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Renting out our house in the UK


Sherbetdip23

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Hi All

 

 

We have had the house on the market for around 8 weeks now and getting fed up with waiting for it to sell as we wanted to be coming out by end of Oct :mad:

 

We had hoped it would sell quite quickly being optimistic people :wink: but now we are having to rethink about what happens if it doesn't sell by Christmas. Really looking for advice about renting out our property. Would appreciate views on fors and againsts for renting out.- Apart from the obvious ones :biggrin: we have no idea about tax implications, rental agent charges and rental periods etc so any advice would be greatly appreciated. We are now thinking of having Christmas here and renting out from end of January.

 

 

Many thanks

 

 

Carla

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest The Pom Queen

Sorry to hear this Carla, I think there are a lot of people in the same situation as you at the moment. I will keep my fingers tightly crossed for you.

Kate

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Feasibility really depends on where you live. If you call a local rental agent they will normally be happy to come around and advise you and should have good local knowledge of letting ease and rates. We have had one company round (who we know are good and also fair to both tenant and landlord, their management rate is 15% which seems high but is fairly standard...

For us it is a really good option, but this is partly due to our location and house type.

Hope you get the sale though if that's what you want to do.

Good luck!

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Feasibility really depends on where you live. If you call a local rental agent they will normally be happy to come around and advise you and should have good local knowledge of letting ease and rates. We have had one company round (who we know are good and also fair to both tenant and landlord, their management rate is 15% which seems high but is fairly standard...

For us it is a really good option, but this is partly due to our location and house type.

Hope you get the sale though if that's what you want to do.

Good luck!

 

Wow - 15% seems high! We have got an agent coming around tomorrow so will see what their management fees are.

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We had an agent round last week, his fee was 10% full management, but i know they are one of the cheaper ones here, usually its 15%. It's also half of the first months rent to them. They didn't think we would pay tax it being our only property, but he didn't commit to that. I was also advised to rent out the property unfurnished, that way we are not responsible for any breakages eg white goods.

 

We are moving over the beginning of next year also, good luck. :biggrin:

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We had an agent round last week, his fee was 10% full management, but i know they are one of the cheaper ones here, usually its 15%. It's also half of the first months rent to them. They didn't think we would pay tax it being our only property, but he didn't commit to that. I was also advised to rent out the property unfurnished, that way we are not responsible for any breakages eg white goods.

 

We are moving over the beginning of next year also, good luck. :biggrin:[/QUO

 

It's expensive isn't it! What exactly does full management entail? If it's your only property you won't have to pay tax and apparently you can own it for 6 years and not pay tax. (that what I have read on here)

 

Good luck to you too! where abouts you moving to?

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we are renting ours but to someone we no without an agent, you have to pay £70 to council for registration , get wired smoke alam to mains , supply fire blanket, i have also filled in a form so that you dont pay tax on it as you dont pay tax in 2 countries can remeber the number of form but i googled it and came up . once you have done all these you are ready to rent . good luck

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""It's expensive isn't it! What exactly does full management entail? If it's your only property you won't have to pay tax and apparently you can own it for 6 years and not pay tax. (that what I have read on here)""

 

 

Can I ask where you read this info....we're going to be renting ours and am very interested to know this.........

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we are renting ours but to someone we no without an agent, you have to pay £70 to council for registration , get wired smoke alam to mains , supply fire blanket, i have also filled in a form so that you dont pay tax on it as you dont pay tax in 2 countries can remeber the number of form but i googled it and came up . once you have done all these you are ready to rent . good luck

 

 

Is your house in scotland......sure you dont have to register with the council in England....and not sure about the fire blanket either.......but you're correct about the electric wired smoke alarms.

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You could be writing about us :( house also has been on the Market for 8 weeks. Agent coming round tomorrow to discuss the lack of progress. He might be getting his notice and we'll be looking for a new agent. We too have been thinking about renting as an option.

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You could be writing about us :( house also has been on the Market for 8 weeks. Agent coming round tomorrow to discuss the lack of progress. He might be getting his notice and we'll be looking for a new agent. We too have been thinking about renting as an option.

 

We have have just changed agents too! Luckily we only signed a ten week agreement with them. We have also knocked £25k off the price as we thought it was a little over-priced. If it doesn't sell by Christmas it's going up for rental. :biggrin:

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We have have just changed agents too! Luckily we only signed a ten week agreement with them. We have also knocked £25k off the price as we thought it was a little over-priced. If it doesn't sell by Christmas it's going up for rental. :biggrin:

 

Christmas is the cut off I have in my head too!

