Renting out a property - what do I need to know?

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Planning on buying a new house and renting out our current house.
Any tips or things I should know about?

you need landlords' contents cover too - the carpets and curtains are yours.

the tenant should have their own contents cover for their stuff, and they may wish to take out accidental damage cover to reduce the odds of deposit deductions if they break something (as opposed to wear and tear).

make sure you have malicious damage cover; some big name insurers exclude this.

Asking on an Internet forum 'what you should know about' doesn't bode well.

And a parenting one at that! Not even one of the many landlord forums. Nope, doesnt bode well at all. Its quite depressing actually.

many much dafter questions are asked on mumsnet...

but you are right, it is 'I want to start a business, what should I know?' and that's not the right approach.

the OP has some starters and hopefully a much better idea of what is involved. Now the real research should begin.

I dont think its a daft question at all. Its one of the first you should ask before considering being responsible for the roof over people's heads. I think it says something however when OP chose to ask it on a parenting forum. (Probably because she happened to be on here and remembered she fancied being a LL) It indicates she hasnt even put much thought into where to get the best, factually accurate and up to date answers to the question so suggests she maybe hasnt quite got the right approach to actually doing the job. Its a bit more important than asking how to make the perfect lasagne or where to get non character t-shirts for your child.

Oh, i forgot to add my tip. OP do a lot of reading and asking on one (or more) of the UK based landlord forums. They are there for that exact purpose. MN not so much.

"MN not so much."
And yet, strangely, I think the OP has got very good advice.

She has had pretty general advice. If she intends to do this properly she'll need more specific advice about a whole range of things.

But hey if anyone thinks the advice above is a new landlord starter pack then go ahead and good luck with your business you'll need it.

only bits of this site are a parenting forum. Many on here are not mums, many are not female. This bit of the forum is not a parenting board.

The advice is not given as a 'starter pack', and no-one has said that.

perhaps the OP thinks mumsnet is full of reasonable, well-informed and helpful people?

only bits of this site are a parenting forum. Many on here are not mums, many are not female

Who said anything about mums or female?

The advice given above is good general advice, however my point is that OP is at best naive and at worst not giving a fuck to come to a parenting forum expecting to get what she needs in order to take on such a role. If she was going to start up a rock climbing centre it would be very odd to come to MN and ask how to do that. Common sense tells you to go to where the information specific to your question is. Unless of course you arent really interested in running it properly.

There are lovely, reasonable well informed helpful people on MN. There are more, better informed people with a wider knowledge base regarding letting property on dedicated landlord forums. Funnily enough

When you post a question like the OP has on MN, it looks like youve decided to try a new hobby on a whim and didnt get much beyond that in your thought processes. letting residential property should never be a badly thought out hobby though sadly many do exactly that purely to stick their money somewhere easy and think it'll do the work for them.

Carbon Monoxide legislation is here www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2015/9780111133439/pdfs/ukdsi_9780111133439_en.pdf but sign up to something like the RLA and get regular updates on changes so you are fully abreast of what is going on.

Completey agree with surlycue

The OP doesn't even say 'we're thinking about doing this' it says they are 'planning to do it' which reads as 'decision made' to me.

Deciding to undertake something as fraught with pitfalls as letting a property then asking very basic questions like 'who's pays the utilities' cannot not fill anyone with confidence.

I don't know, if I were planning to start a rock climbing business I might look on the 'sports' section of mumsnet for pointers - although I don't think there is one, the site's idea of sport is 'sit on your arse and watch'.

I don't read the OP's post as decision made. At least I hope not.

I don't think we've seen him/her again, and I'm not surprised.

reasonable concern though as there are so many dumb journalists telling people that property rental is a goldmine with massive returns.

Asking any questions of anyone shouldnt be critisized IMO. Property Tribes is a good forum. Id also join NLA for £100pa, free legal advise line and pages and pages of landlord info. You can do the online training and become an accredited ll. BUT dont underestimate the time and effort needed to be a good landlord and to get good tenants and therefore hopefully make some money (immoral as that is to MNers).

Smoke alarms on each floor and Co2 alarm will be law from October.

Assume you're not letting a HMO? Or a property that needs a selective license?

I am an accidental landlady (managing my father's 2 properties via power of attorney as he can no longer do so). It's been quite a learning curve and I remember last 2nd of January I was in floods of tears.. because there was a flood in the student flat. And agents telling me I'd be liable for compensation to the students, and the tenants downstairs.
I have posted questions on Landlordzone and have now joined the Residential Landlords' Assn.
I can't help noticing however, that when the novice asks questions about landlording, either here or on LLzone, it can provoke less than amiable responses. Sure I understand you want to discourage the totally amateurish and incompetent, but the way I see it is everyone has to start the learning process somewhere.

I think OP's had good advice here, from MN'ers who are LL; it will hopefully be "food for thought".

It's surely best to ask for advice & consider all of the responses before going ahead? Much better than just going ahead naïvely & being blissfully ignorant of tenants rights & your LL responsibilities.

I'd advise any LL to use an agency to start with; there are numerous good reasons why a fair proportion of private LL's use an agency rather than self-managing. I did it for 10 years before admitting defeat & appointing an agent. Wish I'd done it years ago.

Many people have an over-simplified view of what being a LL involves, but gone are the days when you just downloaded/copied a tenancy agreement & took a deposit. It's far more complex, the law has changed so much & increasing legislation (deposit scheme, Legionella information etc) it can be hard to keep abreast of it all.

Best left to the professionals.

Agreed Sauvignon it is not easy money and there is a lot to be borne in mind. And of course it's got to be a good idea to post questions. The OP did get some good answers. I guess i'mstill smarting a bit from some bruising enounters with the hard nosed pros on LLzone.

Sorry I haven't been back all day. Long day at work and then evening activities with DCs.
Decision is not totally made. A lot rests on whether we decide to buy the house we've seen (for us to live in).
I have read up on a lot. Spoken to IFA, read up on MSE website (including guide to letting) and spoken to friends who let properties.
Yes there's still a lot I don't know, which I will look for info for elsewhere, hut I actually find MN a good source of general info, and you can often puck up good tips, as opposed to the more formal guides available elsewhere.
I left my OP open cos I was open to any input and interested as to others experiences.

Thanks to everyone who has responded. I intend to scrutinise your advice more tomorrow!

And we are not doing it for a quick buck. The housing market is VERY slow where we are and we have struggled to sell our almost mortgage free home, so BTL is an option for us, as we can easily afford the mortgage on our intended new home, but do not have the full 25% deposit required up front.