My house to do list has been weighing on me for over two years, perhaps more!? A lot of it is a snagging list. You know those items that you say you’ll get back to some time and never do. Well this month I’ve set to it. I’m not sure if it’s momentum from the New Year or that our move is getting really close, but whatever it is I’m on a roll! Ha!
So as some of you might know we plan on renting out our house next year and I’d love to hear from from anyone who’s had experience of being a landlord. What route have you taken? Have you gone through an agency or have you done it yourself? What makes for a good/bad landlord?
I’m quite prepared for some horror stories as a long time ago I rented out a house to a family friend and it’s something I won’t be doing again; it was a disaster, she {and her partner] left the house like a dump site!
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Laura
We’ve rented out various properties over the years, and currently have two – a house fairly close to where we live, and one over 100 miles away.
We don’t (and never have) used an agent, have always done it all ourselves (for what they charge, I don’t personally feel the service provided is value for money). However, I can see that it may be easier to use an agent to manage the property if you’re overseas – when you get those annoying calls saying there’s a leak/the cooker’s stopped working/the boiler won’t switch on etc (which always come on a Saturday or Bank HOliday), you need to be able to get it sorted pronto.
Agents charge loads for tenant finding, and also for doing a tenancy agreement/inventory, which is basically filling in a form – so my advice there is do it yourself – you can get the forms off the net. The referencing agents do is worthless, but then so is any referencing IMHO.
Always assume the tenants are going to trash the place, and that you will have to recarpet and redecorate after every tenant leaves. You may be lucky and get a really good tenant, but even so, they never look after the place the same way as an owner would. Once you’ve accepted this, it make the whole thing much easier to deal with. I won’t bore you with my personal horror stories of bad tenants.
Won’t go on any more in your comments, but if you want any further info, feel free to email me.
Caroline
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Laura Reply:
January 19th, 2011 at 11:23 am
Caroline. Thank you! Lots of info. I’ve seen a couple of companies, like Homeserve, that do a landlord service, have you ever used anything like that?
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Location, location, location. If your home is in a good location, then you’re much more likely to get a decent renter.
I like the advise of assuming the place will be trashed. Rentals almost always need something once the person moves out and the longer they’ve been there, the more it’ll need. Even just wear and tear adds up over time.
The other thing is to never assume your renter’s personal life will stay the same. I was pretty happy when I rented to a young single girl with 2 jobs. She was literally the perfect tenant. Within months, she was pregnant, her boyfriend moved in and then his 2 kids from a previous marriage. They were still a nice family but apartment was just too small for a family that big.
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Laura Reply:
January 19th, 2011 at 11:28 am
SandyL: Good points thank you. We’re in a decent location so that should be fine and I’m assuming the worst about rentors, so the only way is up!
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I agree with the other two comments, we’ve let through agents and have had just as much trouble as when we’ve done it ourselves. I would advise not to have anyone who is expecting the rent to be paid through the DHSS or whatever it’s called now, we’ve had nothing but trouble from these people. We’ve had a married couple in for the past seven years and everything was fine until they split up and now the girl can’t afford the rent and is claiming through the DHSS and we haven’t seen a penny for the past five months. Other than that what the others say ring true with me also.
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Laura Reply:
January 19th, 2011 at 11:29 am
Rob: No rent for five months! What can you do about that?
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Yep I would second what Rob said. Another very worse case scenario, dont expect the rent to be paid on time or at all. Dont rely on the rent to pay the mortgage, make sure you keep money to cover the mortgage payments.
Im sure you’ll be fine though.
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Would disagree re the DSS thing – go with your gut feeling about the PEOPLE, not their circumstances (another good reason to find your own tenant, not use an agency). Currently have DSS tenants, Housing Benefit pay their rent in full, direct to me, so no wrangling with tenant re payment. Works for me!
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Going to submit a test comment before the real thing – hope this works!
Bex
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Oooh it does! OK I know you wrote this post a little while ago but I just wanted to throw my tuppenceworth as a tenant in.
I have lived in various rented properties over the years, and contrary to the belief that tenants always trash places and are disrespectful, I treat every property I rent as though it’s my own. I might not be representative of tenants generally but I always pay my rent on time, I keep the place spotless and I phone the landlord (we’re with an agency) at the first sight of any problem.
I think that the tenant/landlord relationship is a two-way thing, and for every horror story a landlord has, you can bet your ass there’s at least one for a tenant too. I’m constantly coming across tenants in my volunteer job who are being nothing short of exploited by greedy, lazy landlords, and most of them are students who have neither the money nor the confidence to take legal action. Basically, I think it works both ways: if a landlord never gets things fixed, doesn’t inspect the property regularly and is difficult to contact, then yeah, problems will arise quickly. But if the landlord behaves right and the relationship is a good one, then it really can be plain sailing.
So, for me, and from a tenant’s point of view, I’d say a good landlord is someone who is approachable and easy to contact; who takes the tenancy seriously as opposed to treating it just as a money-spinner and also someone who gets things done on time and when they say they will – too many tenants are fobbed off by ‘yeah I’ll get someone round to look at that’, which often means that nothing happens at all.
So sorry for the long and mildly ranty comment Laura, it’s not all bad, for certain and I’m sure you’ll make a great landlord. My only point is that it really upsets me when tenants get such a bad press while there are literally scores of awful landlords out there too.
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Laura Reply:
February 8th, 2011 at 10:05 am
Hi Bex! Totally agree I’m sure it’s a two way street. I’ve lived in rented accomodated before and treated it like my own. Hopefully I’ll be a very good landlord!!
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