These tenant were the type where I could imagine opening the front door one day and having acid thrown in my face. I figured if I let then go without a fight then they would leave me alone.
I know that they would have moved on to do it to someone else and no doubt they are still doing it. In retrospect I know that the previous landlord was scared and thats why he gave me a good reference, to get them out of his own house.
And no I wouldn't do it again. I had rented out the house for years prior to them moving in, and I never had a problem. But the stress when things did go wrong with a bad tenant proved to be the end for me.

Sorry you had such a tough time Chaos. I can see how it's put you off. Certainly been an eye-opener on this thread after reading so much about "Rogue Landlords" and threads on MN painting the LL as the bad guy.