BAY

Has anyone rented their house out to friends ? , thereby saving on agents fees.

We've have two sets of friends express an interest in renting our house when we go to Australia.

My concern is that I'd still like a proper contract , to save on any nasty unforeseen problems that may arise.

Has anyone any advice and how would I go about getting a proper contract drawn up ?

sel

I rented a house for a while from a family friend and it all worked fine. She just went to her Solicitor and had a contract drawn up, it was all very straightforward ... don't know how much it cost her but definately cheaper all round to cut out the middle man.

Bix

I suppose it can work very well and of course would be cheaper all round but be very carefull.

I know a friend who rented to a friend he knew well and who totally recked the place inside 3 months. No contract in place so no recourse.

You defo need a contract which should cover eventualities. I would search on the web as there are often draft or examples of these type things on there.

Even better go to an agent and say you are considering renting so would like to study their terms and conditions. They usually have handout booklets detailing everything.

You can then see what needs to be covered and draft it with your own solicitor.

LindyLoo

Be careful....as long as you are professional about this and the friends know where they stand and what's expected of them, there should be few problems.

Our solicitor advised us just to use a standard lease that you can download off the net. I used one that I bought from the HMSO government shop. I think it cost £6. Much cheaper than the one my solicitor would have drawn up.

It can be a pain if something goes wrong and you have to organise getting it fixed from Oz - at present we haven't had many problems over the past 18 months.

I have heard a few nightmare/scare stories. But not in my experience (however limited that is).