scarlett

Hi, I'm sorry I really couldn't advise. I have made friends with somebody else who also returned from Oz, she rented her house out to her sister.....she trashed it! They no longer speak and it has divided the family. We paid around £80 a month to our agents, as part of their agreement they were suppose to inspect our property every three months, it was first inspected nine months in....when I questioned it they said the tenant was having a difficult time and couldn't get an amicable time to allow the agents in- I was offered a £30 refund. When they did the first inspection nothing was noted, when my husband and I inspected the property a week or so after we found two holes in the lounge carpet- literally cut out holes! There were numerous issues but I believe the truth of the matter is the agents just want your money. Over the past twelve months, since our return I've spoken to various people who rent out their house.....they have all done their own contracts and reading between the lines I think (and this really is me reading in between the lines) they have rented to people who would be easy to remove should any trouble arise....illegally! Renting is a legal minefield....I feel your dilemma, I'm sorry I can't advise you but it really is all down to the tenant that walks throughout your door.

Hi, we rented our house out when we left for Oz. Sadly Oz didn't work out for us so when we returned we served our tenant her three months notice. Legally, tenants DO NOT have to vacate a property until the moment a bailiff arrives. My story is one of those horror stories you hear of but think its very unlikely- our tenant wanted a council house, the council advise tenants NOT to move out of a rented property (known as gatekeeping) as a result we had to go to court to get a court notice. We used a company which cost us £800 as we had no idea about property laws, the tenant was ordered to pay the court fees (around £200) but isn't obliged to pay them unless we pay to take her back to court! Again, the tenant isn't legally obliged to vacate upon the vacation date stated on the eviction notice, therefore we had to go back again to get a high court order to request the bailiffs to remove the tenant. We were lucky, the tenant left a few days before the bailiffs were due to go in but she caused nearly £2000 worth of damage (iron prints in carpet, holes in carpet, paint off walls, sink blocked, blinds broken and the place was FILTHY). In my case, the tenant wanted a council house but there are lots of loop holes in the law here regarding tenants and believe me, the law supports the tenant!! If the tenant fails to pay rent the procedure is pretty similar to mine. Estate agents are very reassuring about managing a property but in my experience its all a sales pitch! My advice would be to google tenant rights, see what exactly you're getting yourself into because we had no idea we would have no right to gain access to our house because legal contracts were exchanged (contracts actually mean nothing). Personally I would never ever rent out again, especially MY home. We have heard lots of horror stories about renting but equally I have heard a lot of success stories, it all depends on the tenants. It took us seven months to get our home back, in the business that was considered QUICK, most agents and solicitors expect it to take about a year or longer. We were made homeless during this time and myself, husband, four year old and newborn were put into a hostel without kitchen facilities (how we were suppose to make the baby's bottles is unknown) and ended up moving into my MILs, all four of us crammed into the box room with my four year old on the floor for seven months in total.