Learning to be a landlord?

[ElizabethinherGermanGarden]

I'm moving in with my partner. He doesn't have a mortgage so isn't charging me any rent - we're just sharing bills and food and day to day living expenses. It means that I can keep my own house and at the moment I just can't decide what to do with it.

I'm considering renting it out but I am very aware that I know nothing about how to do this - I haven't even rented on my own behalf for over 20 years so don't have relevant experience either as renter or landlord. Lots of threads on here saying 'don't do it' have put me off a bit. On the other hand, my house is empty most of the time and I'm paying the mortgage etc.

Is there a course or something where I could learn about what being a landlord entails? Is there some reputable body that offers something like this? Ideally, I don't want to have to do loads of research or learn from my mistakes - I want someone to teach me properly. Is this a thing? Does anyone have advice on where to start?

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MiscUser9823

Dont rent it. Tennant's cause so much problems. Not worth the hassle.

Considering you cannot even spell I doubt your advice is based on facts"

Oh, I don't know. Strong beer can cause problems!

@CornishTiger

Also would you need to change your mortgage to buy to let type?

Yes, I believe so. I don't know for certain but would need to find out. I'll google licence agreements in case that's a good halfway house.

@CornishTiger

Also would you need to change your mortgage to buy to let type?

This is true OP HOWEVER if you aren't 100% sure that you want to let, then just gain permission to let from your mortgage company. The rates etc will stay the same for you and essentially means you can 'try' letting before you fully change your mortgage with a potential increase in costs

Thank you for that tip.

One thing the old pros on landlordzone will say to anyone who will listen is “ never rent to friends or family “. The fact that all your replies have their own homes is probably a good thing!

Your relies even.

I rent out my flat and I’ve found the whole process really straight forward. I have a letting agent handle the tenancy for me and fortunately I have a reliable tenant who takes care of my property.

You’ll need to get gas and electrical safety checks done and also have money available should you need to do repairs. Other than that there’s not too much to worry about. Yes there’s always worst case scenarios and horror stories but given there’s millions of renters in the UK then clearly enough people are happy to let out their properties.

Love the ‘tenants cause so much hassle’ comment.

There are some that genuinely do.....trash the property, turn it into a weed farm or never pay rent and won’t move out until bailiffs turn up. But that’s not most.

When people say ‘too much hassle’ some are referring to any effort required form landlords or any money needing to be spent, as if the paying tenant has a huge check to expect standards to be met. Some LLs do seem to think that a tenant who mentions the kitchen cupboard doors are hanging off, or a dripping tap is making the floor boards soggy is some kind of pest, asking for too much all the time. Some also seem to think that the cost of gas certificates or the electrical inspection and getting the property up to acceptable rental standards for energy efficiency are an outrageous ask. They seem to expect the rent money for zero effort and expense. Lots of accidental landlords go into it because they think the rent money will pay their mortgage or allow them to keep an appreciating asset. It might, but they often forget the sustainable other side of expenses and effort involved. These are the LLs role in the deal and have to be accepted and without a sense of outrage at them. You WILL have to pay some large expenses along the way. And you shouldn’t be surprised when they happen. If you aren’t prepared to accept that as part of it, don’t do it. If you are willing to and able to, could be great.

We had a similar situation when now-DH moved into my house, we've kept his flat and rent it out via an agency. They keep on top of the legalities, have their own maintenance people and we've had no problems yet. Yes we do pay them a fee, but its so much easier than doing all that ourselves!

Don't think about making money on the property. Any money you make will have to be declared to HMRC, so consider that the renters are paying off your mortgage and in return you are giving them a safe, well maintained property that you can then perhaps sell on later down the line having had your mortgage paid for a few years.

And yes as a PP has said, don't rent to friends or family unless its done officially through the letting agency. A friend of mine did that to her late dads house and the family pretty much trashed it. Not on purpose, but just with not taking care of things, didn't ventilate when cooking, showering, drying clothes, didn't heat the place, furniture and fittings got broken etc, and the place got very damp. If it had been through an agency there would have been inspections and a deposit to help cover costs. Just something to think about!

How old is your partner's daughter? You could both move in to your house if she's old enough to live alone!

My last recommendation was to sell it and it still is. If this was 5 years ago then I might say otherwise but legislation has changed and it's just an onerous embuggerance for one house.
A managing agent is worth precisely dick all if the tenant stops paying rent, they drop you like a stone. You are responsible in all regards for the safety of the house and [some] tenants have a knack of breaking things. Eviction process is looooong and don't expect to ever see the back rent if they stop paying.
Anyhoo, sometimes it's an experience people need to do just to see if it works for them. It worked for me for a while, then it became too much like hard work so the asset was sold. You then have to declare capital gains and pay that tax (some nice formulas to look up should you get to that position where you can save a bundle)
Suggest you hang out on the forums mentioned in a previous post to see their opinion of accidental landlords and the pitfalls others have come across or overcome.
This might be coming across negatively but it's not meant to be, just go in with eyes open. It might work out for you really well :)

@WombatChocolate

Ive had 2 rental flats in the past.

Ive had the following problems with Tennant's:

Bringing in pets despite lease saying not allowed.

Tennants moving their girlfriends into the flat. Despite being told, for insurance purposes only 1 person can reside and they had agreed to this at the start.

