Renting our home and finding good tenants?

[atonofwashing]

Hello.
There is a slim chance we may be moving abroad for a few years so would need to rent our home.

We love our home and take care of it. Will soon be putting in a brand new kitchen and damp proof course. So it will be in tip top condition should we go.

I have read a few estate agent's websites and it mentions discriminating against people looking to rent. We would be looking for a family or young professional couple. Do estate agents take the first offer that comes along or would we, the home owners, have the final say about who takes our home?

I have not asked any agents yet for fear of being Pestered. I do appreciate we should not be so emotional about this, but I don't really want to have tenants in who are going to wreck the place. Also appreciate that not everyone wrecks rented.

How can we discriminate without discriminating, IYSWIM. Has anyone dealt with this?

Thanks for any advice.

if you will be abroad you will still need someone local in london the tenants can call on for repairs breakdowns etc. you can get eg british gas landlord contract for boiler and electrical call outs.

if you want longer term tenants that might not fit with your limited time period - i would not rent from someone who has gone abroad "for a few years" as they would want to chuck me out when they came back... so you might get tenants who are eg young professionals who are more likely to move on anyway. unless it's a family who know they also going to eb moving on in couple years. so you more likely to have a few changeovers during the rental time. will you come back to manage those?

Snow, yes, good point.
Was aiming for long term contract. We will be returning to UK about twice a year, so hoping that turn around could be done when we are around.
I do understand that might not work.
Nothing is totally ideal, but we will research agents too.
Thanks.

One further thought - if your house is quite swish then in that area there might be a demand for corporate lets? I don't know anything about them myself but maybe a good way to get a family given your own circs?

Blinky, I do agree. We have great trades contacts so would be hoping we might work that way. Yes, would prefer good tenants over profit.

Cestla, Thanks for the British Gas suggestion. Yes, we most likely would be moving back upon our return, but anyone who rents has to realise that at some point a landlord will want the property back for whatever reason. We may be away for up to 10 years. Who knows.

Thanks

Binky, that is a very good idea. Thank you.

Our house isn't too swish, but it's definitely worth researching. You just never know. Cheers!

As a tenant, be REALLY CAREFUL choosing an agency if you go down that route. We're currently renting through an agency in Brighton who refuse to acknowledge requests for repairs or maintenance. It's lead to the beautiful plaster coving in the sitting room being completely destroyed by a leak that they refuse to fix.

Agencies in general don't really handle much of the management of a property, either - they just ring the landlord when stuff needs doing, and collect fees. It's possible to do your own credit checks and use the Deposit Protection scheme yourself, and would mean you had a lot more control over your choice of tenants.

If you want long term tenants, allowing pets and kids can help - people find it harder to find places which accept pets and kids, and are more likely to want to stay put, which also usually means that they look after the place.

Sian, sorry to hear about your experiences. That's sad about the coving.

Our house is well used to kids, dogs and cats and that doesn't bother me at all. And yes, they would want to make use of the local schools so would imagine they'd want to settle down, which may suit us.

Thanks

I think the key to a successful landlord-tenant partnership (one resulting in a cared-for property and happiness on both sides) is aligned expectations about who does what and professionalism on the landlord's side. The less reliance on assumptions there is the better.

On that front, I agree with trib, I would be wary of renting from someone who'd just moved out of their family home and was renting it out temporarily. I've rented from landlords who expected us to treat their house exactly as if it were ours (including tiling and re-painting ) and they were upset when they discovered normal wear and tear after our tenancy ended and also moaned about the requirement to get a gas safety certificate.

I think you need to be realistic, understand all of your obligations and get landlord's insurance just in case. I also agree with siani about agents, they can be terrible at maintenance, get references (at least in Wandsworth you have lots of competition). My best landlord was a builder who lived about 10 minutes away, anything that needed to be done happened really fast. Not helpful for you though, washing, obviously!

Don't forget about tax. You'll need to declare your income and renting out your main home has consequences (I believe) when you come to sell.

We were in a similar position last year. We searched for an agent to manage the whole lot for us - we pay them a significant portion of the rent, but it's worth it for the lack of effort we've had to put in. The agent we picked marketed himself as a home-rental rather than house-rental person - this was they key difference between him and everyone else we spoken to. He has very stringent reference checks, credit/salary checks etc. It's not what a lot of tenants want but it offers a little more peace of mind. We're renting to a couple who have just had a baby - we're realistic that after two years wear and tear the house may not look the same as we left it, but we've given ourselves the best chance of it not looking like our neighbours' house did after a similar period overseas a few years back.

Make sure your mortgage allows you to let out temporarily, get insurance (just in case) and do consider letting someone else do the day-to-day handling of stuff...

I manage my own property; it's not rocket science, but can be time-consuming, especially at tenant handovers.

I do open-viewings after advertising & meet prospective tenants; there is an application form to complete to weed out unsuitable tenants eg smokers, pets. I phone referees personally, do credit checks & ask for 3 months bank statements.

So it can be done. But I personally don't think it can be done from abroad.

I think you'd be better spending time researching & finding a really good letting agent.

Thanks, everyone.
Great advice. We have plenty of agents around our area, so we will check them out.
We have a long list of things to do...and it's always good to get impartial advice.

You can buy in inventory / check in and out services

You need a good handyman on tap to sort out niggles, esp as you won't be around to look into them

I wouldn't put in the new kitchen now unless the old one is awful

You need to hire a thick skin - we're in a similar position and our tenants said they hate the decor, which we had chosen carefully ourselves...

Hire?! have!

