Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Hello! We're looking to move overseas for a couple of years, and want to rent our house out with the minimum fuss possible, but ideally to get a decent return, as we need some income to fund our adventure. Its a 4 bedroom (loft conversion) Victorian terrace, (one room currently an office, but could fit a small double) with a large eat-in kitchen and a courtyard garden (about 20x20) in the Bellenden road area. Its in good decorative order.


Roughly speaking, how much do people think is reasonable to charge? Is it better to use an agent or go private? Which agents do people recommend? And can one leave their furniture in the house or should it be unfurnished? And how hard is it to rent a house out?


Residents only - no responses from agents please!


Advice welcome! thanks.

Link to comment
https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/30197-advice-renting-out-a-house/
Share on other sites

Use a reputable agent. Fees are around the 8% mark. They will maximise the rent for you and, probably more importantly, vet all prospective tenants, arrange for repairs and other stuff you don't want to sorting out via Internet cafes and a 10 hour time difference from Sidney, Australia.

I would agree it's important to use an agent, they just need to be good. I've done it before, living abroad and having a tenanted property managed here, and it worked out really well. Can't recommend the agents as they're small and local to my old area.


Closer to home daisylets have a really good reputation, and they specialise in taking the hassle out of lettings arrangements, but - *disclaimer* - I have never actually used them and I know Claire who runs it. I'd say give her a call and have a chat or look for others who have used them for more accurate opinions :-)

See here: http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?20,963741,966076#msg-966076


I personally would not pay an agent for lettings. Fix everything before you go, buy decent boiler and land lord insurance and take out anything that a tenant could break. Find a good handyman and give him a small retainer before you go. You'll still save.


Where are you off to if you don't mind me asking?

Follow MrB's good advice. Also give your tenant the name of a good heating engineer* and electrician.

Lots of good recommendations on here such as Peter Bennison and John Powers for heating, and Gary Vu for electrics.

If you've got a friend or family member who can 'pop by' every 6 months, so much the better.

*You will need to speak to a heating engineer to get a Gas Safety cetificate, which you need by law if renting out...

Be very very careful.


Definitely try to get someone you know to keep an eye on your house and on the agent. And I don't think every 6 months is sufficiently frequent.


I've had bad experiences (including when I went travelling and let out my house) and so have friends of mine, including one who for some obscure legal reason had no recourse when tenants weren't paying rent and the agent (to whom he was paying an arm and a leg) said there was nothing they could do. As my friend was living in Sydney, it was a nightmare for him trying to sort it out.


Use an agent if possible where you have personal recommendations. I came back to find bills unpaid and the landline disconnected (less of a problem these days of mobiles, of course). Plus the agent's (lack of) checking the inventory was absolutely pathetic.


I really didn't know what I had actually been paying the agent for, as they appeared to do f*** all.

We let out our house for 6 months while we were in Australia and used an estate agent. It all worked out fine, but one thing we hadn't realised is that the estate agent didn't pay us the rent every month as they received it, but paid it quarterly. I had been relying on a nice regular monthly payment to cover the mortgage and was rather unpleasantly surprised to find this wasn't the case.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Honestly, the squirrels are not a problem now.  They only eat what has dropped.  The feeders I have are squirrel proof anyway from pre-cage times.  I have never seen rats in the garden, and even when I didn't have the cage.  I most certainly would have noticed them.  I do have a little family of mice which I have zero problem about.  If they stay outside, that's fine with me.  Plus, local cats keep that population down.  There are rats everywhere in London, there is plenty of food rubbish out in the street to keep them happy.  So, I guess you could fit extra bars to the cage if you wanted to, but then you run the risk of the birds not getting in.  They like to be able to fly in and out easily, which they do.   
    • Ahh, the old "it's only three days" chestnut.  I do hope you realise the big metal walls, stages, tents, toilets, lighting, sound equipment, refreshments, concessions etc don't just magically appear & disappear overnight? You know it all has to be transported in & erected, constructed? And that when stuff is constructed, like on a construction site, it's quite noisy & distracting? Banging, crashing, shouting, heavy plant moving around - beep beep beep reversing signals, engines revving - pneumatic tools? For 8 to 10 hours a day, every day? And that it tends to go on for two or three weeks before an event, and a week after when they take it all down again? I'm sure my boys' GCSE prep won't be affected by any of that, especially if we close the windows (before someone suggests that as a resolution). I'm sure it won't affect anyone at the Harris schools either, actually taking their exams with that background noise.
    • Thanks for the good discussion, this should be re-titled as a general thread about feeding the birds. @Penguin not really sure why you posted, most are aware that virtually all land in this country is managed, and has been for 100s of years, but there are many organisations, local and national government, that manage large areas of land that create appropriate habitats for British nature, including rewilding and reintroductions.  We can all do our bit even if this is not cutting your lawn, and certainly by not concreting over it.  (or plastic grass, urgh).   I have simply been stating that garden birds are semi domesticated, as perhaps the deer herds in Richmond Park, New Forest ponies, and even some foxes where we feed them.  Whoever it was who tried to get a cheap jibe in about Southwark and the Gala festival.  Why?  There is a whole thread on Gala for you to moan on.  Lots going on in Southwark https://www.southwark.gov.uk/culture-and-sport/parks-and-open-spaces/ecology-and-wildlife I've talked about green sqwaky things before, if it was legal I'd happily use an air riffle, and I don't eat meat.  And grey squirrels too where I am encourage to dispatch them. Once a small group of starlings also got into the garden I constructed my own cage using starling proof netting, it worked for a year although I had to make a gap for the great spotted woodpecker to get in.  The squirrels got at it in the summer but sqwaky things still haven't come back, starlings recently returned.  I have a large batch of rubbish suet pellets so will let them eat them before reordering and replacing the netting. Didn't find an appropriately sized cage, the gaps in the mesh have to be large enough for finches etc, and the commercial ones were £££ The issue with bird feeders isn't just dirty ones, and I try to keep mine clean, but that sick birds congregate in close proximity with healthy birds.  The cataclysmic obliteration of the greenfinch population was mainly due to dirty feeders and birds feeding close to each other.  
    • Another recommendation for Niko - fitted me in the next day, simple fix rather than trying to upsell and a nice guy as well. Will use again
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...