Letting your house on a long term lease?

I have done quite a bit of both sides, having lived abroad, being a tenant whilst working for 2 years in Portugal and also living in Syria for a while. I also had my house in England, which we did a variety of things with, keeping it empty but with someone looking out for it , and checking it was ok, as we didnt know how long we would be away, and letting it etc

So these are my thoughts.
The first thing that you can do is find out why it is not selling and what problems there may be. You can have just someone who doesnt make an effort to sell properly in the estate agents, and does not bring out the best points of your property for sheer laziness, or alternatively a more devious reason, where they have an ulterior motive, so hoping to buy it for a cheaper price, using a third party so you dont realize it is them buying it, or just hoping that they longer they string it out the more likely it iwll be that you will take a lower price to get rid of it. So I would get two different friends to pose as buyers. One lot could pose as a cash buyer, and the other with property to sell. Find out what sort of a job the estate agent does of selling it, and what they find out as they go round. They may see a problem area that the estate agent did not point out to you.

On one occasion, I was suspicious that we were not getting information on new properties in an area we wanted to live in, so as they had not actually met me, I took a trip up to the area, looked at the houses in their windows and then went in and asked about a property that totally fulfilled my requirements, but which we had not been given information.

Once they had talked about the property, I calmly asked them to check what my requirements had been in their files, and when they acknowledged that this property was exactly what we had been looking for asked them why we had not been given the details immediately and was told that as we were not selling our property through them we did not get told immediately. I told them to remove my details from their office, and that as I was now a cash buyer I would be informing the owners of this house what they had done or rather what they had not done!! Which I duly did! So checking things like this, speaking to local people, and if you belong to something like WI or rotarians etc ask amongst other people in your group what they think of this agent. Also keep an eye out for similar properties to your own being sold by other agents and see how long they take to sell and what the price is etc. Ask among friends of different ages whether they like the area the property is in, what public transport there is etc. Are there any plans for changes in the roads etc in that area, check with the council for likely things to happen

Now another possibility that we used and may be of use to you is to let, but not directly to the tenants. So places like colleges, where they have lecturers coming to teach for a couple of years, or things like the RAF or reputable large companies who have visiting staff. This usually works well but you would need to check this out as this was some years ago. So we let to the actual college or the company, and they put their staff in . The companies are often glad to have a good local property available for their staff, and often prepared to pay you on a permanent basis even if their staff dont arrive for a couple of weeks as it is good all round for them to be able to provide living quarters for incomers. So your contract is with the company, and people coming to work for them are unlikely to cause mayhem or make a mess as it would not be in their interest to end up with a major row with their employers

Now this was some years ago so do not know the latest up to date situation, but do think that this is a very good area to consider, especially as you are letting to the firm and can be clear about how long it is available etc, as you are not dealing with the actual people staying there, and there is also the possibilty that after living there as a tenant, they may want to purchase the house if it suits them.

I do hope this gives you some other ideas to think of and also look amongst your friends and acquaintances and see if any of them have recently been through this situation and learn any tips and tricks that might be important from them.

Finally, you need to really sit down and think what is important to you. So would you rather bring the price down and get it sold and out of the way as soon as possible , or would you rather sit tight and get a decent price. The situation at the moment with rising prices and worries about cost of living may mean that there are people who want to move but are rather worrieed about the situation and so not doing anything for the moment.

Good luck with it all

But the USAF also has ready supply of new tenants. They also don't allow their people to damage property.

Lots of good ideas Madeleine plenty of food for thought.

My tenants moved in yesterday on a 6 month lease. I hope by February I will know if my private buyer has the money to buy the house and if I get planning permission to build my own house in part of my garden.
If not, I shall move into the flat which is small and easy to heat and sit tight until Spring.

Hopefully OP there will be some movement on your bungalow now.
I’m the (reluctant) landlord of a bungalow (Inherited mum’s half, dad bought a retirement flat and didn’t want to sell said bungalow).
It is let through a managing estate agent who deal with absolutely everything. If anything needs doing I just get an email asking whether I want them to go ahead with the work (I have on occasion said no). They get 10% and it’s worth every penny. I met a house in London years ago and the management fee was the same percentage.
My understanding is that the landlord’s desire to sell a property is a legitimate reason for terminating the tenancy.

Wanting to sell the house us a legitimate reason for ending a tenancy but making it happen is another thing.

The term of the lease means nothing in my experience.

Having notified the tenant that I didn’t want to renew the lease -with six months notice, it all went quiet until just before expiry when they said they would not move out, I would have to apply for a court order. All the costs would be mine, the estimated delay in the courts 6-8 months. They would not be paying rent, there was no point because I was evicting them anyway. If the judgement went against them they would stay put and go to appeal - another 6-8 months.

During that time I would still be liable for all safety, maintenance and repairs.

I took some advice. The advice was that the court was unlikely to grant me vacancy because
a) I did not need the property to live in
b)they had attempted to find alternative housing but rented family housing was almost non-existent in the area so it was likely they would be put in b&b which the court would be reluctant to do

It was suggested that they might move out if I gifted them enough for a deposit on a house purchase. £30-40,000. Estate agents told me I would have to take a much bigger drop than that to sell a house with a sitting tenant - especially with the now history of attempted reclaim.

They are not bad people. They were protecting their family as best they could. Our compromise is that they are staying and paying the rent.

But would I ever let again. Never, never, never.

I hope the OP gets a sale. 🙂

Re so-called ‘full management’, our letting agents once told us that they could not arrange for the replacement of a double-glazed window handle, since it wasn’t within the remit of the maintenance company they used.

TBH we were disgusted. What if we’d been living overseas, as we had been for years while our own house was rented out? As it was, since we lived only a 30 minute drive away, we sorted it ourselves, and paid rather less than what they’d have charged, with the mark-up.

We ditched that letting agency not long afterwards because of more than one instance of sheer incompetence, and arranged any future repairs/maintenance ourselves.

Southdowns
I have three friends all of whom have had terrible problems with tenants, even through agents. Their houses have been almost wrecked and they have had severe problems being able to evict them. I would think very carefully about renting your house out and, if you do, find out if it can be rented on a short term lease while still being on the market.

I have noticed quite a few sold notices going up in my village over the past two weeks, so the market might be on the move again. Fingers crossed for you. xx

Personally I wouldnt let. Labour will tilt the legal advantage to tenants.

I must say i agree with what the other ladies are saying. i f you can afford to reduce the price then i certainly would do it, let it go and enjoy your time in you place by the sea.

Grantanow

Personally I wouldnt let. Labour will tilt the legal advantage to tenants.

The Bill was initiated by the Conservative party to give a better deal to tenants.

We have noticed that properties around here seem to highly priced and are not selling. Have a look at property to sell in your area and price yours a little below.