Letting your house on a long term lease?

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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. 🙂

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.

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.

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

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

Witzend

Anywhere around here, bungalows are like hen’s teeth, and comparatively expensive.
Are you sure it was priced competitively? It’s not exactly unknown for estate agents to overvalue, because a) they think it’s what the vendor wants to hear, and b) in order to get the business.

Yes, they are here too, because none have been built around here for about 40 years. Some linger on the market because they have strange layouts. Anything with a sensible layout in a good location goes very quickly.

How long has it been for sale? June/July/August are often pretty slow.

If you live in commuting distance of a city, you might want to think about putting it in the hands of a city estate agent, as you are likely to be cheaper than their local homes.

Sounds like your estate agent is being a bit lazy - they have set a price, so perhaps look a Rightmove and see if there are similar at the same value range - have they advised on condition, style, layout that might affect saleability?

If you are looking forward, perhaps go through the furniture and ornaments to decide if some of them can go now if you are not taking them with you. If you are planning to buy new things, perhaps you could do that now?

As to renting I would think carefully about whether you want the paperwork or hassle.

Good luck

Earthmother9

Bungalows have always been hard to sell, families don't want them and the old are downsizing.

Funny that you should say that because around here the developer has just changed the site plans to include some because of the high demand, even though we have so many already.

We have one because our small daughter had visual issues with steps, but, I agree, few people who have never had one and are fit might not even think of it.

I loved when mine were young that the bathroom was right by the front door (muddy child boots and all straight in to the bath <LOL> ), bedrooms doubled as play spaces so few toys in the lounge.

I would be very careful about choosing a letting agent. A relative of mine rented out their house and specified no pets. A neighbour told them that there were several dogs there. My relative told the agent who made an appt to check the house and surprise, surprise no dogs. The dogs are still there cuasing. a lot of noise to neighbours and goodness knows what sort of mess inside. My relative lives abroad so is unable to do much other than persist with agent but is getting nowhere.

I have a small rental flat, we've had it for nearly 15 years and it has been let for most of that time with few problems. We've on had one bad tenant, he used to dry his washing indoors with the windows closed and the walls soon developed mould which we have cleaned, treated and painted over.
I currently have a very elderly tenant who has a cleaner and gardener, the place is looking fine, we're happy and so is he. His daughter lives locally, However when he leaves we will sell it, the legislation that is in the offing would make it very hard to get a bad tenant out or to sell the property.
We currently pay 9% for rental management which seems to work well, though the building management is expensive and not so good.
Personally I wouldn't recommend that anyone rents a property out at the moment, the legislation is turning more and more anti-landlord.

Ah that's excellent news Southdowns. I'm so glad for you and will keep my fingers crossed for you. Let us know when you sell, if you remember to.

Southdowns

Thank you all - lots of excellent advice here for which I am very grateful.
I have now reduced the price, had some new photos taken - this time by a professional independent photographer, and bookings to view have now taken off!

The very best of luck, you should sell very quickly.

Grammaretto

Even if you know who you are letting to, you have to be careful.
I have a friend who lets their Edinburgh flat while they work abroad.
A friend moved in with girlfriend. At first it was fine but then the couple split up and the man stopped paying the rent and stopped all contact.
Eventually he moved out, with the help of an on the spot Factor (another friend) and they let it out to a single mum on housing benefit.
The rent is paid although after 10 years now they can seldom get access to the flat.
It's probably in bad shape.

I'm currently letting part of my large house. New lodgers moved in today
Since I live in the same building, I can keep an eye on things but even then, in the past, good furniture has been wrecked and once someone left the bath running when they went out.
Luckily I saw the drips.
I don't like being a landlady but I can't afford to live in my house without the rent money.

Letting to a friend is fatal, daughter let her place said friend left the place in a mess after 9 months. The children wrecked everything it cost £2000 to put right.

Dont do it !.

Earthmother9

Bungalows have always been hard to sell, families don't want them and the old are downsizing.

I'm afraid that this just isn't true, there are so many threads on Gransnet with people looking for bungalows when they are downsizing. Possibly the only problematic ones would be those that are too big for an older couple, but they usually sell like hot cakes.

hi you could try we buy any house or something similar youll get a little bit less but still be able to sell it and they quite good thats how i sold my previous house luckily i got what i had in mind for it

It is usual to let on short term leases renewable periodically.

Bungalows usually have quite large plots all are salable even if the bungalow is a wreck the plot is valuable to rebuild. Here bungalows are sought after, one closeby was 1930s 3 bed sold for £400k. It was demolished and 2 new ones built!.

Even if you know who you are letting to, you have to be careful.
I have a friend who lets their Edinburgh flat while they work abroad.
A friend moved in with girlfriend. At first it was fine but then the couple split up and the man stopped paying the rent and stopped all contact.
Eventually he moved out, with the help of an on the spot Factor (another friend) and they let it out to a single mum on housing benefit.
The rent is paid although after 10 years now they can seldom get access to the flat.
It's probably in bad shape.

I'm currently letting part of my large house. New lodgers moved in today
Since I live in the same building, I can keep an eye on things but even then, in the past, good furniture has been wrecked and once someone left the bath running when they went out.
Luckily I saw the drips.
I don't like being a landlady but I can't afford to live in my house without the rent money.

Thank you all - lots of excellent advice here for which I am very grateful.
I have now reduced the price, had some new photos taken - this time by a professional independent photographer, and bookings to view have now taken off!