OK I see what you mean now, having read some other threads, about that particular poster. You are correct.

Indeed!!

I see your point on other matters also, these discussions do bring to the surface that every situation is different.

There's only one fool in this thread and it isn't me, you or the original poster. We all know who it is.

Thanks for your input Beppe, and your well wishes.

Hes been banned now hunni...we dont need preachers like that, there not helpful at all....btw hows you doing? xxx

He's been banned? When did that happen?

Hey I'm good Rach, hows the plan going?

Techieguy has been banned. Nuff said. This is the second thread which has just become a discussion about him, anyone would think you wanted him back.

Can we please get back on topic.

Alright, Pollyanna!!! Was that said in an Eastender accent? Nuff said!!

Thought I would maybe try to put a different tack to the thread.

We too were in a similar situation with trying to sell our flat with no luck. I read about private letting in the telegraph newspaper & decided to pursue it further to see if it would be of any use.

We had to spend about £1000 to register as landlords and get tenancy agreements written up, we pay £95 a year to our mortgage provider so that we can rent it out on our original mortgage so we don't have to take out a buy to let mortgage (at a much higher rate,) their only stipulation is that the tenancy agreement contains a couple of clauses that they give you (things like if you fall behind on your repayments they have the right to evict your tennant & reposess your home. We now have a lovely DSS housing tennant who let us view the flat that she was in at the time (immaculate condition but has mice & students who party downstairs hence the reason she wanted to move) with a guaranteed rental income for 2 years & no agency fees although you can guarantee for up to 5 years only drawback is they need a contact in this country for repairs etc (we have nice friends .) We will need to do any repairs that the property needs but not things damaged by the tennant.

We don't have the capital to buy outright like we would have liked in Oz but at least the house is now paying for itself. Contact your local housing authority they will probably be able to help, they have a standard weekly rate that they will pay per room that goes up on a sliding scale, unfortunately our local authority didn't do it so we had to find the tennant ourselves, a quick ask around friends & collegues brings up some of the most surprising results!

Perhaps another option to look into if you don't need the cash out of your home right away.

Wish the OP the very best of luck.

ps it's the students who party all night not the mice!

Very useful advice.
So the housing authority do not take any responsibility for repairs?
Or do they class what they will and will not be responsible for?

apologies as i have not read all the thread and you have my sympathy as we were in this position in scotland at one point ( i had just had a baby and hubby lost his job), anyway we managed to claw our way outta it, and thankfully not get our house repossessed.

As it is your own property you are responsible for repairs to the fabric of the building. So generally if anything was to happen to the property that would need fixed eg boiler blowing up then it would be down to you to fix it. The way we are looking at it is as the home owners (if we were living in the property) if we called the housing authority and asked them to fit a new kitchen or shower for us they are hardly going to say yes. I'm trying to find a link to the company we contacted, they only did Edinburgh & the borders in Scotland but they do have offices right through the UK when I find it I'll post it here.

I guess I was hoping that as the housing authority would have their own infrastructure for doing all the repairs on their own homes that it would be simple to extend that to yours. Even if they sent you the bill at the end of it, it takes the hassle out of getting it done yourself from overseas.

Yes, post the link if you can find it, I'm sure many people in this situation would be interested.

Still on the hunt for the website but here is some info on repairs I found on my travels

By law, your landlord has a number of repairing responsibilities, including repairing and keeping in working order:-

* the structure and exterior of the premises, including drains, gutters and external pipes
* the water and gas pipes and electric wiring (including, for example, taps and sockets)
* the basins, sinks, baths and toilets
* fixed heaters (for example, gas fires) and water heaters (but not gas or electric cookers).

Your landlord has these duties by law, no matter what is written in the tenancy agreement. However, if you ask your landlord to do these repairs they may attempt to regain possession of the property or not renew the agreement when it expires. Before attempting to use this general right to repairs you should consult an experienced adviser.

found it

http://www.orchard-shipman.com/

It is called private sector leasing if you google that it should give you info for someone in your area that does it. Orchard & shipman only do it in some parts of Scotland & London from the looks of it. I know when we called them they told us to contact the local housing authority in Glasgow who only told us that they didn't have the scheme in place so wasn't of any great help. When I told them we were planning to move out of the country they did insist that the paperwork contained contact details for someone in the UK who could take to do with the repairs, maybe some LHA's have different ideas as you know nowhere in Britain seems to sing from the same song sheet!

We have actually sourced tradespeople who will be able to do any repair for us & left details of this with our contacts. The only pointers I can give people who plan to do this themselves.

1. You must register yourself as a landlord (it is now illegal to rent a property in the UK without this so no way is DSS going to pay if you aren't registered)

2. Mortgage companies will only allow you to do this for a year at a time unless you take a buy to let mortgage since ours was nearly 2% less than a buy to let one we figured get the year on the lower rate then move to buy to let, however speaking to people in banking there is generally no problem with a renewal on your own mortgage the following year if you don't fall behind with payments etc.

3. Make sure that you have someone trustworthy that can assure rent is paid each month (Glasgow don't pay direct to landlords any more & from what I can gather that is UK wide, so your tenant will get the money first) presumably if you are lucky enough to live in an area that does run the scheme the agent will be paid so you probably wouldn't have any hassle

4. Don't write your own tenancy agreement (unless you have a legal background.) This was the heftiest of our bills but you need to hand over about 3 forms before you actually hand over the tenancy agreement otherwise all sorts of things can crop up. Also if it comes to it get them back involved for an eviction. We had heard about someone who hadn't paid their rent for two months the landlord put their belongings out on the street & then had to pay them £25,000 compensation for their trouble!

5. Start early! The whole process for us took nearly 2 months, our tenant had to give a month's notice on her own property.

6. If your area does not run the scheme ask the prospective tenant if you can view their property at the moment before offering them an agreement you will at least have an idea of whether your home is likely to be trashed (clearly not going to happen)

7. If the rental income will not cover your outgoings on the property you will need to think long and hard whether this is for you. You will most likely need to look at sending money back from Australia to cover any excess dues.

We are in a good position from the point of view we don't have to move to interest only for the flat to sustain itself. This isn't going to a fix for everyone just another option that I am throwing into the pot that has helped us see a little light at the end of the tunnel. When I'm out in Oz I need to look at the option of using my property here as collateral for a mortgage in Australia but that's for later will let you know how that goes!

Think I've covered most things but if anyone thinks of something I've missed just shout I'll help you if I can.