Be Excellent To Each Other

So, I am very likely to be going to work abroad for a few years. We own a flat in suburbs SW of London and don't want to sell it, instead we would like to rent it out - so that we have somewhere to come back to, and will also provide a little bit of extra income for us.

I've got someone from an estate & letting agent nearby coming over to have a look next week to talk me through it, give us an idea of what we could expect to charge and things like that.

Is there anyone on here with experience of being a 'landlord'? I'm tending towards getting an agent to deal with the whole thing as we will be very far away, too far to be chasing up rent, checking the property, dealing with issues etc etc; but realise that this is likely to mean we will be losing a fair slice of the rental income.

Looking for tips and things really. Been looking at a few websites here and there when I get the chance, trying to get myself a bit more informed really.

I'm renting (privately) off a mate that moved down to London, I'll ask him if he has any advice

He was leasing to a couple through an agency, but they were worse than useless. The tenants ended up having to phone him rather than the agency to get important stuff like plumbers & a leaking roof fixed. Christ knows how you'd find a decent agency without trying them all though

If you've a friend you can trust & is willing to act as your agent then that might be a better option.

I have an arrangement with my landlord: I fix any stuff that breaks, he gives me a nice low rent and doesn't pay for an agency.

If something major needs doing, I arrange it and pay for it and knock it off the next rent bill.

I have heard that you should always use a letting agency. However, make sure they're doing what they're supposed to as some of them are crappy.

It's worth thinking about the mortgage, if you have one. Most specify that you can't rent out without changing the mortgage to one that specifically allows it.

Zioette's mum rents out the flat we used to own together. Although she does this through an agency now, she used to have a private arrangement with her previous tennants. The trouble is, whilst this left her taking home more money from it, she would have to take phone calls from her tennants whenever something was up and go herself, or at least arrange for someone else and deal with it. I imagine that would therefore make it very tough to be in a foreign country and still have a private arrangement with your tennants.

If you have specific questions, PM me and I'll send them over to her, I'm sure she'd be happy to offer any advice.

Cheers guys. I had thought about asking a family member to do the looking after for us, but then it might be quite a burden or a stress on them so I was not too inclined to go down that route. Similarly for asking a friend to look after it... although one of my closest (in terms of location, too) friends is a plumber and his dad an electrician (very useful), he has also been to prison for fraud



Good point, though this was one of the first things I thought of, as it goes. As it is our only property our mortgage provider is happy to keep everything as it is, we just have to notify them when we are actually off; only extra thing is an annual charge of £95, which in the sceme of things isn't too bad.

I'm still leaning towards getting an agent to do it, but I wait to speak to them properly before making any decisions.

I use an agent.

Trust me, it's so much easier letting them deal with idiots who say 'I spent the rent on a present for the babehhh'.

Also bear in mind that deposits now have to go into a govt approved bond scheme. The agent should look after that, but just so that you know you won't get extra spends that way, and also I think that a quick question on the deposit will allow a ready check on whether the agents are complete con merchants or not.