Does anybody rent their house out?

Is it a total stressful hassle?

In this current market, would you recommend, i'm assuming the rental market is good at the moment?

Does it hang over you at all, like a worry? Is it hard work?



A job is coming up in Scotland for my husband, a transfer within the company he works for as an engineer as they are taking over some new sites soon. I just DREAD trying to sell PLUS relocating, PLUS a new baby, PLUS buying a new house! Although now is the time we want to do this, I just want to so it as quick/easy as possible.

We've been discussing renting this house out, and renting up in Scotland until i'm back at work, and we're both happy in new jobs and then might look into buying something up there. We've got an appointment to see a mortgage advisor in the morning to see if having this house and buying another could ever be possible in the not too distant future; all our money is in the house ie: equity, we haven't got mega savings in the bank! We do have good 'careers' so should always be in decent jobs...like I say, hubby's with a good big company and i'm self employed/freelance and i know there's work up there for me.

It's not about the money, (well, as long as it's viable to do - will find out tomorrow i guess) more about is it going to be too much of a worry, an added stress? Are we better going about this a different way?

I rent my house out

I put it in the hands of an estate agent, couldn't be doing with the hassle of it myself either.

I have nothing to do with it now they chase rent, do all maintenance etc all I get is an email saying i.e. toilets broken £?? to repair shall we go ahead?? They then take the cost of it out of my rent so I don't have to pay out anything.

They take a percentage of the rent as a fee - my only real 'worry' is if they trash it!!

I was advised though when you take out landlords insurance to take out the extra bit of insurance for carpets, flooring etc as if anything happens that can be quite a big bill. You have to declare it to the tax man too as the estate agents let them know

Make sure you do a credit check on any prospective tenants, the last thing you wont is one that stops paying rent,

If you put the house in the hands of a agency, you will have to pay them a fee, and depending on the amount of rent you pay (there will be a cap in your area) you need to make sure the rent covers the mortgage and the agencies fee.

You will need to hold current gas and electricity safety certificates , and any deposit you take will have to go to the deposit protection scheme, an independent body that holds the deposit for the duration the tenancy, it is mandatory to do this and if you don't you can be fined . I cant think off hand, but its around 3/4 times the deposit.

The down side of going with an agency is they wont care if you get bad tenants, they will still claim their money from you, the good side is its hassle free for you.


Which ever way you go, the only advice i will give is do your homework on your tenant, credit check, and if possible go round to their existing house and see how they look after it.. you can learn a lot by looking over a fence or at the front of the house.

I have only ever rented and not been a landlord ... but just wanted to say great news about a possible job in Scotland Whereabouts?????

Just another tip, before you rent it out, go round with a camera/video and record the condition of everything, appliances, carpets decoration, this all helps in the vent of a dispute,

I would also make stipulations , no DIY or the like, bu then that's what your deposit is for , if you have to redo what they have done, you will have the proof (camera/video) to support your case.

Well here is a story which I believe to be true, I can think of no reason why the person who told me should make it up.

When I was in Saudi Arabia I worked alongside an American guy who had rented his house out when he moved abroad. The first few months were fine but then the tennants started to get behind with the rent, then on his trips home he found that the house was being 'modified' and then it just got worse, old wrecks started appearing outside, the garden became a jungle, broken windows, and kids running around smashing up anything and everything (Well that's how he described it)

Then one day he got a phone call to say that the house had burned down to the ground it was a typical American country house with a brick inner and a wooden clad outer wall. The Fire Service told him they thought the tennants were responsible

Anyway, the next bit really amazed me, he reckons that the tennants then started to sue him for having an 'unsafe' home and he was responsible for the fire even 'tho he was 10,000 miles in Saudi at the time Apparently it went to court but the judge threw out the claim.

But, it is an example of the kind of stress that can be involved, albeit this must be an 'extreme' case and Americans (as we all know) will go to court over anything

Up to that day I'd never heard of a tennant suing a landlord

Well the appointment went well, we left basically realising that if we want to make the move now, if we sell ours and buy another we won't get the best deal as only a few lenders lend to people on maternity leave AND also with me being self-employed - and with us relocating I can't give them the letter from my employer of 'Lucy is definately returning to work...' So of course we're going to struggle renting ours out and affording to buy another, with just Paul's wage, so the best option for now is to rent ours out, and rent up in Scotland - the quickest way too Once I get back into work we can look into buying somewhere up there if we wish or maybe we'll enjoy renting - Paul sees owning a house as a noose round our necks! Also - just from looking online it seems we are able to rent nicer/bigger/more expensive houses than we can afford to get a mortgage for?!

We were shocked how much we may get pcm for our house, a few hundred a month more than the mortgage, and apparently houses are getting let out instantly around here at the moment.

Got a fella from the lettings side of the estate agents coming out to value it next Saturday and have a chat about terms and conditions of going through them to rent it out, i always shop around but this will help us answer a few initial questions.