Tennants not paying rent, and leaving with rent due.

Tennants causing physical damage to property.

Tennants having cheeky requests. E.g. replace a lightbulb...ffs

Tennants causing annoyance to other neighbours and management company hassling me.

Tennants smoking cannabis in property...scum.

Having to deal with all the above for around a 4 percent return or less. Just not worth it at the end. Sold both flats.

When people say ‘too much hassle’ some are referring to any effort required form landlords or any money needing to be spent, as if the paying tenant has a huge check to expect standards to be met. Some LLs do seem to think that a tenant who mentions the kitchen cupboard doors are hanging off, or a dripping tap is making the floor boards soggy is some kind of pest, asking for too much all the time

Totally agree with this. Some LL think that any tenant who isn't silent is a hassle.
A large majority of tenants are absolutely fine.
A good agency will vet them and make sure the chance of anything going wrong is tiny.

*Tennants not paying rent, and leaving with rent due.

Tennants causing physical damage to property.

Tennants having cheeky requests. E.g. replace a lightbulb...ffs*

None of this happens with the right insurance and agency

Single property landlording is a lot of hassle and stress interspersed with periods of nothing to do at all - except wait to see if the next rent payment is coming. With normal human beings as a tenant, lots of expensive insurance and a well maintained property the ratio is the right way up.

I will still be selling when my tenants decide to leave, section 21 is going and the risks will be too high.

@murbblurb - just out of interest, what do you aim to have covered by the 'expensive insurance' and would you recommend any particular company? Mine is due for renewal soon and my current tenant is making me rethink a lot of things. (For example, she has burnt & melted the cupboard doors either side of the oven by cooking who knows what at high temps with the door open! I'm not sure I will be able to replace/match, so I will be facing an expensive kitchen refit.)

Sadly, stupidity damage is just tough except for what you can get from the deposit. Might also be worth checking that she hasn't taken the batteries out of the smoke alarms, these types do.

The big ones are legal expenses and rent guarantee (especially now you are talking two years with no rent with the current court backlog), and malicious damage. A tenant is of course a permitted occupier, so if they get pissed off with you and take a hammer to the walls, normal vandalism cover doesn't count. I had a friend whose tenant got upset when a plumber couldn't be produced the same day and threatened to open all the radiator valves.

More positively , home emergency cover is a good idea. Gives a higher chance of a fix for a broken toilet or sick boiler, which can happen to anyone.

Oh, and you do need Landlord contents cover for carpets curtains etc in case of fire or flood. Tenants insure their own possessions.

@murbblurb

Using an agent does not mean you can just leave them to it. The buck stops with the landlord.

It does though. That's the whole point, you do just leave them to it. I've never even spoken to our tenant.

Just on the back of this thread I'm about to rent out my flat and estate agent has said I need gas safety certificate ( no gas in property)
Electrical safety check ( done)
EPC ( done) and finally a legionella risk assessment!
I've never heard of this. Do I have to pay out yet more money to have that done?

no, HSE says you can do it yourself if it is simple. Read up on it.

smoke alarms? Deposit protection? how to rent guide? all to be signed for when tenants check in? Inventory?

and this, boys and girls, is why you can't leave an agent to it unless you have infinite money. Even then, if the agent stuffs up it is still the landlord that is responsible. Some stuff ups result in criminal prosecution.

No you don’t need a legionella report, just gas and electricity.

Never ever put your faith in the agent. They just want the money; even at fully managed service levels you have to put some cash in up front to cover maintenance which [some] tenants will eat into immediately. Agencies don't care about best value or best workmanship so any time the tenant calls the agent saying they've 'discoverd that 'x' is bust' then the agent calls the first person on their list who comes, turns a screw 3mm and charges a fee. Watch them like a hawk as 'good' agents are a myth.

Just popping in to say another thank you for all the comments and suggestions. It is great to have such a bank of wisdom to look over and I'll keep referring back to it while I make a decision.

Regarding agents - I use a big national one. The branch are brilliant and have been very helpful ( we are six years in, one wrong 'un, they earned their money dealing with that). I have tenant find and rent collection, I organise my own contractors who cost considerably less than theirs for the same service, often the same person. Obviously agents mark up, they aren't working for free.

The central lot are not so good but I hardly have to deal with them.

I rented out my former family home for 8 years - sold it just before Christmas. I understand the emotional attachment part and it took a full year of the first tenants living there for me to able to separate it from all my memories into a business matter. I was very keen to meet the tenants who would live there, but after they left 18 months later I didn’t meet any of them and it was fine.
I was lucky in that I had no mortgage, so I put aside one third of the rental income as a float for repairs and tax. This was plenty, I didn’t have to replace the boiler though. I think the most expensive repair was to the roof which was causing damp at around £1500.
I used a local agent on a full management basis, which cost 12% of the rent. They did everything - income checks and references, inventory, called me to approve required repairs. I didn’t find the costs of their tradespeople to be much more than usual - at least I knew their plumber would actually turn up!
I have no tenant horror stories to tell. I assumed that the agent was very thorough in their tenant research so as to avoid such a thing.
I have just bought a flat that I will be renting out, again through an agent, in a completely different part of the country.
For me, keeping the asset was important. I had great neighbours who were my eyes on the ground, but again there seemed to be no issues.
Good luck.