A friend of mine has a property that he bought last year and because of other commitments will soon find it difficult to keep up with the mortgage payments. The question he cant make his mind up about is whether to sell the house or to rent it out. He doesnt know the first steps to do either. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

I suppose the start would be to get it valued for both. That would give an idea of the potential rent he could realise.

He then has to consider whether he could switch to a buy-to-let mortgage or whether he would have to. Buy-to-let mortgages tend to be higher interest rates so that is something else to consider.

When considering renting the property out, you have to allow for 'void' periods, when the property will be empty and the cost of repairs and maintenance (potentially for 4 months out of 12!). However good your tenants are, you will inevitably have to do some tidying up after they have gone. This will impact how long the property is empty for and how much it costs you. Obviously while it is empty he will be paying the mortgage.

There is a lot of speculation about whether the buy-to-let market is saturated and this will depend on where the property is. So that is something to consider as your friend may have to reduce his rent.

Then if he decides to have an agent manage the property for him, they will take fees for this. So this is also something to consider.

Handing it over to a letting agency with guarunteed rental payments would be wise if he did a bit of legwork in finding one that suited.