BAY

Further to the threads on whether to let or sell.

Can those of you who have let their house whilst in Australia, what advice can you give as to what to do and what not to do.

I've been told its best to let it unfurnished to avoid having problems should things break. Any comments ?

I've also been told to give someone in the UK power of atterney for the house. Any comments ?

How do you avoid problem tennents ?

How do you go about getting/finding a good letting agent ?
Is specialist insurance available against problem tennants ?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Bryan

glittababe

We rented our house out, but our letting agents were terrible. They all come over and promise to thoroughly vet tenants, make regular checks on them, ensure collection of money etc Bluntly put.......it doesn't happen! We had 'apparently' good agents but they thoroughly ripped us off! Under valued the monthly amount for starters, so it obviously got let out pretty quick, then charged us 13%, plus over £298 for the inventory check, photo's, video and other things that we still haven't worked out! All in all, really not worth it. You'll also find you have no rights, the tenants have them all. I'd get regular calls at 3am from the agents threatening all sorts! They rang one day to say the heating wasn't working and that if we didn't sort it out, they'd call out a plumber at 2.30am at our expense. Hubby and I panicked as we couldn't work out what could be wrong. We sent MIL round who said there wasn't a problem with the heating, the tenants just couldn't programme the timer! We called the letting agents and they said "our tenants complained the heating wasn't working because they couldn't switch it off at 3am and the noise from the boiler was keeping them awake, we called a heating engineer out to programme it for them, you will have to pay him!" We were furious! We'd left the instructions to the boiler (oil) and showed the tenant how to use it before we left.

Oh an it doesn't matter if you leave someone else in charge of all the paperwork etc cos the agents will still call you, or get your relative/friend so worried they'll call you! Letting agents are sharks!

moneypenny20

I think your experience is part of our reasoning for selling, burning our bridges and taking the money Providing we sell the house anyway - oh happy days!

kirsty&al

One thing to watch out for is the IR still have interest when you go abroad. You have to get a exemption, unless you want your agent or tenant to pay your tax for you.

Regards
Alistair

glittababe

both mark and I have said that if we'd have sold the house, we wouldn't have come back to the UK! We supposidly had one of the best letting agents around here. I think after our experience we wouldn't trust another one now, no matter what recommendation! You're doing the best thing!

glittababe

Yep we did that, completed all the forms but then the agents take 13% of the rental value per month plus VAT! If we hadn't had completed the exemption forms it would have been 22% plus VAT!

chaval

Havent let my house out cos im still in the uk, however I will be brealing all ties with this place and take my chance I wont have to come back to find I cant get on the housing ladder...anyway with respect ot your questions..here goes...

...I used to know someone that worked for a letting agent and said they were appalled at the way they ran the business....gettting a plumber friend to inflate bills etc cos they knew the owner was out the country and would have no choice to pay ( I better say that Im sure not all agents are the same) so you might be better off renting it to a university direct or privately

...If you let it furnished you have to make sure all the furniture is fire regulated (has a triangle on it) otherwise you could be breaking the law. If you do let it furnished you can claim wear and tear. One way round it is to lease the furniture to the tenant as a seperate agreement.

...You really shouldnt give someone a power of attorney unless you wouldnt have a quarm if they sell it when your in oz and go off round the world with the proceeds !!!

...As for finding good tenants I suppose you want refs from previous places and employer.

Anyway...these are only my "thoughts" and shouldnt be taken as legal advice.

It should at least give you a few ideas.

Cheers

C

glittababe

Now ya tell us! Ah well you live and learn hey? Won't make that mistake again!

chaleyscott

I have rented out a few properties over the years myself and can give you the following advice based on my experience. If you are getting the tenants yourself (which is better i think) then get recent employers and bankers references on HEADED PAPER. This way if they do a runner you have some way to trace them and make a bit of trouble for them which can act as a bit of a deterrent. Also make sure you have a couple of months rent in advance as a deposit should they trash it or disappear. If you can, I would leave a reliable member of the family to deal with any problems rather than an agent- just leave them a list of plumbers, electricians etc should something go wrong. You will find the likelihood is you'll hardly hear from your tenants unless you are very unlucky. I go months on end without a dicky bird -sometimes the whole 6 month tenancy.

Going through an agent I personally think is not a good idea and not just because of the extra money. When I have used them for their tenant finder service I had no idea what checks they did on them and when I asked for copies of references they wouldn't give them to me which renders the service next to useless. Therefore, if the tenants do a disappearing act I have no means of tracing them. You can also get a standard tenancy agreement over the internet pretty easily or at the council I believe, so again the agent isn't really needed.

One warning I would give that I had the bitter experience of is if you manage it yourselves (through a friend or relative) do not listen to sob stories about late payments. You have to be tough as I found out. One tenant pleaded poverty around Christmas time and I gave him the benefit of the doubt and this dragged out for over three months with no payments and then he did a bunk! You must insist on payment ON TIME EVERY MONTH and be prepared to throw them out physically if they don't oblige (this is illegal but its the only way to get out some of them out - I wish I had done that now but I played it safe and was horribly ripped off).

I have to say that I have only had one bad experience with tenants out of all of the ones I have had.

I hope this helps.

BAY

Power of atterney would obviously be someone I trusted 100% ie. parents or brother or sisters .... and I do trust them 100%

Anyway many thanks for your reply.

BAY

Thank you for all your replies.

I'm of the opinion that I don't want to sell the house straight away when we go to Australia. I think you have to play it safe and have it as a safe guard if the move to Australia doesn't work out. I've read too many stories of people who sold the house when they went to Australia and then found it hard to get back on the housing ladder when they came back to the UK. Obviously not everyone can have the option of not selling, many need the money to help in the move. I'm aware that its a bit negative to be thinking of things not working out but you have to be realistic and plan for every eventuality.
I'm also aware that I would be taxed something like 48% on the gain in value of the house if I decided to sell at sometime in the future, having decided to stay in Australia.

The general concensus seems to be not to let the house out due to too many iffy tennants. I've heard this not only from this forum but other people I've spoken to. My other option would then to be leave the house empty.