Closer, thanks.
Kitchen required as after 10 years of abusing the current one, dishwasher and washing machine are broken and oven and fridge freezer are on the way out too! we need so much replaced, and a damp proof course put in whilst kitchen is out. We couldn't rent in its current state.
Rest of house is fine.

Decor is neutral here. That's annoying for you.

You need to ask your mortgage provider for permission to let usually. They often put conditions on who you can let to. When I rented our house (posting abroad) we easily got permission but there was a list of the sort of tenants we could have (e.g. professionals, working families) and those we couldn't attached.(DSS, no leasing to council or housing association etc).

You also need Landlord insurance. Agents charge a lot in management fees but basically just phone you when there is a problem and either you arrange plumbers, builder, delivery of new washing machine etc or they arrange it (usually they receive bungs from their "preferred contractors) but at a higher price or additional fee.

Expect wear and tear and that the house will not look as big and clean and beautiful as you remembered it.

Get an agent if you are going to be abroad. Get good landlord insurance including rent protection and legal expenses. Disengage emotionally.

Do your sums before you decide to rent. Agents/ management fees will cost 10-15 % of the rent, income tax an additional 20 - 45 % depending on your tax threshold, and many tenants seem to find an endless list of things to repair. You also need to look at the capital gains tax implications for non resident landlords.

Depending on your level of rent it can sometimes work out better to rent out one bedroom and keep the rest of the house for you and your family to ise when in UK.

you do indeed get to choose who you rent to. The contract is between you and the tenants.

permission to let for your mortgage and full landlord's insurance are obligatory. Don't do the first and you could get repossessed. Don't do the second and you could be in for a financial loss up to and including the whole value of the house. There was a thread last year where the tenant accidentally burnt the house down and the owner hadn't told the insurers she was renting...

make sure the cover includes cover for your contents (Carpets, curtains etc), malicious damage, legal expenses and rent guarantee if you cannot cover non payers. The vast majority of tenants are decent people but you could get the small minority who wreck the place. Remember you will get wear and tear - if you don't see the house for a year or so, it will look tattier from people just living in it and you have to get used to that. You also need to budget for fixes and maintenance. Home emergency cover is a great idea too. I have that even for a property 10 mins away because I can't always be available for fixes, and of course some fixes I can't do. Never used it so far but it is a big reassurance for me and the tenant.

as a guide, we had three lots of good tenants including one family and one highly paid professional couple. Damage (not wear and tear) included bath and wall scribbles, light pulls wrecked, minor items vanishing (and lots of random crap appearing), cat damage to carpets and woodwork. And that was with an ARLA agency and all the right procedures. The checkout clerks just didn't notice a lot of the damage.

wow, a whole two pages without someone telling you that it is immoral to rent out property. You're doing well. Don't push your luck - head for landlordzone.

I think there may be exceptions to CGT being triggered if you rent whilst working abroad, but I'm not sure about that.

We used a high street Estate Agent to rent out our family home, they were awful, took a big chunk of money for absolutely nothing, when we got back, the house was disgusting and when I tackled them on it they basically shrugged their shoulders. Prior to that , we used a private letting agent, they were great and attentive but went bust and for a second we thought we'd lost quite a bit of money. The best option for us was when we first moved out and we personally chose the tenants and then had family look after it until the first tenants moved out.

We have another property that came with a great tenant. When he moved out to rent a bigger property he said we would be asked for a reference from the letting agent. However, they took his money for references but we never even got so much as a phone call! Be careful letting/estate agents will take your money but not do the relevant checks.

We ended up getting our next tenant using gumtree by posting a few photos and brief description of our property. We had tonnes of interest. We asked for further info on some, showed round two prospective tenants, asked for references and I personally phoned the referees. Had lovely feedback which was so reassuring.

Our tenant has been great. Rent is always on time. We have got to know a local plumber who does gas safety check etc. He knows other trades so we manage the property ourselves... we live 30 miles away.

Many tenants can't afford or don't want to pay the huge letting fees. Gumtree is free to advertise on so both tenant and landlord are winners. Gut instinct helps if you vet your own tenants, letting agents just want to make a quick buck.

Thanks again for your input, everyone.
Special, thanks for the heads up re mortgage and insurance. DH has been on the case.
Certainly seems we need to be wary of some agents.
Breward, that's interesting what you say about Gumtree. I have used it many times over the years for selling and buying with success. It's a good idea.
We have also used spareroom.co.uk when we welcomed lodgers into our spare room. The caliber was very high, and we were very pleased.

Thanks again.

I rent and my wish list would be :

Neutral or white walls everywhere
Neutral flooring
Curtain poles - we have irritating office type vertical blinds that the kids have broken and nowhere to put poles or hang curtains
An empty loft space
A clear and honest guarantee of the length of the tenancy
A garden
A shed or space with sufficient tools ie a lawnmower to maintain garden
A doorbell that works
Sealed grouting and silicone to any wet areas to protect exuberant child bath times
Storage space

We are great tenants but we want a home - not to feel it's our landlords 'baby'!!

Rocket, we can tick all your boxes.
I hate those vertical blinds too, they are really office blinds.
Family bathroom is tiled from floor to ceiling, but do need to get silicone round the bath reinforced, thanks to DS's wild bath times...

It's a practical house, really, with as much storage as we can possibly get.
We, like any good landlord want to be able to let tenants just get on with their lives.

Thanks. Good to get lists. Gives me good pointers.

I used gumtree for many years to find tenants and always found good ones. The only duff one, who trashed the flat, was someone from my work in a different department.

Landlordzone is definitely worth a look. Also make sure you document EVERYTHING in writing and keep meticulous records of inventories, utility meter readings, correspondence, deposits, contracts etc.