Can anyone guide me on renting out my house?

[Everywhichway2018]

So today we were due to exchange but instead our buyer pulled out 😣

We are moving 200 miles away and are now considering renting out our property and renting somewhere for ourselves in the new area.

We think we could possibly get £1200- £1400 pcm here and could get somewhere nice for £900 -£1000pcm there. Our mortgage (not buy to let) is around 450 a month. We currently live in Hertfordshire and are moving to South Wales so w

Please can someone explain the pros and cons as we really are clueless!

clean house throughout

Err, plus paint and carpet throughout!

Totally agree with everything specialsubject says.

Honestly if you use a reputable agency you are half way there.
But how do you know the agency is reputable? We used a very highly regarded one to rent out my DM's house when she was taken ill. By chance, I even overheard another landlord singing the agency's praises when I was in Homebase one day. However, as it turned out, they were totally incompetent, and worse.

If you live in Herts and move to South Wales, it'll be difficult to keep a check on them.

so your current mortgage outgoing is £450pcm, youre going rent at £1000pcm - so you need £550pcm to cover that. What if your house isnt rented, tenants dont pay, boiler breaks (£3k) can you afford that extra?

Renting your property will gain a net profit of £750pcm - less £550 you need to pay your new rent. So you gain £200pcm.
Agents at 10% = 1200plus vat = 144
allow for maintenance 10% = 120
gas safety, insurance (£300pa/12) = 25
Youre already £90pcm under with the basics.

Financially its not a sound idea and time and stress wise its not plain sailing even for experienced landlords. And "Im new to this" or an accidental landlord is no excuse when there are laws to obeyed and tenants lives depending on you.

Nothing more to add to the excellent advice here.

Just wanted to send you a hug. I had a buyer pull out of a sale a few weeks before closing. I cannot imagine how it must have felt for you.

We were clueless and it has worked out fine. Husband lived in his flat for one year and then we moved overseas. We kind of break even but now only have 11 years left on the mortgage- agent takes 10% ish.
Only thing is you do suddenly get big bills- the boil, or the sash windows need replacing...our last bill was 24K. For repointing and doing structural work on a Victorian listed building. Now finding that money was a little stressful as it must have been for the other 4 flat owner in teh property. When we finally sell there of course will be some'profit' so it is doable even though we did not plan any of it. We have not even visited the property in 10 years now- agent takes photos and we sign checks and it is always rented out. I would say do it for a couple of years to see if it works for you- it is not rocket science and you can learn it if you do not use an agent.

On three occasions i have rented out a home using so called reputable letting agents of long standing. On each occasion i was badly let down by their inefficiency costing me £££.

It's easy to do the tax returns yourself, just keep records/receipts.

If you are relying on the rent to pay your mortgage, do you have a plan as to how you will cover any void periods? It is very usual to have a gap between old tenants leaving and new tenants arriving. Tenants do not have to allow viewings (regardless of what it says in your contract, they have a right to quiet enjoyment), or may chose only to allow them at limited times. As well as this, you may need time to do maintenance between tenants.

Equally, you may get unlucky and end up having a problem tenant who does not pay or damages the property. Evicting tenants who do not want to leave can be a drawn out and expensive process, so you will need to be prepared for this.

Agencies can be very incompetent. No qualifications are required to set up as a letting agent in the UK and this can cause problems for both the tenant and the landlord. In one case, when I was renting a property, the agent failed to do an inventory. This meant that I got my whole deposit returned to me despite the agent/landlord trying to claim a portion of it back.

It can be stressful, if you have a tenant constantly contacting you about minor issues, or a tenant who doesn't treat the property properly or who is antisocial, leading to complaints from neighbors etc.

I guess as a pro, it is probably quicker to get someone in as a tenant than it is as a buyer. You will need to have the house in a good state of repair and nicely decorated to get a decent tenant in most cases.

If you find a good letting agent, this may remove most of the day to day hassle (although do be aware that tenants have a right to your contact details and may decide to go over the letting agent's head at any time). You will still need to take time to understand the law etc, and over time you may chose to take over more of the management of the property for yourself.

If you're able to use the rent to pay off your mortgage while renting elsewhere then you'll eventually own a significant asset outright- but you probably won't make a profit until this happens.

You could rent for a year or two and then maybe sell the property if the market speeds up a bit. However, it can be difficult to sell a property with tenants in situ (except to another landlord).

a landlords need to sell has no effect on tenancy - there is a shocker on
landlordzone at the moment. With a tenant there you can only sell to another landlord, as no exchange can happen to an owner occupier until the tenant has left.