Sioban

We are planning on moving to Brisbane in March 2012 and due to housing market and exchange rates will have to let our house.

I presume we are not alone in our situation but feel very nervous about the prospect of being so far away should anything go wrong. I have started to look at agencies and was wondering if anyone could recommend/advise against using any particular agents.

I would be very grateful for any advice.

Bermudashorts

Quite a few of us have made the same decision as you over the last year or so. My advice is to stop thinking about the house as your home the minute you hand those keys over to the estate agent, it is now your business.

Pay for full management services and don't burden your family, that will only stress htem and you. Agencies tend to be localised so don't know any in your area, we just chose one of the well known / well established but not national ones in our area.

On the whole my management agent do not bother me with stuff, they just get on with it. The first lot of tenants complained about everything and anything, we had to pay for someone to go round to change a lightbulb once (I kid you not) but thankfully the current lot seem a bt more normal.

We accept that there will be maintenance costs and that there will be wear and tear on the house, you will need to pay for things from time to time, you might need to even buy a new washing machine or something, don't get in a flap every time you have to pay for something, that is part of running a business.

We did up our house before we moved out, we didn't like the idea of someone "spoiling it". We have reconciled to that now, we have told ourselves if we ever go back we will put down new carpets and spruce it up again.

RossCountyLoyal

you may want to consider a rent to buy scheme. This is where someone pays rent, but has choice also to buy house. Once you are committed though, you are committed ie. the house is not yours to go back to. Look up "quick sale" for details.

Bermudashorts

What is the advantage of such a scheme?

paddyo

I would second a lot of what Bermudashorts has said. Also, without a shadow of a doubt get Buildings Insurance for your property, which covers fixtures and fittings and also consider getting as policy which covers Boiler repairs, Oven repairs, etc etc. I have one with Domestic and General and covers my Boiler and all plumbing, plus Oven and Dishwasher.

JAJ

If you are paying a mortgage be prepared to either a. pay for permission from your lender to let, and b. to see your interest rate increased.

paddyo

Luckily I have had neither....no charge to let out and no increase in my mortgage terms or interest rate. Bit of a 'chance your luck' with some lenders though so I have been lucky.

Sioban

I have started looking into fees involved and they mount up - between paying building society higher rate, paying agency fees and insurances etc, fortunately there is a fair bit of equity in the house so we should still gain slightly.

We are treating the house as our investment for the future - hope it all ticks over and eventually prices will improve here and we can sell or our mortgage will be paid off and we will make a profit.

I have visited a few agencies but not been very impressed - one franchise owner talked the talk and gave me great deal of info but I overheard a telephone call which he took and didn't really like his attitude. I am very wary of choosing an agent and getting it wrong, so have given myself plenty of time to sort it out.

paddyo

Don't forget that as a Non Domiciled Owner you also do not have to pay tax on your household income, there is a well known form (N1 or something like that) which you can download from the Tax Office and pass that to your agent so that, after Fees, they pass the whole lot to you rather than taking tax off as well.
Agent Fees obviously vary but as an example ours is 10%, for that I get piece of mind that all paperwork is covered by them, they carry out regular inspections, they handle all the checking of references of potential renters etc etc. The Insurance again is for piece of mind, all it takes is one broken boiler and massive leak and your floors and carpets etc will be ruined.

Turban Explorer

One thing I would have done differently with the flats is to leave virtually nothing there at all. I provided fridges, beds, dishwashers, washing machines etc and that's a cause of hassle. There was no premium involved for me either in semi-furnishing the properties I have. Also, you have to replace and mend things that break down. Personally I was so disappointed with the 3 agents I tried I just went it alone and have had my friend open up and then deal directly from my lawyer to the tenant - saves a huge amount of money and I found the estate agents did nothing other than to try and rip me off by bringing in their shoddy overpriced contractors when something went wrong.

Bermudashorts

Non resident owner. You have no idea how upsetting it is to us accountants to see the words domiciled and resident mixed up.

I have not had to change mortgage either, but I spoke to mortgage provider once and said we were moving temporarily (white lie) and they said they were happy to keep us on the current mortgae for two years but no longer. So we have set ourself goal of paying mortgage off in next two years.

Alfresco

I wish we could do that, but sadly it won't happen.

We changed lenders and to an IO mortgage, so at least it's positive cashflow for now.

Bermudashorts

It's not going to be easy, will require some nice bonuses and a favourable exchange rate (i.e. weak GBP) and if that goes our way we think we could do it by Christmas next year.

Our cashflow not great at moment with regard to renting business, we will probably have a sizeable tax bill as we pay virtully no interest on our tracker rate, still the rent is helping to pay off the mortgage debt.

h2oskineil

You have to complete a NR1 form http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/nrl1.pdf
Without this form being submitted the agent looking after the property has to deduct the tax from the rental received.

NR1 Guidance notes.... http://www.sabbaticalhomes.co.uk/non...s_notes_bw.pdf

I had Landlord insurance.... strongly recommend as if your tenant looses their job, becomes ill and cannot pay the rent, the insurance will pay until you get a new tenant. http://www.letsure.co.uk/

Benefits of Letsure's Rent & Legal Protection

Letsure provides a product with high levels of cover at a competitive price. The key benefits are shown below:

100% of your monthly rental income for up to 12 months or until vacant possession is achieved whichever happens sooner.
75% of your monthly rental income for up to 2 months after vacant possession has been achieved whilst you are trying to relet the property.
Covers monthly rents up to £5,000 (higher amounts may be available on request)
Provides a legal service that will seek to evict your tenant for non-payment of rent.
Provides up to £60,000 of legal cover to defend a legal action brought against you by a tenant and to remove squatters.

Sioban

I was advised by an agent that the initial rental contract should be for 6 months as it easier to get rid of a bad tenant doing this - the contract could then be extended (at extra cost to myself of £50 plus VAT).

I would prefer to know that the property is let for a longer term and will be taking landlords insurance - just wondering what anyone else has done.