We have some tenants who so far have proved to be fantastic. We’re so happy with the way they behave and look after the property, we’ve decided to remove the agency we use from the arrangement.

If the agency were ace and really earned their money I’d probably keep them in place but they’re useless. They phone us every time there’s a problem despite us giving them very clear instructions on how to handle it. They charge us £60 a month plus £120 a year renewal. We organise all repairs, etc etc.

So, has anyone changed from an agency to direct management? Are there are legal implications of changing or can we just provide notice to the agency and then pick up things ourselves?

I’d really appreciate any help anyone can give in this area.

You’re in the same situation as me. I have to give 3 months written notice and that’s all in our contract.

If you have Tennant’s who are settled and you are happy with and if you do all the repairs then you are wasting your money on an agent so long as you can manage a diary to keep renewing the contract and termination notice. You should be able to terminate the agency as per your contract or one months notice.
Made up answer from general principals.

I think that a third party need to keep the deposit in an approved scheme, but your current agency can keep doing that even if you are managing the property yourself, I guess.

Don’t forget the Gas Safety Cert every year.

They sound like great tenants – keep them happy!

The deposit goes into a govt scheme in any event so that is not the issue . big fine if you don’t put it in.

Yep deposit, gas and any electrical safety. If your close or know enough local tradies then you should be fine. Last time I switched it was as a tenant and the offer was to split the difference with the landlord (this was due to the agent introducing payment processing fees)
You may need to reissue contracts and make sure you get all inventory forms from the agent (probably do a quick re check with the tenants just to draw a line under it. Make sure you also make arrangements for out of hours contact or when you are on holiday.

Yep deposit, gas and any electrical safety.

are these legal requirements? we rent ours out to my daughter, so therres a lot of trust involved. we had it rewired as part of an extension prior to her moving in, but we dont have yearly certificates. gas has probably been a few years since we had the boiler done, but we have a CO detector near to it. and we have her deposit which she trusts that she will get back subject to the house being in the same state.
the contract was copied from my mates (hes a landlord too) contract with details changed.

are we actually breaking any law here? must admit, we havent taken any legal advice or consulted solicitors with this process.

Do you declare the income for tax as ‘rental income’ and offset any costs against it?

If you are then the safety checks are pretty much ‘free’ in any event.

My question would be ‘why wouldn’t you have the boiler checked and serviced annually?’ and given the cost of the electric checks it can’t hurt to get it done?

[edit] yes, it’s a legal requirement to get those things done in a rented property. Massive fines and/or imprisonment if it goes wrong and you haven;t.

are we actually breaking any law here? must admit, we havent taken any legal advice or consulted solicitors with this process.

Yup unfortunstely

Are you declaring it of your tax return?

Edited: beaten to it

Thanks chaps. I need to check the contract we have with the agency next then. Once we provide notice I’ll see if they’re prepared to keep the deposit as it stands for a small fee.

Our handyman lives directly opposite the house and is always happy to help out so that’s fine. One of our friends who is a CH plumber lives round the corner so any emergencies of that nature can be sorted by him although we have the British Gas support arrangement on this house and they check everything out every year.

I’d forgotten about the certs so will make a note for those.

We really are very lucky with these tenants and we recognise that. They fitted out the kitchen when they moved in (we offered to pay but they said don’t worry about it), put wooden floors down downstairs and have just renewed on a 3 year deal. They’re clearly happy there and want to stay a while. For our part we keep the rent very low, way lower than other houses on the estate.

Do you declare the income for tax as ‘rental income’ and offset any costs against it?

If you are then the safety checks are pretty much ‘free’ in any event.

My question would be ‘why wouldn’t you have the boiler checked and serviced annually?’ and given the cost of the electric checks it can’t hurt to get it done?

[edit] yes, it’s a legal requirement to get those things done in a rented property. Massive fines and/or imprisonment if it goes wrong and you haven;t.
no, we havent done a tax return, but im led to believe we still have time to do this. weve only been renting it out for oooh 11 months now, and ‘a mate’ has told us that this years tax returns dont need to be in til end of next year. is this true? we thought we’d see if it worked out before we started looking for advice on the legal side of things, so i spose now seems a good a time as any.
im not self employed so have never filled in a tax return and wouldnt know how to do it.
im aware that costs can be offset etc, so its not like we’re trying to ‘beat the system’, we’re happy to do everything legally. i know it will still cost us something im just not sure how much.

as for the boiler/leccy, we had the electrics done around 2 yrs ago and we’re just plodders really, we expect things will last ‘a few more years yet’. its the house we used to live in, and we never really had regular checks done. “a CO detector will let us know if theres a problem” etc and if the hot water/heating stops working then we’ll just get someone in to ‘have a look’.

looks like we need to raise the game then and get sorted. if anyones got the time or inclination, would you mind letting me know exactly what i need to do and who to contact in what timeframe please? emails in profile and id be really grateful. or just post it on here i spose?

thanks a lot for the advice.