Bril, thanks for all that info. We would definately go through an estate agents too - especially being so far away, the one we had the appointment today with charge 7% (will shop around) a month, not bad at all we didn't think and very affordable, looking at our monthly mortgage payments and what we can rent it out for a month.

Thanks Jackbox, the main thing that concerns me about bad tenants is my lovely neighbours and them having to put up with them, i am dreading telling them if we do decide to let it out - they have been such good neighbours to us, they keep their house immaculate and are retired now, so would hate for them to get new neighbours that disturb them daily, but i guess you take that gamble equally if you sell...

I'm not 'attached' to this house, i never did fall in love with it and always knew we'd only be here a few years (never imagined having children here and here we are!) so it doesn't worry me too much about it not being 'looked after', with our two hairy dogs, i think any tenant would keep it in better nick than we have We've just had it redecorated for the baby's arrival and oh my goodness, when I got up close to some corners once the furniture was moved out.... 'Trashed' though wouldn't be good so will look into cover.

Thanks Kirsty I went for a scan at the hospital yesterday (as they thought baby was still breech so near the end -he's not btw!) and Paul got the phonecall halfway through and we were both just buzzing with excitement!

Paul's only been told the sites are "Around Glasgow" so far, he's getting the list of sites later this week, they will be VERY spread out I imagine, i reackon from the border as high up as possibly Perthshire, as east as Dundee and as West as there is judging by the sites he works between in the 'north-west' now, they go as far down as Stroud, as far west as Liverpool and as far east as Pontefract so it'll always be a huge area - a bonus when deciding where to live - pretty much anywhere inbetween them! I do know there is definately one site in East Kilbride lol.

That is a FANTASTIC tip, thankyou xx

Oh Losos that's awful isn't it - god makes you realise the responsibility, and risk! If we do it, we're going to make sure we do it right, cover everything.

I'm really not surprised at that, and IMO this will be the case for a few years, maybe even five or more years, I can't see BS's and Banks handing out mortgages to all and sundry as they were from 2000 to 2007, they will be much more cautious, (just like they used to be 30 years ago.)

You've had some good tips above and if you don't rush into letting, ie you pick the kind of tennant you want, you should be OK, at least British houses are totaly brick built not half wood like a lot of American ones

I also rent my flat out, did so when I moved in with oh.
There are some very good tips on here already.
I rent mine privately, only through chance though!! Given that you are moving so far, I would definately consider putting it through an agent, it will take all the hassle out of it.
When I moved out, my neighbour upstairs asked if she could move into mine, I'd known her a couple of years and saw first hand how she lived, so said yes, no credit checks or anything!! totally mad in hindsight - but she turned out to be good, had her for 3 years with no probs.
When she she moved out, the tenant above (in her old flat) asked if he could move into mine!!! You couldnt make it up!!
I did proper credit checks on him, took her word about him, and purchased a ready made contract, almost a year later and he is also a model tenant.
I know the lady that owns and rents out the top 2 flats, she has them both with an agency as she lives in Scotland, the agent deals with everything and she barely gets involved.
I occasionally have to deal with a broken down boiler, and 2 years running, water pipes burst in the communal hallway, Nothing to do with my flat but I was the one there on my hands and knees in the middle of an icy, snow covered pavement shutting the mains water off to the offending flat!! and sucking up water before it got into my flat!!

Apparently rental properties do seem to get filled very quickly, I remember not so long ago, moneysaving expert Martin Lewis was almost recommending renting as being a possibly more positive option than a mortgage nowadays!

I make almost twice my mortgage payment through renting, I didnt do it for the money, common sense told me to hang onto my biggest asset in case this relationship fell through and I had somewhere to return to, it just hapens that the rental value is more than my mortgage payment, but then I have had my mortgage for 15years!!

Best of luck with it all x

Thanks Dreamaday xx Yeah we would definately go through an agent, we had one come out yesterday - one of the biggest (and probably the most expensive) in the area to give us a valuation and some information.

We stand to make an extra £150 a month extra, which will cover fees, landlords insurance and the rest put aside incase in a seperate bank account needed for any other bits for the house. They did 3 different levels of fees, we'd go for the middle (-but this agent charge 13% which I think is high-) that one covers them advertising, inventory, getting a tenant in, dealing with all rent, collecting and chasing, and also includes legal cover and the agent will pay any rent whilst chasing up monies, or even going to court for the rest of the contract incase the tenants do one!

The only thing that one doesn't really cover is maintenance, and although we will be miles away, Paul has a lot of contacts in all different trades living around here that he would rather get in and pay than some rip off contractor.. Paul might need to travel down from time to time with work so even he could do stuff, he can also get the gas safe certificates etc himself done.

Will get more quotes nearer the time, when Paul's got the job secured and a start date. Hopefully in the new year we'll be on the move, i'm really excited!