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Renting out a property

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How do you rent out a flat, what does my friend have to do? can anyone put a list on as what to do please.

 

1. get a gas check

2. get electrics checked

3. decorate.

4. get rent book / bank account set up

5. rental agreement (where from)

 

what to do if tennents stops paying the rent.

how long to have agreements for... 6months /12months

if you find that they are not looking after the place what can you do?

 

I'm sure must be a lot more

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In addition, get landlord buildings and contents insurance. Consider insurance against non-payment of rent and legal fees getting someone out.

If the property is mortgaged, the lender needs to be informed beforehand.

Fire/smoke alarms, CO alarms.

Do an inventory of everything in the house and take photos to prove condition and make sure the tenant signs agreement to the inventory. Anything not on the inventory can be taken by the tenant and you have no redress.

There are rules about holding a deposit you must follow.

Talking to some lettings agents is a good idea, and there are books e.g. Renting and Letting (Which Essential Guides) by Kate Faulkner, that cover many things that need to be considered.

Your friend will need to complete a tax return, which means keeping detailed accounts of income and expenditure.

If your friend gets in a position where the tenant is not paying the rent or does not leave at the end of the tenancy or is damaging the property etc. this should be handled by your letting agent (make sure it is in your contract with the agent) or if you don't have one, you need to get your own legal advice.

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I'd highly recommend doing a thorough inventory which should protect both you and the tenant from unfair claims at the end of the tenancy.

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No rent book is needed if the rent is not payable monthly.

To clarify (as requested by one member):

A rent book is legally required if rent is payable weekly: s.4 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.

Otherwise, it's optional.

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I have a single property which I rent out. My view is that for one property it's not worth becoming an expert in all the above areas. Instead find a good lettings agent (I use Belvoir! and can introduce you) and an accountant (I use YBO and ditto) and they will tell you exactly what you need and can arrange it all for you.

 

Obviously they charge but it saves you a huge amount of time and reduces risk that you miss something important. If you have a handful of properties then it's worth sorting as much as you can yourself as the saving in fees will probably mean you can pack the day job in

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There is a lot more, but certainly those are some of the main things. The course I did some years ago involved four modules with exams involving lots of important law related to lettings and property management - it wasn't easy and took quite some time to complete! Unless you have the time to invest in learning what's right and wrong, I'd ring a letting agent - most of us have had the training to keep landlords on the right side of the law and have all the resources to help to get your flat let out to the right person.

 

If you're up for a challenge and want to do it yourself, it can take up a lot of your time and tenants will expect any repairs/maintenance issues to be attended to as quickly as possible, the money you'll save in fees might start eating into your time. Also, whilst most tenancies run smoothly, having one that goes sour can end up with a lot of time and money lost - the law is often on the side of the tenant and they'll be seen as the innocent party if something isn't done correctly.

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A good post- and remember that the law is constantly changing, so a course "some years ago" might no longer be accurate.

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There is a lot more, but certainly those are some of the main things. The course I did some years ago involved four modules with exams involving lots of important law related to lettings and property management - it wasn't easy and took quite some time to complete! Unless you have the time to invest in learning what's right and wrong, I'd ring a letting agent - most of us have had the training to keep landlords on the right side of the law and have all the resources to help to get your flat let out to the right person.

 

If you're up for a challenge and want to do it yourself, it can take up a lot of your time and tenants will expect any repairs/maintenance issues to be attended to as quickly as possible, the money you'll save in fees might start eating into your time. Also, whilst most tenancies run smoothly, having one that goes sour can end up with a lot of time and money lost - the law is often on the side of the tenant and they'll be seen as the innocent party if something isn't done correctly.

 

I disagree with Mr Shaw that it was a good post. I have no idea how effective you are, so don't take this personally, but managing property oneself is far less of a 'challenge' than finding a letting agent who will do it properly. In my experience, employing a letting agent is by no means a guarantee that the property will be managed professionally. The exams to which you refer are not difficult, although most letting agents seem to find them so. That is probably more a reflection of the average letting agent than it is of the exams themselves.

 

To be a good landlord or letting agent you need:

 

(i) the ability to keep accurate accounts

(ii) the ability to communicate clearly and effectively on the telephone and in writing, using standard English grammar, punctuation and spelling

(iii) a knowledge of human psychology

(iv) a basic knowledge of how houses work and the phone numbers of tradesmen who will attend promptly when things break down.

(v) an up-to-date knowledge of the law relating to landlords and tenants

 

In addition to all that, you need a modicum of business sense, which sadly, many letting agents desperately lack.

Edited by aliceBB

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...and a great deal of legal knowledge. I find that many landlords innocently blunder- e.g. not protecting protectable deposit, not serving the right Notices at the right time, etc. There's much, much more to it than those five suggestions!

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...and a great deal of legal knowledge. I find that many landlords innocently blunder- e.g. not protecting protectable deposit, not serving the right Notices at the right time, etc. There's much, much more to it than those five suggestions!

 

The requisite legal knowledge was covered by suggestion (v). I suppose it must depend to some extent on what you class as 'a great deal' of legal knowledge. I agree, it is probably more than some landlords can cope with, but it is certainly more than most letting agents can understand. Plus, self-managing the property and using a professional (whether it is a lawyer, a plumber, a decorator or whatever), when you know you cannot resolve the issue effectively yourself, is cheaper and more efficient than paying a letting agent to bumble through on your behalf (and probably get it wrong).

 

I am intrigued by your new-found love of letting agents, since on the other forum where you used to post on such matters, you never had a good word for them.:rolleyes: In fact, you were downright rude about them on occasions.

Edited by aliceBB

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...and a great deal of legal knowledge. I find that many landlords innocently blunder- e.g. not protecting protectable deposit, not serving the right Notices at the right time, etc. There's much, much more to it than those five suggestions!

 

The correct way to do these things is very easy to discover though.

 

The deposit protection scheme for example is extremely well explained online.

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