You’ll have had taxable income for 2013-2014 as well as this tax year so deadlines on here are the ones to follow;

https://www.gov.uk/self-assessment-tax-return-deadlines

as for the rest, citizens advice used to do landlord packs that covered most things you needed to know.

Annual Electrical safety certificates are not compulsory unlike gas.

https://www.gov.uk/private-renting/your-landlords-safety-responsibilities

thanks. looks like its just gas cert that ill need to sort then. and i assume id need a decent accountant to tell me what i can claim back against?

cheers

Sadexpunk – God forbid anything happens, but you don’t want to be facing manslaughter and H&S charges as well as everything else if it does.

If your renting to your daughter, shoot me down in flames but put the money in the bank and say nowt. Put a little aside and keep all receipts just in case and act dumb if out happens.
Yes get a gas check, elec isn’t mandatory.

My question would be ‘why wouldn’t you have the boiler checked and serviced annually?’

Reminds me, I’ve not serviced mine for about 10 years….

Bin the agent you can do it better yourself. Just keep a list of decent tradesmen & let the tenant know what you are doing.

Keep an eye on the mkt prices of rents around renewal time so you stay competitive. I let mine go periodic 3 years ago & just let the old contracts roll on.

I only use agents for tenant find, I do everything else myself. In fact, shop around & you can get say an inventory done for less than the agent charges. Someone has to pay for those shiny cars/nice offices.

Good luck/well done having good tenants

If your renting to your daughter, shoot me down in flames but put the money in the bank and say nowt. Put a little aside and keep all receipts just in case and act dumb if out happens.
Yes get a gas check, elec isn’t mandatory.

it had crossed my mind, spose im just too scared of being found out later down the line with a big sum to pay back. id sleep easier knowing its being done legit.
sleeping on it last night, i had another nasty thought. i havent told the mortgage company. not sure theyd be agreeable to us doing this, or whether theyd change the mortgage contract to ‘buy to let’ or something.

anyone have any experience of this?

thanks

If you organised all the repairs what on earth was the agent doing in the first place? We ditched ours as they practically sent in a SWAT team every time a light bulb needed changing, charging us for the privilege. e might be lucky but our agent renews the tenancy every year and keeps the deposit sorted (via the proper scheme) and doesn’t charge for those things. I guess they do that to ensure I use them again when I need a new tenant.

I do find myself chasing rent more than I did before – it always gets paid but the tenant often ‘forgets’ to pay on time now that I’m managing.

I rent a few places out. Mix of comercial and residential.
I’ve never used a letting agent. Gumtree, hospital notice boards etc. are good place for free adverts. As long as the property is in a reasonable area and is presentable it will rent.
I’ve just had a flat and a house come up and they’ve been taken within a week.
You can credit check them yourselves via http://www.tenantref.co.uk/, £29.50 which the tenant pays and don’t be fooled into “I promise I’ll pay” when their report comes back and they are high risk, it’s not worth taking a chance.
AST tenancies can be downloaded off the net, if you need one let me know.
Inventories – a spreadsheet on exel is all you need.
Deposit – you have to protect the deposit, but if you use http://www.mydeposits.co.uk/ you keep the deposit in your bank.
Find a good gas plumber, electrician and a handy man type and get stuff done ASAP if the tenant asks.

I took on the management of 2 houses that my sister owns as she was fed up with poor agents. its OK because i live near both houses and i have flexi hours so can take time off to attend with tradesmen as and when. Its really common sense (as you imply I think) – don’t try to rip off or over charge or ill treat your tenants in any way and they will repay you with decent behaviour – well its been like that for 2 years now. Lodge deposits with DPS – v easy and free, get to know some decent tradesfolk and thats about it. i go months without a phone call sometimes.

If you organised all the repairs what on earth was the agent doing in the first place?

Exactly why we’re ditching them. They didn’t even find the tenants, we did. Their adverts online were terrible with awful photos, once I saw the advert I got them to replace them with pictures I took. The house is really close to two primary schools and a secondary school which they didn’t mention as well as being walking distance from a supermarket. Absolutely perfect for a young family on a budget but they didn’t have the faintest idea on advertising these points.

i have a couple of properties and i m a gas engineer a good part of the work i do is for private and community landlords

we no longer work for agencys, i was asked recently by a landlord to work on a property to invoice an agent who would then pay me 30 days later from rent reciepts and deduct there admin charge of 40 quid plus VAT!! i was once taken to task by a landlord for work completed at a property not the quality but the cost.. why says I, cos 135 quid is a lot he says for a ball valve.. ho says i we invoiced the agency for 65..

the clever landlords use credit agencies when selecting tenants and those less comfortable use the agency to find the tenant then dump the agency.