Advice on letting out house

[helptolet]

So in a couple of a months we will be moving abroad, a long haul flight away so we will be letting out our house for a year at least, possibly more. We've got some local estate agents lined up to come over and do a valuation but just wanted some advice, as we are total novices, on questions we really should ask? We've got 3 lined up so we can compare. I've had a look online at their fees and they seem comparable really. We're most likely going to go down the fully managed route, just because of how far away we will be and to remove some of that headache. So how do you decide who to choose and questions we may not have thought to ask? Thank you

I’m a landlord of 20+ years but I directly manage my properties myself- my portfolio is in the area I live so makes it easier.

You’d want to be looking at what each letting agency offer vs cost to establish what is the best value for money. Almost all reputable letting agents will vet the prospective tenants and manage any maintenance etc required subject to your approval.

Thanks @good96, we definitely need it fully managed. In your experience have you had any tenant issues? All 3 have said it's rare to have major issues but then I've heard a lot of horror stories!

If you had the time, patience and inclination I'd try and find out what tenants think of the three companies but that might be quite tricky.

Even with a managing agent you'll need to do due diligence to ensure your legal obligations as a landlord are met. How to rent guide issued, protected deposit, gas and electrical safety checks (documented) etc. Check if there will be periodic inspections, your stance on pets, whether you will let to those on benefits etc. Think about rent loss insurance.

Be aware the agency will probably charge over and above if the property needs any maintenance. Have plenty of money set aside for emergencies/loss of rent. Think about the new legislation coming in for renters - how might that affect you.

You will need to declare the income for tax purposes.

You will have to meet the fairly new fire regulations. E.G. Connected smoke alarms, emergency lighting, fire doors in escape routes, signage etc. it's a pita, especially if your property is remotely historic

Try phoning them a few times and see how easy they are to get hold of. My agency has recently merged with another one and now nobody ever answers the phone or returns my calls. They were fabulous before. Going to change agency when my current tenants move on solely because of this.

A post on a local fb group might be a way to do this

Hi OP, I was an accidental landlord a while back and everything went wrong - they didn't pay rent past the first month and caused damage etc then I had to evict and the letting agent were complete crap. So my two tips: 1) do your due diligence on the proposed tenants - don't rely on general descriptions from the letting agent (ours said they were professionals when they were actually 19 yr olds living away from home for the first time w dodgy dealer boyfriends). So do ask all the Qs about employment etc and follow your gut. Also 2) I'm sorry as this is a bit elitist, but if I were in your shoes I would ask the letting agents if they can find someone who pays 6 or 12m upfront, even if it means accepting slightly less rent. We were happy to pay ahead when between houses and it reduces the risk of you being left out of pocket/ with a disaster on your hands esp as you are coming home to it.
Good luck - all sounds v exciting!

As a tenant of 5 years (about to be 6) in my current home and 13 in my previous, I concur with checking with any local tenants.

I encountered some real charlatans when looking for my current home. Tiny office, only a mobile number for contact, didn’t want to accompany me for any visits. Made me uncomfortable.

I’m a very very good tenant and I expect a very very good, established, reputable, responsive and legal agency. Shit agents equal shit tenants.

On the whole, we really haven’t many issues at all. I have quite strict vetting processes when it comes to who I let my properties too. The letting agents will have this in their best interests to make sure they have the right tenant also; it will be their job to manage the tenancy essentially..

If you have the right tenants then you will have no issues at all.

In my 20 years, I’ve had to evict one tenant for not paying the rent - the tenants had gone through a break-up… They’d left by the eviction date though and left the property empty… which wasn’t what I was expecting to be honest!

Apart from also agreeing to sell a property to a tenant and then they started to do work on the property without permission before the sale completed was another potential issue but the sale completed thankfully!!

That sounds all very well and good about vetting potential tenants but how actually can one seriously vet tenants? How does one do this? Asking cos I am alsothinking of letting.

An agent will have access to credit checks, they will carry out employer and other referencing like previous landlord etc. They will obviously charge to do this.

Ask them if they check that any automatically closing doors haven't had the closure cut when doing a check-in/out survey, and that the loft is still empty when the tenants leave.

Yes, our doors were vandalised and all the things that the tenants couldn't be bothered to remove were stuffed in the loft, unbeknownst to the agent.

And if you do let it and they want to remove anything but replace it when they move out, the answer should always be no. A friend had her oak dining room table removed (she thought to the garage) and replaced by a cheap plastic garden table on check out, the oak table was burnt by the tenants on a bonfire.

Not for a normal house you won't. Unless you are renting it as a licensed HMO.

My top tip would be to get some local recommendations and also meet the prospective tenants.

