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Original poster

Inherited flat, rent or sell?

30 replies

Anycrispsleft · 28/12/2022 07:24

My mum died a couple of months ago, and I inherited her house. I'm trying to decide whether to sell it or let it out.

The house itself needs a lot of doing up - the boiler is nearly 20 years old, the windows over 30 and they're all blown, and there are a bunch of other bits and pieces that need fixing. Plus wired in smoke alarms, EPC and the other bits and pieces that are required by law. I live abroad so organising all that is not easy - I spoke to an estate agent (the only one in the area who does letting) and they said they could help with all that so maybe that would be OK. It would likely be a good investment - about 6% after letting agent's fees - so maybe it's worth it.

On the other hand... my mum's downstairs neighbour is a bit much. She drinks a lot and her husband is a big scary looking bloke who slams the doors. Plus it would open the door to staying in touch with my relatives who are still in the area, and I had been hoping that with the death of my mother I might be able to just slowly drop out of everybody's memory. With me still owning the flat there would still be loads to discuss, why did I choose those windows, they don't approve of the new tenants etc, that's a lot of money they'reasking in rent etc. The family are all pretty friendly to me face to face but - there's no nice way to say this - my mother was a liar and a fantasist and made up loads of rubbish about me to the point where people who knew about me through her just automatically think I'm a liar because of all the conflicting stuff they've already been told about me. It would be nice to just walk away from it all.

I don't really know what to do. I have a bit of time because the grant of probate is not through yet, but I need to make a decision soon and I just dread dealing with any of it.

OP posts:

nzeire · 28/12/2022 07:29

Sorry for your loss.

you’ve listed a load of “cons” in by keeping the place. Also being a landlord whilst living away is an absolute pita

i vote, sell, as is

Persipan · 28/12/2022 07:29

Your own words here are "it would be nice to just walk away from it all" and "I just dread dealing with any of it." You're making a very compelling case for selling the property.

Weenurse · 28/12/2022 07:32

Contact the letting agent an let them handle it all, if you think keeping it makes Sense.
If you decide to sell, buy another property that needs less work..
I am sorry for your loss. 💐

euff · 28/12/2022 07:35

I don't know any landlords but I knew a few people who have been tenants with landlords abroad. I'm sure it's not the case with all agents but in these cases any work arranged by the agents was really shoddy. Goodness knows what the landlord would be hearing about the property or paying for and whether there was any skimming.

As a pp said your post seems to list a lot of cons. I would consider getting some financial advice though.

FiveShelties · 28/12/2022 07:36

Sell it, the work will take ages and trying to manage it from overseas will become really difficult.

Twilightstarbright · 28/12/2022 07:42

Sell it. You’ll need to spend a lot to sort it out and people often like buying something that needs doing up.

most importantly, it sounds like you want a clean break.

Twiglets1 · 28/12/2022 07:44

God I would sell it ASAP. It sounds like it will be an ongoing source of stress & problems otherwise.
You will feel freer without this place and it’s bad memories in your life.

Original poster

Anycrispsleft · 28/12/2022 07:44

Yeah it worries me that the work will be half arsed and the letting agents won't care - I've been on the other side of this renting flats, had some shitty landlords and always wondered why it's like that, I'm realising how easy it is to just hand the property over to a letting agent and then then they can be evil on your behalf 🙄

OP posts:

Worrywart2022 · 28/12/2022 07:47

I sold my property (which had previously been my home but i moved away) as o had rented it out for years and it became a pain. Used to never want to look at my phone as there would always something wrong with it) - had a dodgy agent who didn’t pay tenants deposit into protection scheme and I only found out years later and had to fund it myself (agent had sold up by then to another agent) then a useless agent who also eventually went bust. It was a nightmare and now I sleep so well not having that hanging over me

Twiglets1 · 28/12/2022 07:50

Anycrispsleft · 28/12/2022 07:44

That would very likely be the case with this place as you are living abroad so can’t keep a proper eye on it. Why would you even think about letting it out rather than selling it?

