Zambia

Re the renting is a minefield Post. Thought I would throw two cents in

This is true , but is it any more of a minefiled than moving your family to the other side of the world?

House being Trashed
Yes people can trash your house, they can also mind a asset but that's where getting a good rental manager comes in. However that's another cost on average 10% of the rental. Never mind the finders fee.:curse:

Furniture
Well a rented house does not need the best of furniture. I personally simply moved in some rough & ready stuff from the bargain & charity shops. It cost about 500-600 Quid but the upside is it is expendable. do not supply a TV I think that makes you liable to pay a TV Licence.

Mortgage covering rent
Right here you have to trim the mortgage by as much as possible interest only if you can as you are then not liable for tax. Taking into account you will be paying a rental manager and will need a little emergency kitty to sort out unforseen events Boilers, new washing machine etc. Then add rates/tax Plus insurance and you want a bit of cash building for the yearly tenant change over clean.

Why have someone manage the property and not my friend/Family?
Simple even if you think your family friends are fine with looking after your nest egg chances are they will get pretty tired of it after a while. If you must go down this route offer them some financial gain for it , times are tight and every penny counts.

If anyone wants a check list here is my proposed one

1. See if you can get a break from your mortgage to build up the cash to see to below.
2. Inform mortgage crowd you are going to be renting the property.
3. Ask same mortgage crowd if you can reduce the repayments by interest only or some other means.
4. Inform insurance company see what they say about it switch insurers if need be.
5. Hire a rental manager look for recommended ones. Don't forget haggle a bit
6. ensure he/she will handle all events relating to the house. leave them a budget that they can act on immediately e.g. 75 quid to call a plumber
7. Ensure you have a way of getting the rental manager cash from abroad.
8. See if you can pay your rates of yearly this may be cheaper than monthly. Reduces the Rent vs Mortgage ratio.
9. If you are shipping your furniture , buy decent clean replacements. Dont go nuts spending on this.
10. Clean your house well in the furniture change over period when your house is bare.
11. Inspect the house ensure it is up to less careful occupiers, Seal anything in the bathrooms/Kitchen that could leak or cause leaks.
12. Leave hooks to hang picture in logical places, if you do it well no-one else needs to do it badly.
13. Look about for the solicitor that will sell your house from abroad, easier when your in the UK to find one. Ask them to check you have everything you need to sell your house. It would not be good to loose your dream house in Oz 3 years down the line because you did not have deed x or there was some oversight that delayed your sale. Get his/her email address so you can deal with them cheaply
14. Might also be a good idea to look for a cleaning crowd that does tenant change over cleans, however this is something F&F might do for you.

This is all based that in a few years the market may pick up and you can sell the house at a decent price(or even just sell the house at all).

Great Escape

I guess everyone's in the same boat at the moment. We don't want to rent out either - we'd rather have a clean break from the UK and some cash behind us to start our new life in Oz. So, with no buyers (or viewers :curse on the horizon, we've booked our validation trip for Jan/Feb next year. Only 4 months to go and we'll be in Sydney, checking out their houses .

charlie-k

Great post Zambia.
Beth,
We came back from validation trip thouroughly deflated - in same situation but not for as long as you!
I remember how excited we all were when eventually granted Visas.
Keep your chins up people, it's not forever.

rosebee

Hi guys

Just thought I would jump in and say hi to you all and good luck with the selling, it was the most stressful thing I had to do in years.

Beth, I know how you feel after the validation trip, I didn't even want to get on the plane to head back to the uk. So, I know how you are feeliing, when we eventually sold I felt as if a great weight had been lifted from me. (Probably not the best choice of words, but it is all I can come up with at the moment).

So far so good, enjoying life and the sun........

Lesley-ann

BethandAndrew

Thanks for all your support

Great post Zambia.........have already checked out renting as an option, but it's def not financially credible for us!!!! So we wait to sell

Beth x x

Lornagoingtobrissy

Its hard i remember sitting in Brisbane airport in floods of tears waiting for flight back to uk on our validation trip.
Now 3 months later still waiting for house to sell not finding it any easier.
Australia seems such a long time ago and dont see any way of getting back soon.

Oakwood 2

Just wondering if anyone is dead set against renting out there uk
property under any situation.
I have a uk property mortgage free etc, and due to the slow market
may have to put tennants in it i am not fishing for tax advise, well to
get to the point if you were in my boat would you just sit it out
and wait until market picks up ?or live in Australia gaining the rent
and poblems that could hap with tennants

koalakim

Hi

I think if you are waiting to come out and can't sell, if the rent covers the mortgage then maybe just go for it?

I emailed the agent who looks after our place yesterday and enquired about sales and he said forget it - prices keep going lower and no takers. Even surveyors are having trouble valuing properties. So it could be a couple of years before anything improves.

Having said that I've just seen on BBC website that Abbey are now offering a good fixed rate for those with 15% deposit down from 25% - so maybe a few more offers like that about might help a bit. One day there is a ray of hope the next day it's dashed! These things never used to bother me until now!