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We had an agent round last week, his fee was 10% full management, but i know they are one of the cheaper ones here, usually its 15%. It's also half of the first months rent to them. They didn't think we would pay tax it being our only property, but he didn't commit to that. I was also advised to rent out the property unfurnished, that way we are not responsible for any breakages eg white goods.

 

We are moving over the beginning of next year also, good luck. :biggrin:[/QUO

 

It's expensive isn't it! What exactly does full management entail? If it's your only property you won't have to pay tax and apparently you can own it for 6 years and not pay tax. (that what I have read on here)

 

Good luck to you too! where abouts you moving to?

 

Full management they are supposed to check the house every 6 weeks, ensure any damages are replaced, burst pipes seen too, etc. I'm pleased about the tax situation, saves a bit, as by the time all the other expenses are taken out, you are left with a small amount, but i want to keep my home here, at least for sometime. :biggrin:

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We have have just changed agents too! Luckily we only signed a ten week agreement with them. We have also knocked £25k off the price as we thought it was a little over-priced. If it doesn't sell by Christmas it's going up for rental. :biggrin:

 

hi please look upon choosing an agent like a interview...what are they going to do for you, what will they do if they don't acheive what they said, what other costs are there, stress is there any hidden extra's.....what if you end early, basically get a low down on what they do for their money.

 

when you come to renting make sure if you consider to sell in the future they don't put down 5% fee to sell to a tenant, it has been know....

 

a good agent is worth 15% , however you must get 3 agents to compare and see who you feel is the right choice. any one below 10% i would question as they might be looking for volume, and not service as the motivator.

 

when you come to thinking of renting pm me and i can give you more info of what to avoid and what to insist on.......remember that selling or renting their are good agents and bad, and you want peice of mind, and value for your money.

 

regards

 

pete and ann landlord/agent/developer

 

:cool:

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I have rented my house out for 3 years. Switched agent after first year when ' The Young Ones' Moved out. They didn't destroy anything - just didn't clean. Agent didn't do there job re inspections and reports. Second agent found me really good tenants. I also have someone outside of agents looking after house. Beware of hidden coasts . Agents make money on repairs - I would recommend gathering a list of trusted tradespeople and using them . Also, British gas insurance on appliances - seems expensive but buys peace of mind - my oven hob broke down and they replaced a part immediately. Tenants will often stay if they have a good landlord - I would never like to be thought of as a ' slumlord' I/m pleased that I rented there and rented here. I'll give it 5 years, then go home. Life is too expensive here -its the hidden costs as well- emergency flights home and house prices. You think that you have more money in your pocket until you visit the dentist...............

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I spoke to a lady at HMRC yesterday who was very helpful in explaining what can be claimed against rental income for tax purposes. As well as mortgage interest, letting agency fees and gas/electric safety checks, you can claim repairs. I asked whether this included getting the house ready to rent, ie decoration etc and she said yes. This is great as we had to put in new windows downstairs as the lounge ones didn't open properly = fire hazard, plus other ones were in a bad way. That pretty much means no tax to pay in 2011-12 anyway!

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8% should cover a regular rental agent as they do pretty much nothing for their money and as soon as there are problems they do nothing.

 

You have to pay tax at about 20% on rental income whether you live in the UK or not - thats the law. if you live here it can be considered as part of your income and therefore the 7K before tax allowence can be used here.

If the income is less than £2500 then you dont ned to declare it anyway.

An agent will pay the tax for you if done with a full management but you will still need someone you can rely on as agents dont pull their weight when something happens.

If you need to get bad payers out with a court order, you will need to turn up or you will have to sort something to give someone else the power of atturney or something. - Cost me 2 flights from Asia last summer due to this !

a good agent will tell you all of this for free before entering into a contract.

 

Sadly there arent many good agents!

 

Can a friend do it for you and just pay agents a fee for a tennent find? if so get your friend to get references themselves also as agents dont do it properly.

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Yea my house in scotland so u don't need to register at all in rest of uk then ?

 

We are in Scotland too, you don't have to register here in Edinburgh unless it is an HMO ie you have people from more than two families (student house usually!). we don't want the hassle of that, would rather limit it to a family or two professionals. There is another optional scheme you can use here, (preferred landlord scheme?)and they have regs like the ones mentioned, sensible and safe. We will probably follow the guidance but will not join the scheme as will use an agent anyway.

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