@spottedinthewilds oh sorry, I thought it was as for all letting situations

If the renter’s reform bill is made law next summer, you may have to give four month’s notice to move back into your own home.

So get a six month AST which becomes a rolling tenancy thereafter.

Thanks for the responses! They are large high street chains. All spoke at length about the vetting process they have doing affordability and background checks also. They also all complete inventories upon checking in/out, periodic inspections etc as this is all included usually in fully managed lets.
Agent 1 - very keen, has called and emailed a few times since my enquiry. Bordering on annoying but was personable and knew his stuff. Percentage wise in the middle but has said we could negotiate this. Quoted higher than we were expecting (marketing as a 4 bedroom when currently the space is being used as an office and it's borderline whether it's a habitable space) and my feeling is he was quoting high to get the business to then have to drop once we aren't getting any interest! However they offered (for a higher fee) rent protection scheme whereas if the tenants fail to pay the rent then the agents will pay on their behalf so we don't lose out, which would be handy. Also suggested we could meet with the tenants beforehand if we wanted.
Agent 2 - agents that we bought the house from initally. The woman we met was a salesperson, not specifically from the rental department (the other two were rental dept leads) and a few questions she didn't answer well. Seems like we'd be just a number to them and not sure we would get the service we'd hope for. Lowest percentage wise though and also valued in line with what we were thinking.
Agent 3 - very personable and seemed knowledgable. Been working there many years. Initially percentage was very high compared to the others which he very quickly negotiated down (hardly with any prompting once we said what the others had offered!) to sit in the middle of agent 1 and 2. Also will deduct first 3 months fees. He valued the same as agent 2.
So we're currently definitely inclined to go with agent 3 however it's good advice @AnOldCynic @Wonderballs about checking what tenants/landlords think of them all first. DH has suggested we get one more lesser known smaller estate agent to come round and see what sort of service they would provide to compare, which we might do. Lots to think about!

Oh this is a very good point! Thank you

As a side, even if you have a fully managed property, you should be able to nominate a specific electrician/plumber etc. Especially if you have one that knows your property, installed your boiler etc. They would also, likely be cheaper than any the real estate agent recommends!

Ensure that its written into the contract the all lightbulbs and garden hoses need to remain and be working. My parents rented out our family home, when we moved abroad for my father's work. 1 family took every lightbulb in the house with them. When you add up every light bulb and the cost the replace- its a fair amount and a PITA!

Thanks @JC03745, they did all say we could have our own contractors listed for them to use which we will definitely do. But it was mentioned they'd usually get 3 quotes for us to choose from if we requested that. Lightbulbs!! That happened when we bought actually.. no light bulbs, curtain railings all gone..

The draft just appeared in my feed this morning. My reading of it (and I am not very awake) is that you are not allowed to give notice within the first 12 months, 6 month tenancies will no longer exist, so in order to gain possession it has to be 12 mths plus 4:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-the-renters-rights-bill/82ffc7fb-64b0-4af5-a72e-c24701a5f12a

edit: getting in quick won’t help either, it will immediately be applied to all tenancies - but do remember this is not yet law and two respective houses could put up a hecking good fight.

Try to work out for yourself it's letting value. Don't stretch it (the letting agents can at times put it too high). You'll want to attract at least 3 applications, so you can choose who you think is most stable and reliable. For me, that over ££ always, as it's a pita if they stop paying, don't let trades in, or trash the place

What sort of tenants in your area want a 4 bedroom house but only for a year? Is it a student area?
Do your homework well and insist on meeting the tenants.
We let our house when we went abroad for 3 years. The agents lied about the prospective tenants. Took the 6m upfront rent from tenants who wouldn’t have passed any checks. Kept the money and closed down owing money to dozens of landlords and tenants. It was a nightmare. Agent taken to court but nobody got anything back.
Amazingly the Australians took the agent in when he fled the country. I googled him once and found he had been taken to court in Australia for falsely selling advertising space in a magazine.
Go with an agency that has a big company behind it.

@Bgfe its unlikely to be just for a year but it's a popular commuter town so some people tend to rent first to get a feel for the area before moving on to buy. There's also great schools closeby so families most likely. Your experience sounds horrendous! They are all massive chains though and the one we are leaning towards mentioned there's 40 people assigned just to the rental team so a huge company. Not sure if that means a less personal service...
Have been looking into this @KievLoverTwo and it does look likely the bill be passed. We dont really have any other option though as we need to move so will have to deal with it if/when it happens. Will have to keep in mind all those changes though.

my advice is to check the terms of your contract to see what is included in the managed fee. You may find that there are a lot of additional costs with one or more of the agents. Things like inventory/check in/out fees; referencing checks; annual re-contracting. We ended up paying a lot more than just the fee%.