Alfresco

Ouch! When did this start?

Scotty1

Hi London Irish - think your agent may be confusing a few things as well as charging you a fortune. If the tenants don't pay the rent, you are well within your rights to start proceedings to seek possession of the property. However if the tenant can't afford to pay (ie lost job or something else has changed) then they should be entitled to housing benefit which should cover a lot (but perhaps not all) the rent. Although it can take a while to evict anyone, not just those with children, and be expensive, there is no reason not to do it for up to a year. The local authority then may have responsibilites for the tenant's children to ensure they have somewhere to live, but that is a different issue.
Your agent would probably be better off ensuring that your tenants can pay the rent before letting your property and helping them get housing benefit if needed. 15% is quite a high agency fee even for london - I used to pay 10 in london, admittedly a few years ago.
This is the letting agencies professional body. A good place to start if looking for a good agent

http://www.arla.co.uk/

Scotty

Scotty1

Hi paulry

I used these people when I let out my home in richmond a while back

http://www.jamesanderson.co.uk/

Very happy with service and I used them for three years. May be not quite the right place but still somewhere to start.

Scotty

paulry

Hi Scotty, Their areas appear to only include SW13, 14 and 15. I'm TW14. But thanks anyway

stuartsummers1980

None of the big players are out in TW14 so your best bet is to go on findaproperty.com, rightmove.co.uk or primelocation.com and see who has the best market presence in terms of number of properties. Its a safe bet to then go with one of them. If TW14 is where I think it is then there's going to be some seriously low flying aircraft around there, so you'll need a good agent!

stuartsummers1980

Just to second this, I've never heard of children in a property preventing you from seeking possession especially where the tenancy is an Assured Shorthold Tenancy. There are certain complexities with regards to a tenant dieing and the safeguards their children then have (I'm referring here to adult children though).

As for fees 15% is standard in London if you use muliple agents to attempt to find you a tenant, but sole agency should allow you to bring that agent down to around 13-13.5%

Last but not least probably no need to go on Arla's website to find an agent but do go with an agent that are ARLA registered, but it should say so on their website.

paulry

I've identifed a few that seem to have a good presence in this area. Yes, it is close to the airport but we are kind of alongside the runway rather than at the end of it. There is a good demand for rentals in the area mostly because of the airport being close. Anywhere down this end of London seems to be affected by the airport. A couple of weeks ago I was at Windsor Castle and the aircraft noise was deafening. I don't know how the queen puts up with it

Once we've moved to Aus I'll be glad to live in a less busy area

paulry

This has proven to be a good exercise . It's revealed two estate agents with 20% coverage each and a third with 15%. No letting agents with more than 5%.

Will probably interview the three biggys.

Thanks for the tip

paulry

I've just stumbled across this, it could be useful to know:

Budget 2010: what capital gains tax means for expats

spilko

I have used IMS lettings for the last 2 years - no problems. They sort all the electric/gas safety certificates etc and handle all the utilities. I pay around 40 pound a month. This is less than 10%.

Make sure you are registered as an overseas landlord for tax purposes (NRL1) and make sure you let you Home Insurers and Mortgage provider know. Note that the NRL1 does not mean you do not pay tax (as stated by someone previously). Rather it means that the letting agent does not take tax out of the rental income before giving it to you. You may still have to pay tax depending on your UK income.

Alfresco

Thanks for the reminder.

man_called_Horse

Do you actually have an Irish accent? If so you might find it very persuasive in such situations. Make them an offer they cant refuse its often worked for me.

MaCCCa

So if I have no UK income and I am letting my house out while in Australia am I liable to pay some tax? Or none at all? My Mortgage is interest only and rental income after fees would mean I will break even (or perhaps gain £20)

Also should I continue my life insurance policy for that mortgage?

Bermudashorts

You pay tax on profit, so if you have no profit the tax charge will be zero.

If you want your mortgage to be paid off in the event of your unfortunate and untimely demise, life insurance will come in handy.

Scotty1

Check that it will cover a non uk resident before you continue it