cook Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 We are shortly moving to Perth and are planning to rent out our UK (Aberdeen) home whilst we are in Australia. I have some agents coming to visit next week including a firm called Northwood who offer a 'guaranteed rent' as they effectively are your tenents and they sublet the property. Does anyone have any experience of Northwood? I have spoken to the Aberdeen agent on the phone and he was very knowledgeable of the local market etc He is coming to visit along with some others but any experience from others who rent out UK property would be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 I rent out a property in Cornwall, just about as far away from you as you can get and still be in the UK. I use a rental agency, they aren't perfect, but they do the job. Things I would be asking for include clear and regular email correspondence and updates, regular inspections and photographs of the property, and direct email/phone contact details for the renters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Kash Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 We are shortly moving to Perth and are planning to rent out our UK (Aberdeen) home whilst we are in Australia. I have some agents coming to visit next week including a firm called Northwood who offer a 'guaranteed rent' as they effectively are your tenents and they sublet the property. Does anyone have any experience of Northwood? I have spoken to the Aberdeen agent on the phone and he was very knowledgeable of the local market etc He is coming to visit along with some others but any experience from others who rent out UK property would be great. I rent my flat in Edinburgh out through Retties who I have to say are very good. I have heard of Northwood as they operate in Edinburgh also. Aberdeen, like Edinburgh, is a pretty strong market in terms of rent just now so I wouldnt think youd have any problems getting a tenant and a decent rent. I got 3 agencies round and went with my gut instinct (not the cheapest!) and so far has worked out fine. dont know your situation but I would look at at least one or two decent agencies as well as Northwood, as you might be surprised with the rent you can achieve (I was). assume Northwood take a hefty cut for the guaranteed rent offer and in a place like Aberdeen you shouldnt really be having problems getting a tenant anyway. good luck with it all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noworriesmate Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 The issue with any company that guarantee's the rent is that they will offer you a figure around 70% of what you would expect to get from using another agent - they will show you figures that will convince you that if you take into consideration the fees that other companies take and things like 'void periods' etc then what they are guaranteeing is a fair price. This maybe the case however because it is them that are renting the property from you (and then subletting it) they are completely in control of who they let into the property which can often be people that other agencies would not touch with a barge pole - we have had many horror stories of the condition of the property when it was returned to landlords. I would add that many people choose to use them as the peace of mind of the guaranteed rent outweighs the concern of the possible later issues - I guess it just depends on what your own personal preference is. There are some very good agencies in Aberdeen - make sure that you use one who is a member of ARLA as they have a code of conduct that they must adhere to. All the best NWM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwatt99 Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Im in the broch going to oz in may not sure if to sell or rent,might be a little late to sell now,but i maybe intersted in renting,but i dont even know where to start and if its worth renting vs selling if i have a buyer,anyone know the fees involved in using a company like this,who are ones in my area who do i look for?is there issues earning money from your rented place staying in australia,ok if i dont sell my house then i have no option but to rent,so would be interested to find out more as i might just have to do the same,can family member here not deal with it etc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBC Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 We have used Northwood for the past 12 months whilst we've been here in Melbourne and have found them to be pretty good. Our house is in Macclesfield, Cheshire, so I can't comment on the rental market where you are but the house we have is near to a big hospital and we would have been able to rent it easily enough but we went with Northwood for several reasons. Firstly, we have a tracker mortgage which means our repayments are very low so while we perhaps get £150 a month less than we might if we rented it another way, our mortgage is covered. It took them 2 months to find a tenant but we still got the mortgage paid while they were looking. Lastly, we have had no issues at all - if things need doing (this has been very minimal) then we get a quick email from the agents, we agree to whatever and it gets done - we have no hassles or worries this end. As people have said above, you get no say in who goes into your house and whether they have pets etc but we've been very lucky in that my neighbours and mum (who's driven past a few times) have commented on how nicely the house is beng kept and by all accounts the garden is nicer than when we were living there! We also found Northwood to be very helpful in that we paid the Post Office to redirect our mail which didn't happen so they sent it all out to us. They also wrote us a letter when we left to say that our house was immaculate, even though we had dogs, which helped us secure a property in Melbourne. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cook Posted January 10, 2013 Author Share Posted January 10, 2013 I have had a few agents and from the advice I was given the rental market is so strong in Aberdeen, that even the Northwood rep said not to take the guaranteed rent option as it will be more profitable to just use the managed service. In the end we haven't gone with Northwood but instead another company who seemed better connected re:finding tenents. Was a very close call and they both charged the same % fee for management etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incata Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 The only advice I would give is that whichever company you use, check the inventory they do thoroughly before it is given to the tenant to sign. We made the mistake of trusting the agent (and trusting the MOD who rented it from us) and the agent did not send it to us until a month after the tenants moved in. They had, in the kitchen, not put down anything above the work surfaces so none of our crockery in the cupboards above were noted. Then when the tenants trashed it, broke loads and did £5.5k worth of damage, we could not get a of of it replaced. Make sure, if renting it furnished that the inventory is in-depth. State the make of the hoover for example, and whether it is an upright or not, and how powerful it is. Take photos as well. Our tenants stole our £200 upright hoover and left a cheap £30 one from Argos in its place. When we challenged them the response was "prove it". No knowledge of agents in Scotland but have strong opinions about one or two agencies in Plymouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lebourvellec Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 I have had a few agents and from the advice I was given the rental market is so strong in Aberdeen, that even the Northwood rep said not to take the guaranteed rent option as it will be more profitable to just use the managed service.In the end we haven't gone with Northwood but instead another company who seemed better connected re:finding tenents. Was a very close call and they both charged the same % fee for management etc. I wouldn't go down that route, as least the other agents will vet the tenants better, rather than just getting anyone in the Property. One of the big Leasing agents in Aberdeen rent a lot of their properties out to some of the big Oil & Gas Operators, you shouldnt have much trouble getting it rented out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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