We rented our place out for a couple of reasons but now wish we had sold when we could. It is a constant worry that it will be occupied as otherwise it's a dip into the savings to pay the mortgage. We've only had two lots of tenants in and they've made a right pigsty of the place - no big damage but the carpets are still dirty despite a clean and some of our furniture was damaged.

If you are going to rent out you have to step back from it being your home which we have found very difficult. Fortunately we are going back once a year at the moment so we are able to keep an eye on it.

If the above poster doesn't have a mortgage on the property then you are in a good situation as with many the rent just about covers the outgoings so there is no spare. Plus you can use the rent as income - okay you'll get taxed on it but there are loads of offsets you can claim. In my small experience of all this is that it's really only worth it if you don't have much mortgage on it.

Having said that life is short to put it on hold (just had a friend pass away so it brings it all home) so you have to make the best of the worst at the moment.

Good luck to everyone!

Zambia

Go ....

Oakwood 2

yes its a dead set big question i tell you, to Rent or not to rent ?
i think a six months lease while in the uk just to keep an eye on
things, or just leave it with the agents with a last resort if any
big problems arise to get in touch with relatives in the uk::
mmmmm.

Zambia

Oakwood are you telling me you are going to sit in the UK watching other people live in your house for six months , where are you going to live ?

Just go

Oakwood 2

Very understanding parents in law
yer it sounds like stalking the tennants, but i bet a lot of people do its a major thing to do renting out.

Zambia

Well true but life's too short mate. as an exercise list out the things that people will do to your house that you being there will prevent. i take it you wont be outside it 24/7

Basically walk away from it and use some of the Mortgage free rent to build up a re-furb in the future. Prior to selling. unless you hire Gengis khan as a tennant there not much they can do that a re-fit wont fix.

I would love to be in Your position.

lolylew

hi everyone,

beth, i've just read your leaving for oz this month, i wish you all the luck you deserve it!!!!!

quick update from me - cant remember what i last said??????
well, my OH got offered a job over here when we came and validated in october last year.

we still couldnt sell the house in the UK so decided to rent it - we've managed to secure a year rental on it, to someone i knows friend - she seems really nice so thats put my mind at ease - i also have really good neighbours who can be nosey for me, lol!!!!!!!

we finally flew on january 11th, we were dead jammy, as my OH's company paid for our flights and they flew us business class, i just love turning left on the plane (robson green was in business class with us!!!) - so we've been here 1 month now, and have to say am absolutely loving it so far - the only thing i can say is to be prepared to be forking out alot of money when you first get here, but that will ease over time!!!!

we did have a little issue - my 13 year old daughter all of a sudden decided she didnt want to go and refused to get on the plane, and she didnt decide to say she wasnt coming until we were literally about to enter onto the plane, we couldnt persude her and the air hostess had to take her away to calm her down - luckily she eventually bought her back to my relief, the plane was delyaed on the tarmac for about half an hour and all i was thinking was i wish the plane would just take off so she couldnt throw another wobbley!!!!!
anyway....fingers crossed since then shes been absolutely fine, we had 3 weeks before they started back at school so did loads of good things to keep them amused (inbetween doing all the boring stuff, ie, tax file no, medicare, driving licences, school interviews, school uniform shopping (rip off prices), school books and stationery shopping (yes you have to pay for all their books, writing paper, photocopying paper, scissors, glue etc, etc ect.......well you do in WA, not sure about all other states?)

the kids have been back at school just under a week now, and so far are really enjoying it, my daughter on her second day was no longer the newest student, so that was good! she absolutely hated the school uniform tho' - i think me singing 'home and away' in the shchool uniform shop didnt help, lol!!!!!! and the shoes....not even i think that black leather lace ups are a good look, lol!!!!!!

we're currently in temporary company accommodation for three months while we wait for our furniture to arrive and find ourselves our own place - its clean, tidy and free so i cant moan (well it was tidy before we got there )

the weather is amazing, the beaches are beautiful - we had a great australia day - bunbury, where we live had a fantastic do on, ending in a wicked firework display lasting half an hour, tree times i though it was the finale - the best fireworks i've seen!!!!!!

anyway i've rambled on long enough, i said this was only going to be a quick update, lol!!!!!!

good luck beth, i want to hear your update as soon as you can

lisa

Damson

I don't know if it's possible to sign a power of attorney document with a solicitor before you go giving a very trusted party (eg parents) the power to 'do the deal for you' in your absence.

Possibly urban myths, but I thought I'd throw it into the mix for others to do their own research.

1) It is more difficult to evict families/people with pets than couples due to the kids/pets being made homeless.
2) It is more difficult to evict someone from a furnished property (I think it's because they are being 'thrown out' with few possessions).
3) You should never rent out a property that is completely mortgage free. The reason being apparently (and I did read about a couple that did this) that the tenant can sell it as their own and it isn't picked up due to the fact that mortgage payments aren't being missed.
4) A woman I used to work with rented hers to the local Housing Association with the rent being guaranteed to be paid into her account (therefore no need to worry about rent not being paid) and they would pay for any damage. She didn't have to sort out agency fees either. She's an out and out snob and was concerned about DSS people (as she called it - told you she was a snob!) living in her house. She just thought of winenoes but in fact got some really nice families. She has never had any problems.

All just food for thought.