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[libby1]

Hi girls

Anybody done this? What are the pros and cons?

Libby
x

[honeybun]

I worked for a letting agent for a good while. I would suggest speaking to a reputable company and not trying to do it on your own.

They will draw up contracts and do credit checks on prospective tenants.

There is always a small element of risk involved but mostly things are fine.


Honeyb
x

[CLKD]

My Aunt did so many years ago and came back to find the house trashed.  My sister did a few years ago and had to give up her job abroad because the rent didn't get paid and the Agent was taking money but not sorting the problems.  Houses needed completely re-decorating in both cases.

If you are planning on letting it out : you will need to decide which stuff to keep, whether to sell/store things, put photos onto Disc for safe keeping - all furniture has to be fire retardant and have the labels on to say so! and how about Insuracne?  Our friends let their property 'empty' for 6 months at a time.

Might be better to decide why you want to, go along to a few Letting Agents for a discussion about the whys and wherefores. 

I did think about putting our stuff into storage, selling other stuff then taking off across the UK - renting places for 4/6 months so that we could really get to know our beautiful country.  However, I would miss our garden/pond so much 

[honeybun]

Much better to rent out a furnished house. It gives you so many more rights to get people out if needs be.

It's always a risk but for every bad tenant there are hundreds of good ones.


Honeybun
X

[CLKD]

Unless it is going to cost money to replace all the furniture!  When we were students we had a variety of furniture in various conditions  but now H&S are very firm on all furniture being fire retardant etc..

Also, many people have furniture to live with …….. all the lodgers my friend rents to have their own stuff. 

[libby1]

Thanks girls

I think we've decided to sell and move into rented to give us time to find the right house. Although, rental properties seem to have people queueing up for them and because we're moving areas, we're missing out on them  because we're not on the spot 

Libby
x

[CLKD]

So put stuff into storage where you live already: go into B&B in the area you think you would like to live?  That way you get a feel for an area before you commit.  It took me 11 years to get used to this house and I didn't like it much until I had enough money to 'do it up' 

[Limpy]

Unless it is going to cost money to replace all the furniture!  When we were students we had a variety of furniture in various conditions  but now H&S are very firm on all furniture being fire retardant etc..

The furniture doesn't need to be particularly nice or good, even if it is fire retardant. 
If a place is let unfurnished, my understanding is that it is very difficult to remove any tenants, even if they've been problematic. 

[CLKD]

My friend has had no problems: [yet] : the Lease is for 6 months and then a rolling month re-let.  Any let can be problematic as my sister found out; hopefully references are taken up and there is a very LARGE deposit taken ……….

[oldsheep]

reputable, responsible letting agent is very important. Just in case someone doesn't pay the rent, and they'll deal with any problems without delay and get decent people in to fix them, ie no cowboy plumbers which ends up causing more damage.
I let out a house abroad until we knew we weren't going back. We had one tenant from hell (had to fix everything and repaint when they left - their children destroyed the carpeting and drew on all the walls etc and they fought us on the deposit return) and one tenant from heaven who made the place look so nice that we got a good price for it when we sold.