A friend is intending to rent out a 2 bed house, probably from late summer and possibly for a number of years. Its in town where rentals seem to be in demand, rather than just standing empty.

Can you give us any tips or general advice about letting property? Neither I nor they have any experience of property letting. Hiring an agency is a possibility – better than just going via a solicitor? Are most tenants ok with regard to payments and moving out at the end of a lease?

Thanks

I wish I’d just sold my house!!!

Get an agent to find and reference a tenant.

Tenancy agreement from here Legit AST

Join a deposit scheme.

Get an inventory (you can get the agent to do this if you want)

Find some local tradesmen you trust!!! (Landlord’s gas safety check, electrical check [only needs to be done every 5 years] and for all other niff naff and trivia)

You can’t guarantee what the tenant is going to be like, let an agent find them and then if you meet them usually your gut is right.

For complex reasons, its not possible to sell it or to live in it themselves at the moment (longer term intention though).

Why did you wish you had just sold MC? Was it that much grief?

I don’t know what a deposit scheme is. See I told you I know nothing!

You could get an agent to manage the rental for you which means they take a percentage monthly, or they will do it for a finders fee only (usually a months rent ish), and you do the rest. As with other things some agents will look after you whilst others will just take the money.
You could do it yourself, you should be able to find a decent contract on the internet, make sure you get a good deposit, about a month and a halfs rent, and a months payment upfront.
Some tenants are great, some are terrible, luck of the draw and a little research is necessary

So, what should a good agent be providing?

Do they offer legal protection against tenants who stop paying or who do not leave?

I am sorry if I am asking daft questions, but we are only just starting research into this. Neither friend nor I have ever rented a property yet alone let one out. Not sure where to start. I presume even the house insurance needs to be specialist. Also who pays council tax, bills etc – the tenant or the person letting?

The tenant pays all the bills, it is specialist insurance which can cover things like lost rent and legal fees but you need to ring a few and ask them. A good agent will visit the property reasonably regularly to inspect condition etc., and will sort minor maintenance and gas certs. A good way to sus agents is to go around town to each one and pretend to be a prospective tenant, see how much attention they pay to you

Read this:
https://www.gov.uk/renting-out-a-property/landlord-responsibilities

It’s pretty easy really. I rent out a flat without having any prior experience but then I’m happy to do most of the DIY/repairs myself.

We find our tennants on Gumtree and simply reject the ones we don’t like the look of or think will struggle to pay the rent. No doubt some will disagree with this approach but it works for us and it is our property at the end of the day.

Inventory and Deposit scheme are easy. I use http://www.depositprotection.com/

Our tenants are responsible for all bills. We pay mortgage and management agency fee, they pay water, electricity and council tax. It’s up to you/them if they want to do it all in but could leave them out of pocket if heating on 24/7 for instance.

They can take out landlords insurance.

Tennant will (should, might not) pay all the bills.

Anything they leave in the property they are responsible to keep it in good working order – that’s why we rent our other house out unfurnished (the Mrs and I both had houses when we met, moved into hers).

First tennant seemed okay but knew how to play the system with rent arrears, small claims court was needed to get what he owed us. Second tennants have been a dream couple.

http://www.landlords.org.uk/

Homepage Style 2

Thanks for the resource links and other experiences people are posting, its so helpful.

Another thought – are there tax issues which might need the services of an accountant?

No, you can file your self assessments yourself. All quite straightforward. I did ours for the first time this year. Just keep a rent book, claim the 10% wear and tear allowance if you’re renting fully furnished and then keep a log and receipts for repairs to the property itself (doesn’t include decorating) and other direct costs of letting the property.

Generally this is all split 50:50 for tax if the property is jointly owned.

Check the place out carefully when old tenants move out. I let a cottage in Hitchin and the tenants had a flea-infested cat. After they’d left, my agent was showing new tenants around and she suddenly realised her legs were crawling with fleas jumping out of the carpet for a meal. She freaked out and pursued me for all kinds of costs including cancellation of her holiday thanks to multiple flea bites! I offered to pay for the Anthisan cream and challenged her to take me to court. She didn’t bother.

Please can you put some time into checking out the tennants yourself and not rely on the letting agent? Please consider the impact on the people living next to your rented property.

Please ask yourself “would I be happy to live next door to these people.?”