Mindymomo · 28/12/2022 07:54

We were in same situation early 2020 when FIL died. We thought about renting it out, but it needed new windows, boiler, bathroom, re decorating so about £40,000 in costs and to be honest I don’t think we could have dealt with the hassle of renting. I know someone who rents out 2 houses, mainly to students, he doesn’t actually make much of a profit as they break the washing machine, don’t defrost the freezer, have pulled down curtain rails. They also expect anything broken to be fixed immediately, so you need a good team of tradespeople that are reliable and available at short notice. We sold house on first viewing at full asking price and feel better that it’s finished with.

HotChoxs · 28/12/2022 07:54

Being a landlord is complicated and difficult these days. Just sell it.

Lastqueenofscotland2 · 28/12/2022 08:00

I would sell. Being a landlord has increasingly more red tape l, and comes with very onerous tax implications these days.
It sounds like it needs an absolute fortune spending on it to get it to a rentable state and if you know the neighbors are nightmares it could be that you have endless issues with tenants only staying their minimum term/leaving early and not paying etc

Sugarfree23 · 28/12/2022 08:02

I vote sell. It sounds like a PITA. We were two hours away from our rented property it wasn't something we'd planned. We also had the issues of estate agents 'handymen' doing all sorts of things.

I wanted to get the place painted, estate agents would only get us one quote. It didn't matter to them they took 10% on top of any work done so highest price worked better for them. What a faf trying to get other people to look at it to even get a price.

Geranium1984 · 28/12/2022 08:09

Could you sell it and buy an investment property closer to you if renting out a property makes financial sense?
It sounds like with the renovations, neighbours, family and being so far away it could be a real headache.

Original poster

Anycrispsleft · 28/12/2022 08:14

I am planning to retire back to Scotland so I did think it might make sense to keep a property here, but I anyway wouldn't settle in this house, too many bad memories. We would need to think what to do with the money - which is a nice problem to have, I know.

OP posts:

Twiglets1 · 28/12/2022 08:37

Anycrispsleft · 28/12/2022 08:14

It might make sense to buy a property in Scotland but not that one with its myriad problems plus bad memories

user1494050295 · 28/12/2022 08:41

Sorry for your loss. Similar. I inherited a flat from my mum. I have 9 years to pay IHT so am letting it out through an estate agent. Really great tenants so no issues there. I also have not sold as it is my pension. You mentioned a lot of work to do. Tbh unless the flat is in a desirable area or London I would cut my losses and sell.

Els1e · 28/12/2022 08:42

I’d sell. It sounds like you’ll have to spend money before letting. Being a landlord is not without issues.

AreOttersJustWetCats · 28/12/2022 08:43

Sell it and invest the money in something easier. You've listed lots of reasons why keeping the flat would be a millstone.

ClarathecrosseyedLioness · 28/12/2022 08:43

Being a landlord is a king size pita due to a shed-load of regulations.

My vote is to sell it.

Whatwouldnanado · 28/12/2022 08:50

Sell and invest the money until you find a property for yourself somewhere else.

strawberry2017 · 28/12/2022 08:52

I would sell. I've never been a land lord but would never want to be either. Too many issues, too many responsibilities and if you get shit tenants then too many problems getting them out.
Sounds like a lot of work needed to get it livable anyway so If it was me, I would sell.

Sorry for your loss. X

Minimalme · 28/12/2022 08:57

When a parent has been toxic, it is better to remove all trace of them from your life.

That property is a link to your Mother and wider family members.

Definitely not a keeper. Take the money and new something nice with it. You have got a chance at a fresh start.

NotMyDayJob · 28/12/2022 09:40

I would sell. In fact I have a slightly similar situation, I own a second property which I used for work, and to stay local to the area I am from after I long distance (in UK terms) move. But after COVID etc we're just not using it so we did think should we rent it out, but we just don't want to be landlords, we've been on the receiving end of bad landlords and I think we'd be good landlords but it's a lot of work and we live very far away. So we've decided to sell it, it's probably (almost certainly) not the right time and it's possible we'll make a loss but we don't want to be landlords and the ongoing running costs (don't forget you'll need to be paying the bills on it however minimal) are not worth the very little use we get out of it.

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