Post 781174 by Biff on 2015-08-10 16:27:31
I'm currently penny pinching & going through my monthly bills.
We own the house we live in & rent my apartment through an agent...
Anyway here's my dilemma, my tenant is a cracking lad, really looks after the property & is happy to stay for a long term lease.
When I decided to give up my bachelor life & settle down I put the apartment through an agent who found the current tenant within 6 weeks & all has been great. This was in 2011.
Now with baby number 2 on the way I have discovered that my tenant is paying £105 a month more than I am receiving & to be honest I think its better in our bank seeing as the agent hasn't really had to do much in that time.
My lease contract expired last month & I'm unsure what to do. I want rid of the agent & keep the tenant but it looks like its going to cost me to do this.
Has anyone got experience in this? Do we have any estate agents or anyone with experience?
I've read a few contradicting posts on various land lord blogs & I'm a bit stuck.
The agents aren't being any help at all.
Cheers.
Post 781176 by stephenevans99 on 2015-08-10 16:55:17
I have 3 properties that are all rented out without going through an agent & luckily without any issues. I give each tenant a standard Rental Agreement which covers me for most things.....I can email you a copy if need be.
Obviously you need to register the deposit/bond with Deposit Protection Agency which is straight forward and only costs a small amount.
Post 781180 by Jamest5r on 2015-08-10 17:56:26
If your contact with the agent has expired I don't see the issue, just confirm in writing that you no longer need their services and that the contact won't be renewed.
Post 781219 by Harvey on 2015-08-10 20:50:43
They might charge for finding a tenant which would be a bit wrong,the agent I use charge me 5% all in ,but I pay extra £12 legal cover if they don't pay, it pays me and covers getting them out with court cover.
I guess it just how hands on you want to be...
Post 781220 by claymore on 2015-08-10 21:04:03
My Daughter is a letting agent and the company she works for charge from 5% to 10% depending on circumstances.
Post 781230 by JUDGENINJA on 2015-08-10 21:29:09
I don't use an agent. It has it's pitfalls, like the current tenants who are a few months behind in their rent.
Good for me is that I don't need to make money from it its more a long term investment.
Post 781271 by The Flying Moose on 2015-08-11 07:31:02
I completely misread this thread before opening it...
I'd love a pub but fear I'd make no money!
Post 781292 by Biff on 2015-08-11 12:56:38
[QUOTE=stephenevans99;781176]I have 3 properties that are all rented out without going through an agent & luckily without any issues. I give each tenant a standard Rental Agreement which covers me for most things.....I can email you a copy if need be.
Obviously you need to register the deposit/bond with Deposit Protection Agency which is straight forward and only costs a small amount.[/QUOTE]
That would b great Steve thankyou.
Post 781295 by Biff on 2015-08-11 12:59:54
[QUOTE=Jamest5r;781180]If your contact with the agent has expired I don't see the issue, just confirm in writing that you no longer need their services and that the contact won't be renewed.[/QUOTE]
In an ideal world this is what I'm hoping Jim.
Its very possible I could land myself being pursued for breach of contract although it has expired he is still the agents tenant. I'm thinking if he gives them his notice & I give them mine then surely not a lot they can do.
As an after thought the property needs to be empty for them to inspect so the tenant can get his deposit back.
Post 781299 by kmb on 2015-08-11 13:06:37
[QUOTE=Biff;781292]That would b great Steve thankyou.[/QUOTE]
I rent my UK house directly (and have done for 7 years) - For contracts I went into WH Smith and bought some off the shelf tenancy agreements, they seem pretty good and once you have them it's easy enough to run off more copies.
I'd send some over to you, but I'm in France and they're in UK :)
Post 781300 by Biff on 2015-08-11 13:11:53
Thanks for the replies guys. As it stands the property is a long term investment as after years of freelance work I have no pension which is really worth anything. I have a few 000 invested in various pensions but they wont be worth anything in the future.
I have 26 years left on the mortgage which will hopefully entitle me to retire at 60 but obviously that isn't set in stone.
As it stands it looks like I will have to buy them out of the contract with the introduction fee but what that will cost I'm currently unsure. With the £105 a month I'm sure it will soon pay itself back though.
I'm popping for a chat with my tenant tomorrow evening so hopefully will be able to have a look through his contract & go from there.
I want it to cost me the minimum amount but at the same time keep my tenant happy. Currently I am having to contribute towards my mortgage & pay my maintenance fee out of my own pocket so ideally I would like these to be covered & perhaps a bit extra for general wear & tear & eventually get double glazing fitted which wont be cheap as it is a converted chapel.
I'm also trying not to make any profit as I don't want myself facing a tax bill. lol
The Joys of growing up! lol
Post 781301 by Biff on 2015-08-11 13:13:35
[QUOTE=kmb;781299]I rent my UK house directly (and have done for 7 years) - For contracts I went into WH Smith and bought some off the shelf tenancy agreements, they seem pretty good and once you have them it's easy enough to run off more copies.
I'd send some over to you, but I'm in France and they're in UK :)[/QUOTE]
Thanks Fella, hopefully be able to sort something via my P.A (the wife) from our current contracts & what Steve offers. :)
Post 781308 by Jamest5r on 2015-08-11 14:28:22
Another thing you have to watch now since the budget is the tax liability has changed and the interest on your mortgage is no longer deductible .
Post 781311 by jamesy12345 on 2015-08-11 15:05:41
I was looking into buying my sister's house for renting out but I think too expensive. I do a Self Assessment form every year & am very careful to make sure the Tax Man has nothing to chase me about - even though I change jobs & locations relatively regularly...
(speaking of which some dude just called me about a job in Saudi...which is nice considering the O&G industry is on it's arse)
...I was worried about tax implications also - any rental income earned in the UK I guess would be subject to UK tax. Unlike my income from whatever it is I do, which is subject to local taxes.
I reckon in rural areas of the NE of England (where I be) mortgage payments would be more than the rental income...then I would need to pay more tax as above.
Hmmm...better stick to the day job then. It would be nice to have something as a pension though.
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Post 781313 by Biff on 2015-08-11 15:40:14
[QUOTE=Jamest5r;781308]Another thing you have to watch now since the budget is the tax liability has changed and the interest on your mortgage is no longer deductible .[/QUOTE]
That sucks, I'll definitely bare that in mind. I'm currently paying interest only. As my mortgage company are now a public owned company & in negative equity (by a lot since house prices crashed) I wont be able to re-mortgage for a long while but I am dreading the interest rates going up tbh.
Jamesy I've paid out thousands over the years & very nearly declared bankrupt back in 2010. My Apartment & the stress associated with it has nearly buckled me a few times so I would certainly think twice about it.
I had full backing from the financial ombudsman as really I shouldn't of qualified for the mortgages full amount when I took it out, young & foolish like many others who took mortgages out with this company in the peak of the credit era. Its taken me a lot of hard work & sacrifices to get where I am today yet still feels like every bugger wants to screw me.
Next it will be my family outgrowing our current house & we will be forced to rent that out so we can rent somewhere bigger.
No wonder I'm going grey!!!!:(