Getting kitchen/house rent-able

[Halpingirl]

We have decided to try living abroad for a year or so and would like to rent our house out. The problem is, this is quite a new idea and last year, before we had made these plans, we had our kitchen renovated as if we were going to live in it forever - e.g wooden worktops, hand built kitchen (our friend is a kitchen maker) and its all really nice.

Although I'm hoping we will get good tenants, I am preparing for the worst (although I was a tenant for several years and I always looked after where I lived) and I'm trying to think of ways of protecting it, particularly the worktops but also the cupboards as they are just wooden inside, painted with a couple coats of varnish.
I'm worried the worktops will go manky next to the sink if water is left on them, or that it will be really badly marked or burned and I was thinking it may be possible to remove them and replace them with something cheaper (although they are pretty thick, I think 40 or 50mm and there is a cupboard that joins onto it in a corner), or to cover them in something. Has anyone else ever done this or have any suggestions?

Also, we had a new wood burner, a really nice oven and a few nice radiators fitted (it needed complete renovation when we moved in, and we haven't totally finished). Should we replace these with cheaper versions that we don't mind being possibly damaged and keep what we've already bought in storage for when we get back?

Any helpful advice would be appreciated, thanks!

Leave radiators. Wood burner needs co monitor and lots of instruction - and good heating as your tenants may not want the bother.

High maintenance wooden worktops also need to go.

And of course all the legal and insurance issues and a plan b in case your tenants dont leave when you want.

I think your worktops would be damaged more by covering or removing. What are they coated with? Hardwax oil/Osmo polyx oil is pretty bomb proof and you can always budget for resanding. But do the tenants a favour by not expecting them to keep a better standard than you would.

We recently rented a very high spec home - handpainted kitchen, Aga, granite etc. TBH it was extremely stressful with two clumsy teenagers and I am much relieved to have got out of there with only a few £ for touching up bumped kitchen units deducted. I hardly used the Aga as it was brand new and so had many instructions to avoid scratching it.

Thank you! We think we will take out the wood burner and the kitchen worktop is oiled with Osmo, so hopefully if we do it a few more times it will have a better chance of surviving!

We have put in quite nice radiators - the Victorian column looking ones but modern. My husband thinks we should put the same all around the house but they are more expensive than others so I'm not sure, do you think it will matter/ a tenant would care if the radiators were different, or should we just fit the ones we are likely to want when/if we move back?

I would've chosen all this really nice stuff if I knew we were going to move!

Tenants want radiators to work. They don't want to bleed them, have them leak or otherwise be a problem, i.e. not heating the room when it's cold! It probably won't affect the rental income whether they are chic ones or not but old ineffective ones that are troublesome will be a problem.

Taking out a work surface is a problem because it may mess up the walls it joins. Osmo won't help much with messy tennents so you may just have to factor in remanding and sealing when you get back.

Get an agent to manage the house for you because if you are abroad, you won't be doing the repairs. The best thing to do is to make sure there aren't any.

Do you live in a very expensive area? If you rent the house for a year, will the money be worth the wear and tear and all the changes? You'll need to pay tax on the income and will need to cover management costs. If you've got a residential mortgage on the property, you can't just rent it out long term either. Not to mention that you sound all worried and concerned and would probably find it stressful.

Hi
Yes I am stressed about it, but I may be better once I'm out of the house and someone else is living in it. I suppose I don't like the thought of losing money (who does?!) and it is our first house and we have spent a lot of time and money on it. It's not in a particularly expensive area, although it is a sought after place as near a good school.

We have asked agents to come and let us know how much we can get for it but I think the rent will just cover the mortgage but only just so I doubt there will be any extra income. We are saving to make sure we have extra whilst we are away for any repairs etc. We've just had a brand new boiler put in and my husband is an electrician and is going through the house making sure all the electrics/smoke alarms etc are up to standard.

I'm half thinking we should just sell it and buy a different house that has less sentimental value but I'm not sure we would be able to afford all the solicitors fees etc.

If rent just covers mortgage, can you afford all the insurances?

I would leave everything in. It will cost a bit to take things out, and where are you going to store them? It's v unlikely that a radiator or a woodburner will get damaged, and if they do, you always have the deposit for repairs.
Re the worktops, why don't you just pay for someone to go in every few months to recoat the worktops for your peace of mind. If they are recoated regularly then they should hold up. There are also companies the renovate damaged wooden worktops worst case scenario eg...www.restoremyworktop.co.uk/worktoprestoration.html

If the rent would just cover the mortgage are you allowed to rent it out? I thought you had to have a certain type of mortgage to do this and the rent had to be X times the amount of the mortgage repayments?

Exactly, you can't just rent out a property on a residential mortgage. Also, if it's a repayment mortgage and the rent would barely cover it, then you would be unlikely to break even given additional fees and costs. In addition, the way income from property is calculated for tax purposes doesn't mean you can take all of the mortgage repayment off... So it might seem like all the rent is going towards the mortgage but you'd still have to pay income tax.

Exactly, you can't just rent out a property on a residential mortgage

Yes you can. Actually.

You request permission to let from your mortgage company and they generally will grant this to you. They don't give a fuck about the rental income at this stage.

You will typicall get a grace period, then they will chunk up your interest rate and when your current mortgage deal comes to an end you will usually have to remortgage onto a BTL and at that point mortgage co gets worried about the rental income.

Hello
Thanks for your messages. I spoke to my mortgage company and they do consent to let on our residential mortgage until the end of our fixed term in 2 years, so it is possible + I also got a couple of estate agents to come round and the amount we could rent our house out for is higher than I thought, so good news there. I also spoke to a tax advisor who explained about the tax situation and he confirmed that we can claim our interest payments against our rental income which will help. Our earnings won't go into the top tax bracket even with the rental income.

I think we are going to leave the wooden worktops but the estate agents said we can add a clause to the tenancy agreement saying that someone will come every 6 months to sand and wax the worktops (at our expense).

Interest tax relief is being phased out so dont be away too long. Does it still fly with agent fees, insurances etc?

Yes I've worked it out and it all makes sense even with agent fees and insurance. According to my tax advisor the interest tax relief changed will only affect higher rate tax payers - I asked him about it specifically twice just in case but I guess I could get a second opinion.

Good news. Suggest moving to landlordzone now for further advice and horror stories, without the mn 'we hate landlords' brigade. Ll zone don't tolerate crap landlords and those who stuff up get no sympathy.