Renting your house out in UK

[Liz and Kris UK]

Hi everyone

 

I was just wondering whether anybody has left or is leaving a house in the UK up for rent. We will be emigrating as soon as our house in the UK rents out, it should rent out fairly quickly as is in the town centre and is near hospital etc. We are not selling as on a fixed mortgage rate untill next year and would like to keep property as an investment and market poor at the moment. We will be renting our property through an agent however I am nervous about leaving property in UK and being on the other side of the world. Has anyone else gone or going through the same process.

 

Kristian

[Guest Roo1]

OooooH yes and still am, a year down the track. Unfortunatly I have no other option but to rent. Its still up for sale, a year after I emigrated and it pi**es me off no end. My house is already at a "give away" price but the market is just so slow where I used to live, I've had no offers.

 

Fortunatly I've had my parents to keep an eye on the place but as they are emigrating over here at the end of the year, I just hope I get a buyer.

 

I've had 2 tenants already. The first stole my washing machine, lawn mower and didn't report a leaking toliet, so my kitchen ceiling needed mending. The second broke my front door lock on her first day and complained when I was having new plastic alcoves put up because the skip was in her way.

 

My parents have been in 3 times now and have painted through out the downstairs as walls were filthy and my mum, bless her, has had to scrub the kitchen clean.

 

My advice is sell if you can. But if you do want to keep hold of it and see what the market does, make sure you have someone in the U.K who can go and "fix up" your property for selling after your tenant has moved out or be prepared to fly back and do it yourself.

 

The day I sell, you'll be able to hear me partying all the way from Adelaide, believe me!

Best of luck with your decison.

Judi x

[Guest ozzy wannabe]

I'm not 100% sure but I was told when we orginally let our house out, that you will have to pay capital gains on your property unless you sell it before the 12months are up from when you landed in oz.

 

Might be worth checking out, as you will need every penny once you arrive over here we did!!

 

Vicky

[Guest Django]

Deffo sell it. It will be more hassle than its worth. A bloke I know rented his house out and had trouble getting his rent money even though he went through an agent. When his tenants eventually left it took him 3 months to repair the damage before he could rent it out again. After they left he had to spend another £8,000 to repair it again before he could sell it. He had a nightmare and he lived just round the corner from it. Imagine doing the same from the other side of the world.

 

Pete

[Guest Debbie & Guy]

Hi,

We put our house on the market last September. We had an offer, which turned out to be from a time waster, so we reduced the price but still had hardly any interest as the market is really slow right now. We decided to rent it out through a local agent that we had heard good things about, the house is in a village and the agnecy is just down the road in the same village.

The new tenant moved in on 1st April and we moved out to stay with my mother in law until the 10th May when we fly to Adelaide. I must admit, I am worried about it and would have much preferred to sell it, but realistically we can't afford to pay rent in Adelaide and our mortgage here. We did get 6 months rent in advance, and the agent promises she will visit the house to inspect every couple of months. I guess we only get to see how good she is if the tenants cause damage or stop paying!

Fingers crossed all will be ok. We've rented it out for a year, and will see if it's worth trying to sell again next year.

Hope all goes well for you

[Guest AlanL]

I am planning to move to Adelaide as a student Feb 2008) next year, my house is not attracting viewers and if I hear another Estate Agent refer to the housing market presently as in a corrective downturn, I will scream............

[Guest Libby1971]

We sold our house before we left. Just as well as we needed the money here to get established and buy a place. House prices are rising faster than I thought.

 

A friend of mine rented her place. Her tenant was a nightmare or rather the boyfriend of the tenant who was heavy handed, breaking beds, pulling light fittings from the ceiling etc. It was very stressful for my friend, being here and finding an email from the tenant complaining that they had broken something so what was she going to do about it!!! It is now on the market and hopefully will sell soon. She has put her mum on the case as she is now here.

 

Libby

[Guest Globetrotter]

We rented our house out instead of selling as I felt happier coming over knowing I still had my house to go back to if we didn't settle ( silly I know ! ) We went though an agent who have been very good, it rented out v quickly to an older couple who have looked after the house v well. I was very choosy who I let rent it to though and said no to 3 single girls !! My parents live near the house so I have had peace of mind knowing they are keeping an eye on it too.

We are just about to put it on the market now ( after 7 months) as have settled really well in Adelaide and I have just had an offer excepted here on my dream house with pool, so need the money from our UK house. I do think for me it was the right thing to do by not selling straight away, but on the other hand it is another thing to worry about when you're the other side of the world !

 

Kerry